New York Giants vs. Minnesota Vikings

Vikings: All the Vikings have to do is win one of their last two games to ensure a playoff spot with a two-game cushion over the Atlanta Falcons in the wild-card race. “It’s good to get things going in December, especially with the chance to make a playoff run”. Beckham earned the suspension after drawing three personal foul penalties, including one for a diving helmet-to-helmet hit on Panthers cornerback Josh Norman. With Beckham’s 91 catches for 1,396 yards and 13 touchdowns out of the lineup, his next biggest targets have been the unreliable Rueben Randle, and Shane Vereen with short dump offs out of the backfield. The Giants entered the weekend with the reality that they could already be eliminated from contention before kickoff. “We’ll put guys in a position to do what they do well and to get open”. Bridgewater is coming off an outing where he became the first QB since 1964 to finish a game with at least an 85% completion percentage, four TD passes, one TD run and zero interceptions.

The second-year quarterback has a favorable matchup going up against a Giants team that is last in the league in pass defense, allowing 308.4 yards per game. Their last appearance under the lights was three weeks ago on a Thursday night at Arizona, a fine performance under hard circumstances, but still a 23-20 loss to the Cardinals. The Vikings can’t afford to give the Giants hope by having somebody unexpected come up big in grabs from Eli Manning. But first, the Vikings have a huge game on the road against the Packers in Week 17. Peterson has had a real return to form and comes into the week leading the league in rushing with 1,314 yards on the season.

The Minnesota defense could have safety Harrison Smith (knee/hamstring), linebacker Anthony Barr (knee) and defensive tackle Linval Joseph (foot) back. While Mike Zimmer admitted he would like to “be smart” in his approach, the coach expressed more of a desire to protect his players that are dealing with slight injuries. His inconsistency has been mind-boggling at times, but Randle does have the ability and Manning shows a willingness to trust him despite past missteps. The rating, completion rate and touchdowns are career highs, and the interceptions would be his 2nd fewest for a full season.

The Minnesota Vikings lead 10-0 over the NY Giants with 11:02 left in the second quarter.

The Giants have won the last two meetings with the Vikings, who are looking to reverse their trend of poor play in night games. That game, like this one, was moved to the Sunday night slot.