Vikings trounce Giants 49-17 to make playoffs

“We’ve looked at this last stretch that the more pressure that has been on our shoulders, the more fun we’re going to have and the tighter we’re going to be”, Floyd said. “I’ll show it, I’ll smile”.

If you believe Eli remains your cornerstone – and that is one certainty that remains unshaken by just about everyone associated with the Giants, even in a most uncertain time in franchise history – then you have to believe there are better days for him even after you shake up the snow glove a little bit.

Nowhere near as talented or favored as previously dominant, doomed teams, this Vikings squad has strolled through the season with the warm hand of fate gently on its shoulder. Assuming smith is healthy, he’ll be a solid IDP play next Sunday in Green Bay.

The NFL has moved the showdown from noon to 7:30 p.m., and it will be televised nationally by NBC.

This week’s Sunday Night Football contest in Minnesota was over by halftime. “I don’t coach anxious about that”, he said. We’ve got to bring this one home. This would be great for our fans….

New York Giants running back Rashad Jennings (23) is tackled by Minnesota Vikings cornerback Captain Munnerlyn (24) and linebacker Anthony Barr (55) during the second quarter at TCF Bank Stadium. It means that the victor of the Week 17 match-up will win the division and the No. 3 seed in the 2016 NFC Playoffs.

They now have that opportunity.

“I feel badly that they feel that way”, said Coughlin, who insists he will go about his business as if it’s a normal week but will address the subject with his players at their next team meeting so it doesn’t become a distraction. I’m responsible. We lose, I lose the game for our players. The Vikings slowly added to that buffer with a 19-3 lead by halftime, which was more than enough to survive the mixed bag of run blocking, red-zone and third-down play they got.

Indeed. On the other side of the coin, the newly hot Vikings have won two straight in fairly dominant fashion, they clinched their first playoff berth with this win, and in their Week 17 tiff with the Packers, they have a chance to claim the NFC North.

Told that some of his players, including Manning, feel as though they’ve let him down, Coughlin said he hoped that would stop.

Bridgewater, who has never seen his team win against the Packers through his two National Football League seasons, sounded a bit more confident about the rematch. “Tonight is just very hard for me to explain”, Coughlin said. “I just happened to be watching (the game against the Cardinals) and (Rodgers) still looks like a surgeon to me when he throws the ball….” It’s not about me; I’m here for them. It will be the third straight year the Packers have played for the division title in Week 17. In the second quarter, McKinnon motioned across the formation and took a handoff for a 24-yard touchdown that was called back by a Matt Kalil false start. The Steelers have only had three head coaches since Chuck Noll took over in 1969.

“We know what type of team and organization they are”, Greenway said. Although the Giants made a valiant effort to come back and tie the game after trailing by 28 points, their defense couldn’t hold and they lost on a field goal as time expired. “We can’t talk about it until we do it, and they’re the pinnacle right now”.

Change is most certainly coming for Big Blue, but where?

“It’s in the washing machine”, he said. “You get ready for the game plan and going out there and doing your job”.