3 winners (and 6 losers) from Giants' buzzkill preseason loss to Vikings

Well, that's not how it was supposed to go. We waited 223 days for this?

The New York Giants hosted the Minnesota Vikings in their preseason opener. Saturdays might be "for the boys," but they're definitely not for Giants preseason wins. When the clock read zeroes, the G-Men took a 13-10 loss that will have them contemplating just how much has changed from last year to this year. Talk about pouring cold water on good vibes.

It was an overall dud of a game for a team looking to crawl out of the basement of the NFC East. There wasn't much to celebrate, and with plenty to nitpick, here are the biggest winners and losers from an underwhelming first preseason game.

3 winners and 6 losers from Giants’ preseason loss to Vikings

Winner: Malachi Fields

Throw it up, and the 6-foot-4, 218-pounder will catch it. That's what we've been told all offseason about rookie receiver Malachi Fields, and it only took one preseason game for it to come true.

The former Notre Dame standout caught all three of his targets for 34 yards. But there was no better catch than this absolute gem below, where he mossed Vikings linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. for a 15-yard touchdown reception:

Before the game, I said that if Fields had a good day, it'd be almost impossible not to overreact and get ahead of ourselves, and I couldn't have been more right. Whoever's looking for the Kool-Aid, I got you.

Winner: Jack Kelly

Jack "Cannonball" Kelly refuses to go away in the best way. The 23-year-old led the team in tackles (5), but it was so much more than that. He blew up a run at the goal line to prevent a touchdown and also applied pressure on an inside blitz, giving Darius Alexander the perfect opportunity to get a sack -- which he did.

Cannonball is one of those guys who's just always going to be around the football. Even though he'll start out on the second team, expect the former BYU stud to make his presence felt early and often.

Winner: Ben Sauls

Add two more makes to Ben “Better Call Sauls” Sauls’ streak. After finishing last season making all 15 of his kicks (eight field goals and seven extra points), the 25-year-old kept the good times rolling in preseason Game 1. He drilled a 46-yard field goal and made his lone extra-point attempt.

The 2025 undrafted free agent out of Pitt is in a heated training camp battle with 2026 undrafted rookie kicker Dominic Zvada. Sauls has been losing ground to the 22-year-old, who clearly has the bigger leg and more potential. However, Sauls is refusing to go down without a fight, as evidenced by drilling the longest field goal he's been asked to make as a Giant on Saturday.

Loser: John Harbaugh

Not exactly the start anyone was hoping for.

Maybe there’s an advantage to coming out in your preseason opener and putting up a stinker at home. If nothing else, Harbaugh gave everyone a quick reminder that transforming this team wasn’t going to happen overnight.

Give props to the defense for holding Minnesota to 13 points, but overall, this was an absolute dud of a first game under Harbs. This is certainly not what fans expected when New York hired the 63-year-old earlier in the offseason.

Loser: Jaxson Dart medical tent visits

For a moment there, you could almost feel the collective panic in East Rutherford as Jaxson Dart laid face down on the ground after he got gobsmacked by Jay Ward on a safety blitz. Ward hit Dart untouched, sending him to the blue medical tent to get checked out.

The hit was clean, and he returned to the game. It looked more like a "wind got knocked out of him" situation than anything else, but even so, after watching him become a frequent flyer to the blue medical tent last year, you couldn't help but think the worst.

Loser: Tyrone Tracy Jr.'s blocking

Dart's not the only one who's a loser for getting popped. The main reason why Big Blue's franchise quarterback took that hit in the first place was that Tracy completely whiffed on Ward coming off the edge.

By the time Tracy realized he needed to block Ward, Dart was already on his way to the medical tent. That's just not going to cut it under a coach like Harbaugh. Not blocking properly is the quickest way to the doghouse.

Loser: Brandon Allen

The fact that Brandon Allen is the Giants’ third-string quarterback probably has more to do with quarterbacks coach Brian Callahan than Allen’s actual talent. Allen essentially followed Callahan to North Jersey after playing for him in Tennessee before Callahan’s firing.

The soon-to-be 34-year-old finished the game completing five of eight passes for 45 yards and two interceptions. The G-Men might need a better backup to the backup before the season kicks off.

Loser: Deonte Banks' training camp momentum

Oh, man. Just when you thought that Deonte Banks had finally figured it out in training camp, the 25-year-old cornerback did his best Lee Corso impersonation and said, "Not so fast, my friend."

Banks got the start on Saturday, and although he didn't allow a reception while in coverage, he did commit back-to-back penalties in the second quarter (a declined holding call and an illegal contact penalty). It's minor stuff, but with the margin for error at an all-time low, it's stuff like this that's going to get him passed over. Time's running out for him to finally put it all together.

Loser: Expectations

There's just no other way around it. Yes, it's only the preseason -- and Game 1, for that matter -- but still, vibes were at an all-time high coming into this game. For it to play out the way it did was the ultimate buzzkill. Maybe next week's preseason matchup against the Miami Dolphins will go better.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow