One could argue that the last thing in the world that any NFL team would want to do prior to their regular-season opener would be to give their opponent bulletin board material. But that didn't appear to be a concern of Minnesota Vikings second-year rookie linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. Leading up to Week 1 with his team making a visit to East Rutherford to face the New York Giants.
"We 'bout to go crazy man. It ain't even gonna be no matchup," Pace said of the Giants matchup in the build-up to Week 1.
That should've been fighting words, something to motivate the Giants and have them ready, while donning their throwbacks, to make a point against Pace and the Vikings. Instead, the point that was made was that Pace was absolutely right. It wasn't a game on Sunday at MetLife Stadium as Minnesota blew out the G-Men in embarrassing fashion, a 28-6 win for Sam Darnold and Co.
Not only did the Giants manage just two field goals to get on the scoreboard to further Pace's point coming into the matchup but it was actually worse than that. Daniel Jones, back in the saddle for New York, threw two interceptions in this game while going for under 200 yards passing. One of those turnovers was also taken to the house by edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel as a third-quarter exclamation point.
And while Jones' 22-of-42 performance with the turnovers and no production deserves criticism, let's also not pretend that anyone else was making an impact in a meaningful way. The Giants as a team averaged only 3.5 yards per carry and Malik Nabers, a rookie in his NFL debut, was the only Giants receiver to clear 50 yards on the day.
If we want to go even further -- though Pace's verbal accosting really seemed to target the New York offense more than anything -- the G-Men defense was just as bad. Yes, they managed two takeaways but they also let Sam Darnold complete his first 11 passes, allowed Aaron Jones to rush for 6.7 yards per carry, and had no real answer for a new-look Vikings offense.
Should this be something that Pace is doing before every game? No -- in fact, this probably says way more about the Giants than anything else. But at the end of the day, the Vikings backed up their smack talk. As a wise person on social media once said to essentially stand in for the Giants on Sunday: "The haters said I couldn't do it. And they were correct. Honestly great call from the haters."
