Vikings Trail Giants 10-7 at Half; Josh Freeman Looks Shaky

Oct 21, 2013; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback Josh Freeman (12) drops back to pass against the New York Giants during the first half at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

The first half of Vikings-Giants was about as lackluster as you might’ve expected two quarters of football to be between a pair of teams that came into the game a combined 1-10. Both team’s flaws showed up in abundance in the first half. For the Giants, inconsistency in the passing game was the major issue. Eli Manning was able to torch the Vikings’ horrid corners on one series but outside of that he didn’t really get it on track.

The Giants’ run game is non-existent without Brandon Jacobs. The Vikings defense was able to get enough pass rush going to disrupt Eli and keep him from really working over their secondary. The defensive highlight was a one-handed sack by Jared Allen late in the second quarter.

The Vikings’ offensive highlight? Well there wasn’t one. Adrian Peterson did next to nothing against the Giants’ stacked boxes. Josh Freeman had some open receivers but is clearly not in sync yet and kept overthrowing guys. The Vikings’ score came on a punt return by Marcus Sherels. For the second half, the Vikes have to get Peterson going. Freeman is clearly not yet on the same page with his receivers and the Vikes have no shot if they try to pass their way to victory.

Outside of those couple nice plays, it was just a boring, no-rhythm half of football. It’s pretty obvious why these teams are both languishing at the bottom of their divisions. Neither can get anything going offensively. That wasn’t so much a defense-dominated half as a display of offensive ineptitude. If you want a bright spot for the Vikes offensively…Josh Freeman did manage to zip a couple balls in there with more velocity than you’ll ever see from Christian Ponder. Can’t say much for his accuracy so far. He’s been spraying it around.

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