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5 storylines to follow as Giants kick off 100th season vs. Vikings

DEXTER-VIKINGS-STORYLINES

The Giants will officially kick off the franchise's 100th season with a matchup against the Minnesota Vikings at MetLife Stadium.

Both teams underwent some big personnel changes since they last met, but more on that later.

Here are five storylines to follow in the Giants vs. Vikings Week 1 matchup:

1. Kicking off 100th season

Coming off a year riddled with injuries, the Giants will look to get the 2024 campaign started with a victory for the second time since Brian Daboll took over as head coach in 2022. After beginning the season at home, the Giants will be on the road at Washington and Cleveland before returning to MetLife Stadium in Week 4 for a Thursday night matchup against the Cowboys. Facing a difficult first-half schedule, the Giants know how important it is to start the season off strong.

"Our focus has to be singular on getting ready for the Minnesota Vikings and doing everything we can do," Daboll said Tuesday. "That's all you ask of everybody in the organization, the coaching staff, players, is to put your head down and go to work and leave no stone unturned so that you're as prepared as you can be to go out there on opening day."

In terms of where the team's focus will be this week heading into Sunday's season opener, wide receiver Darius Slayton said they have to start with looking inward before they worry about their opponent.

"In Week 1, you haven't seen anybody playing any real game," Slayton told reporters Monday. "You have an idea of what people are going to do, what they've done in the past, and the type of schemes that they've liked in the past. But at the end of the day, it's about going out there and executing. All 11 of us are on the same page, getting to the stuff we want to get to and trying to dictate the game as much as possible on offense."

View photos of the New York Giants' 2024 active roster as it currently stands.

2. NFL debut for rookie class

It's no secret the Giants are a young team. With the roster now set at 53 players, the Giants currently have the fourth-youngest team in the NFL (25.70 years old) and the second-youngest starting lineup (25.50), according to The 33rd Team. A big reason for that is because of the team's rookie class.

All six of the Giants' 2024 draft picks, along with two undrafted free agents, made the 53-man roster. The eight rookies are set to make their NFL debuts this weekend, and while the first game of one's career could be overwhelming for a young player, Daboll said the rookies are leaning on the veterans on the team to help prepare them.

"I think that's why you have veteran leadership to help those guys, show them their routines," Daboll said Tuesday. "I think the assistant coaches do a good job with them. Again, they've played a lot of football so it's more about creating a routine for yourself in this environment for the NFL and making sure you're doing what you need to do on a consistent basis. Have the discipline to do it right, day in and day out. Whether that's meetings, whether that's getting proper rest, whether it's prehab, rehab, whatever it may be. You're constantly trying to educate them on creating a routine that works best for them."

Wide receiver Malik Nabers and nickel cornerback Dru Phillips were both listed as starters on the unofficial depth chart for Week 1, while the other six rookies are either on the second or third team. While tight end Theo Johnson is marked down as the backup to starter Daniel Bellinger, the rookie has impressed his teammates with his size and athleticism.

"He's like pretty much like if you were to get on Madden and build a tight end, you would build Theo," Slayton said. "He'd be big, he'd be fast, be able to catch and block. He can run. During this preseason he showed he has some wiggle. There's really not much else you can want out of a tight end that Theo doesn't have. I think his ceiling is about as high as anybody we have on the team, to be honest."

3. Revamped O-line looks to boost offense

The 2024 starting offensive line features three new players – guards Jon Runyan and Greg Van Roten along with right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor. Additionally, veteran guard Aaron Stinnie was brought into shore up the team's depth on the interior of the line.

The three new starters will join left tackle Andrew Thomas and center John Michael Schmitz up front when the Giants kick off the season Sunday. Despite the unit suffering some injuries over the summer, all five projected starters are now healthy and ready to go.

"First of all, I'd say that the players that we've added, Stinnie included, have brought veteran presence, leadership and communication," Daboll told the media Monday. "They've played the game, they know how the game needs to be played. In terms of the five players playing, you're always a work in progress. Those players have, when they've practiced, they've all practiced well, albeit not all together, but they've all practiced well. They've come in, they've worked hard, they're smart and they communicate with one another well.

"The last couple practices we had here before the break, it was good to get them all out there. (You) do everything you can do, that's not just them, that's everybody, to be as ready as you can to go for week one."

On top of the new additions upfront, the Giants also brought in new coaches. Offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo and his assistant James Ferentz have garnered plenty of praise from both the players and other coaches over the last few months. Bricillo coached Van Roten and Eluemunor in Las Vegas last year, which seems to have helped speed up the learning process for the entire group. The new-look line has already provided a jolt to the offense as a whole.

"I've got a lot of confidence in that group," quarterback Daniel Jones said Tuesday. "I think they've played really well throughout training camp. We've got some veterans who (we) brought in, some older guys who I think have done a good job and gotten on the same page. I think Carm has done a really good job working with that group. I feel like we have a good plan this week. I'm excited. I think that group's played well."

"It's been really exciting," Slayton added. "Like you said, those guys have come in and done a great job embracing the task and they've played really good ball throughout camp. I think this is probably one of our better, maybe the best camp, since I've been here that we had up front, both on pass protection and in the run game. It's been a blessing to have those guys be here and they're veteran players and guys that know what they're doing and have been great additions to our team."

View photos of the field at MetLife Stadium ready for the Giants' 100th season home opener against the Vikings.

4. Talented pass rush leads new Giants defense

With the arrival of Shane Bowen as the team's new coordinator, the Giants' defense has undergone some stark changes from last season. In addition to the new defensive scheme, one that sends less blitzes and relies a lot more on the defensive front getting pressure on the quarterback, the Giants also made a big offseason acquisition with the trade for outside linebacker Brian Burns.

Burns joins a defensive line that also features Dexter Lawrence and Kayvon Thibodeaux, a trio that combined for 148 quarterback pressures last season, according to Pro Football Focus. Over the last four seasons, Burns' 20.4 percent pass rush win rate ranks 14th in the league, which helped him get selected to two Pro Bowls. Meanwhile, Lawrence has been named second-team All-Pro in each of the last two seasons, while Thibodeaux is coming off a breakout sophomore campaign in which he finished with 11.5 sacks, a big improvement from his four sacks as a rookie. The pass rush could also feature fellow outside linebacker Azeez Ojulari in certain situations, adding a player with 16 sacks in 35 career games to an already stacked defensive front.

Given the youth of the roster, especially in the secondary, the Giants are going to lean heavily on their talented group of pass rushers. The starters only saw limited action in one preseason game, but flashed their potential with a strong goal line stop against C.J. Stroud and the Texans' high-flying offense. The Vikings boast a solid offensive line with tackles Christian Darrisaw and Brian O'Neill, along with center Garrett Bradbury.

5. Scouting the Vikings

The 2024 Minnesota Vikings will also look a lot different from the team the Giants defeated in the 2022 Wild Card. Perhaps the biggest difference will be under center, where Sam Darnold has taken over as the team's starting quarterback, replacing veteran Kirk Cousins, who is now with the Atlanta Falcons. After starting 55 games across his first five seasons with the New York Jets and Carolina Panthers, Darnold spent the 2023 campaign with the San Francisco 49ers where he started one game. He completed 61.5 percent of his passes for 189 yards and a touchdown in the 49ers' Week 18 loss to the Rams, while adding 14 yards and an additional score on the ground.

"I've got a lot of respect for Sam," Daboll said. "I know he's been to four different places, but he's an athletic quarterback that has a good head on his shoulders, knows where to go with the football. He's surrounded by some really good players at Minnesota and experience helps at any position. But I've always been a big fan of Sam, and he's got a good team around him, a good play caller, and it'll be certainly a challenge."

This season, Darnold will be playing with a talented group of playmakers around him. The Vikings signed veteran running back Aaron Jones this offseason, adding him to an offense that features one of the league's up-and-coming young receivers in Jordan Addison. But of course, the Vikings offense starts with the three-time Pro Bowler and former NFL Offensive Player of the Year, wide receiver Justin Jefferson.

"You better know where he's lined up," Daboll told reporters about the star wideout. "He can hurt you in all three areas of the field. Catch and run, intermediate, vertical, double moves. They'll use him in a variety of spots, and then you look on the opposite side of it with Addison, who we did a lot of work on when he was coming out last year, who's an exceptional route runner, very gifted receiver, was excellent at Pitt, and you can see. Then they acquire a veteran in Jones, who's a very good runner, can run inside, run outside, solid offensive line…"

Moving over to the defense, Minnesota brought in a new play-caller prior to the 2023 season. Brian Flores is now heading into his second year as the Vikings' defensive coordinator. Daboll knows the defense they will face this Sunday won't look anything like the defense they went up against twice in 2022.

"I'd say it's a completely different defense with Brian there and with a lot of new players that they've added," the head coach said. "It's a pressure defense. He pressures often. Sometimes the entire game. I mean you go back, we've competed against one another when I was at Buffalo, him in Miami, and you go back and look at the game they played against the Rams when they had (Detroit Lions quarterback Jared) Goff and (Los Angeles Rams Head Coach Sean) McVay and they blitz zeroed it every single snap. He presents a variety of challenges with the fronts and then you add the players.

"(Cornerback Stephon) Gilmore, a veteran now that came over there, (safety) Harrison Smith, (defensive lineman) Harrison Phillips. They've got completely different edge guys with (outside linebacker Andrew) Van Ginkel, (outside linebacker Dallas) Turner, (outside linebacker Jonathan) Greenard from Houston. So it'll be a challenge, it's a challenge mentally. Make sure that you're on point with everything you need to be on point with to make sure a play works against 11 people that pressure, I'd say, quite often."

In his first season with Minnesota, Flores helped the defense improve from 31st overall in yards to 16th in 2023, including top-eight rankings in both rushing yards per play (fourth) and rushing yards per game (eighth). The Vikings led the NFL in forced fumbles with 21, three more than any other team in the league, and it marked the most forced fumbles in a single season in franchise history since 2007 when the team also forced 21.

View rare photos from the all-time series between the New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings

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