These NY Giants are to blame for the brutal performance vs. the Vikings

Week 1 was a game to forget for the New York Giants. After hoping for better results from their 6-11 campaign a season ago, the 2024 campaign could not have gotten off to a worse start. The Giants looked, to put it bluntly, awful against the Minnesota Vikings in front of their home crowd, as Minnesota cruised past Big Blue 28-6.

The Giants have been outscored in their past two home-openers by a combined 68-6, as they failed to get into the endzone again. Despite drafting star wide receiver Malik Nabers with their No. 6 overall pick and trading for Pro Bowl pass-rusher Brian Burns, the Giants still looked like one of the worst teams in the NFL. These three players were to blame for that:

3. QB Daniel Jones

I mean, are we really surprised? Daniel Jones was making his much-anticipated return from a torn ACL he suffered last November and it is safe to say after listening to the MetLife crowd, Giants fans have seen enough from the former first-round draft pick. From the start, it just seemed like Jones was going to be in for a rough Week 1 opener and it showed.

He had just 186 passing yards on 22 completions, threw one ball that went more than 20 yards and had two interceptions, with one of them being a horrendous pick-six that saw Giants fans head for the exits. After signing that lucrative $160 million contract extension last offseason, Jones has failed to live up to the money the Giants gave him.

2. Pass-rusher Brian Burns

This was considered the biggest move Joe Schoen and the Giants front office got done this offseason. After trading for Burns from the Carolina Panthers, the Giants hoped that adding him to a pass-rush that already has the likes of Kayvon Thibodeaux and Dexter Lawrence would elevate this defense for New York. Burns however was practically a non-factor against the Vikings.

Burns and the entire Giants defensive front just could not get after or add any pressure to Sam Darnold on the day and it was quite disappointing considering all the money they paid Burns. The 26-year-old OLB had just four tackles and didn't even come close to posting a sack. While the entire Giants pass-rush was certainly disappointing, Burns was supposed to show in his Giants debut why he was paid that $141 million deal. He didn't get the job done.

1. Pass-rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux

Just like Burns, third-year linebacker Kayvon Thidodeaux was pretty much a no-show for the Giants against Minnesota. With the hopes he could build off his career-best 11.5 sacks he posted in 2023, Thibodeaux did not get off to the start he wanted to.

Not only did Thibodeaux fail to record a sack for the Giants against the Vikings, he didn't even record a single tackle for New York on defense. That's just so hard to believe considering the fact that Thibodeaux had such high expectations this season for. To make things worse, he was penalized for a facemask on a third-down play that gave the Vikings new life on their drive, which led them to scoring a touchdown with the new set of downs they got. He has to be better in Week 2.