What did we learn from the Giants’ 13-10 loss to the Minnesota Vikings?

Yeah baby, NFL football is back!

Well, sort of. We naturally get hyped to see our team on the field again after seven months with no New York Giants football. Three things can be said, though, with almost complete certainty:

• Some new player will excite us, and it will be a harbinger of his performance in the real season to come.
• Some other new player will excite us, and he will turn into a pumpkin once the real season starts.
• There’s no way to tell the difference at this point.

See: Victor Cruz; Tre Hawkins III; Jalin Hyatt; Greg Dulcich as examples of both kinds of players.

Perhaps of more interest was how the Giants under a new coaching staff would operate. How often will Dart line up behind center? How often will Arvell Reese be back in coverage vs. rushing the passer? Will the offense be more run-oriented? Will the kicking situation be clarified? Will anyone stand out in the disturbingly unsettled secondary and wide receiver corps, including veterans such as Odell Beckham Jr.?

So with that in mind, who and what stood out for better or worse in the Giants’ 13-10 loss to the Vikings?

The offense is anything but a well-oiled machine so far

The Vikings are not a great team to play your first preseason game against. Brian Flores’ defense has flummoxed the Giants’ offense in regular season games for two consecutive years. Many defensive coordinators run vanilla defenses in the preseason, but not Flores. He stacked the box and liberally blitzed Jaxson Dart in the first half. That’s a good thing in the sense that Dart needs reps recognizing the blitz and countering it. It’s a bad thing, though, when you don’t recognize it and your running back (in this case, Tyrone Tracy) doesn’t pick up the blitzer. The result was Dart’s first trip of 2026 to the blue tent.

After the first couple of drives, the offense settled down a bit. Cam Skattebo in particular had several nice runs and looks fully recovered from last year’s gruesome injury. The run blocking seemed effective with rookie Sisi Mauigoa and fullback Patrick Ricard leading the way. What we didn’t see, though, was the free-wheeling deep ball offense of the Brian Daboll era. Most of the passes were short, quick-hitters. Dart alternated between under center and shotgun, but wasn’t especially effective either way. The longest completion by far was a screen pass by Jameis Winston to Devin Singletary on third-and-23, which Singletary, competing to keep his spot on the roster, turned into a 40-yard gain. Odell Beckham Jr., back in blue again, had two catches for 6 yards in the first half, but was not seen by Winston as he broke free down the middle for what would have been an easy TD. Just as well, because the stadium might have collapsed from the roar if Winston had hit him. You had to feel sorry for Beckham, who was open downfield at least three times and never saw the ball come his way on any of those plays. The guy can still get open.

The larger question, which couldn’t be answered today, is whether the Matt Nagy offense will be much more conservative than what we’ve gotten used to the past few years. We’ll have to see the Giants against a more conventional defense to get a better feel for that. What we do know is that today they passed 21 times (completing 16), but for only 160 yards, while rushing 25 times (not including scrambles) for 70 yards. Not a lot to get excited about.

Oh, and…maybe the Giants need to go shopping for a QB3. Brandon Allen was awful, getting intercepted twice in the second half. On the second one OBJ was wide open on the other side of the field and Allen never looked his way.

As for the kicking game: Only Ben Sauls got a chance and he kicked a 46-yard field goal down the middle.

Let’s hope that the starting IDLs stay healthy

One big question mark for the defense is how the Giants will adjust to the loss of Dexter Lawrence in the interior. We didn’t get much of an answer to that question today, because neither D.J. Reader nor Shelby Harris, the Giants’ two off-season acquisitions to try to replace Lawrence, played. Their replacements in the starting lineup today, though, did not distinguish themselves. Darius Alexander, whose calling card is his pass rush potential, did not look good against the run early on, though he made a couple of tackles later, one for a loss of 4 yards. Leki Fotu and Josh Tupou, who started in the interior, got pushed around on the Vikings first drive. Fotu did have a breakup of a screen pass, however. No need to get worried just yet, but let’s hope that Reader and Harris stay healthy.

The second level of the defense is promising. The third level? TBD

Tremaine Edmunds did not play, but first round pick Arvell Reese was active in limited playing time with a tackle and an assist. The eye-catcher, though, was rookie Jack Kelly, who seemed to be all over the field, with two tackles and three assists.

The defensive backs, though? A different story. Paulson Adebo did not play (not that he’s had a good camp, anyway), but Deonte Banks (twice), Colton Hood, Korie Black, and Art Green were all called for pass interference. And that was without Justin Jefferson playing and Jordan Addison only playing a little.

Is it too early to get excited about Malachi Fields?

In his first NFL action, rookie Malachi Fields caught all three of his targets for 34 yards and a touchdown. A nice stat line, but on the surface nothing spectacular. It was the TD, though, that encompassed what we love about Jaxson Dart and what the addition of Fields to the offense may mean:

Dart’s first read was not open and he started to get inside pressure, so he rolled out to his left. Meanwhile Fields, who had run a short in-breaking route from the right side, began to slow down when it looked like Dart was about to throw. Once Dart escaped to the left, Fields broke toward the end zone and beat his man. Dart saw him, twisted his body back, threw a perfect pass off his back foot, and Fields went up and got it for the TD.

Imagine an offense with Fields, a healthy Malik Nabers, and OBJ all on the field at the same time, or at least two of the three since I don’t expect to see 11 personnel a lot with this coaching staff. Add in Isaiah Likely, who only played briefly and caught 2 passes for 11 yards. This could turn out to be a pretty dangerous passing offense…if the Giants’ coaching staff is willing to let it be.