McKinney has missed eight games with a hand injury, and full-back Adoree’ Jackson has missed seven games with a knee injury, but both are in action to help control the Vikings’ Pro Bowl receiver. Justin Jefferson had only seven catches from 47 yards, Adam Thielen had three 50 yards and failed to catch a touchdown pass.
Teams traded touchdowns for their opening fortunes – a Cousins 1-yard midfield sneak and Barkley 28-yard sneak. During the Giants’ next drive, Jones hit receiver Isaiah Hodgins to hit the 18-yard dart with about a minute left in the first inning.
The Vikings struggled to stop Jones in planned scrambles and runs, and the quarterback succeeded on the ground in his first drive of the second quarter. He ran seven runs on the 86-yard drive that seemed to end with Jones scoring in a 4-yard dash, but the touchdown was nullified due to an illegal redirect. Giants striker Graham Gano converted 25 yards to give the Giants a 17-7 lead.
Jones finished the game with 78 yards forward, 71 of which came in the first half.
Minnesota responded with an eight-turn, 75-yard game that ended with a nine-yard touchdown pass from Cousins to KJ Osborn just before the two-minute warning, closing the gap to 17-14 after halftime.
The penalty shootout continued into the third inning. Jones found Daniel Bellinger at close range to make a touchdown pass at 9 yards, then Cousins made a 3-yard pass to finish Irv Smith, making it 24- 21.
In the Vikings’ next drive, a false-start penalty nullified a successful fourth attempt, but Greg Joseph kicked in on a target at 38 yards with just over 12 minutes to go. minutes, setting the score at 24. The Giants then staged a 12-turn Drive, marching 75 yards over 4 minutes, ending with Barkley’s hasty touchdown 2 yards, helping the Giants. 31-24 lead with just over seven minutes left.
With time running out for the two teams that have built their seasons with thrilling comebacks, things have tightened for the rest of the run. The Giants failed to convert a third attack near the midfield when Darius Slayton dropped a perfect Daniel Jones pass with about three minutes left in the game.
The drop stopped the clock and returned the ball to the Vikings. The cousins completed three short passes to Hockenson before arriving at the big McKinney stop.
