1. THE GIANTS ARE ELIMINATED FROM PLAYOFF CONTENTION
|
|||||||||||||||||||
With a 38-24 victory over the Eagles on Saturday night, the Redskins clinched the NFC East title, thus eliminating the Giants from postseason contention.
2. ODELL'S 1-GAME SUSPENSION UPHELD; OUT VS. VIKES
Wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. was suspended for the Giants' Week 16 game against the Vikings for "multiple violations of safety-related playing rules in [Sunday's] game against the Carolina Panthers," the NFL announced Monday. The suspension was imposed by NFL Vice President of Football Operations Merton Hanks, who ruled that Beckham's actions "placed his opponents at unnecessary risk of injury and should have been avoided." On Wednesday, appeals officer James Thrash, a former NFL wide receiver, denied Beckham's appeal.
"I owe some people an apology," Beckham said in a statement. "I wasn't raised to act like I did the other day. I am not here to make excuses for my conduct. This isn't about anything that was said or done to me. This is about my behavior, and I am responsible for my behavior. People expect better from me, and I expect better from myself.
"First of all, I apologize to the organization I represent, the Giants, and our ownership, John Mara and his family and Steve Tisch and his family. And Jerry Reese, who drafted me and gave me the opportunity to be a part of this organization. I want to apologize to Giants fans. They want to be proud of us, and proud of players like me who represent their team. What happened the other day was embarrassing to them and embarrassing to me."
3. GIANTS INJURY REPORT
Out: LB Devon Kennard, S Cooper Taylor.
Questionable: WR Dwayne Harris
Probable: RB Orleans Darkwa, T Ereck Flowers, DE George Selvie
4. VIKINGS INJURY REPORT
Probable: TE Rhett Ellison, RB Adrian Peterson, CB Josh Robinson, LB Anthony Barr, DT Sharrif Floyd, DE Everson Griffen, DT Linval Joseph, S Harrison Smith, RB Jerick McKinnon
5. WHITLOCK TO IR; MERIWEATHER BACK
Two-way player Nikita Whitlock was placed on injured reserve this week following a knee injury that he suffered late in the Giants' loss to the Panthers. In addition to playing special teams, the fullback doubled as a situational defensive tackle at times this season and recorded a sack in their Week 4 victory over the Bills. Meanwhile, veteran safety Brandon Meriweather, who was released last week when the team signed defensive tackle Barry Cofield, was re-signed on Wednesday to shore up the safety position as Cooper Taylor is going through the concussion protocol.
6. ALL DAY
Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, who leads the NFL in carries (286) and yards (1,314), eyes his third rushing title with two games to play. Peterson's 97.5 yards per game throughout his career are third behind only Jim Brown (104.3) and Barry Sanders (99.8). Nonetheless, the Giants have found success against the feature back. In four career games against Big Blue, Peterson has broken the 100-yard mark just once and rushed for 54, 26 and 28 yards in their last three meetings.
7. ALL NIGHT?
On Sunday night, the Giants look to keep up their own recent success on the ground. Last week, Rashad Jennings broke the team's 14-game streak without an individual 100-yard rusher as the Giants rushed for 161 yards as a whole against Carolina. The Giants have rushed for 253 yards in the last two weeks. In the two games before that, they had 107.
8. PRO BOWL ROSTERS ANNOUNCED
The NFL announced the 2016 Pro Bowl rosters on Tuesday night, and Beckham, who has 91 receptions for 1,396 yards and 13 touchdowns, was named to the team for the second time in his two NFL seasons. Like he was last year, Beckham is currently the Giants' lone representative, but kicker Josh Brown and return specialist Dwayne Harris are first alternates. The 2016 Pro Bowl will be played in Honolulu's Aloha Stadium on Sunday, January 31, and will be televised live on ESPN at 7 p.m. ET.
9. THE PARCELLS TREE
Tom Coughlin has two. Bill Belichick has four. Sean Payton has one. The branches of Bill Parcells' coaching tree have produced seven Lombardi Trophies. Throw in the two the Pro Football Hall of Famer won with the Giants, and that's nine Super Bowl titles. Vikings coach Mike Zimmer is looking to add to that total. Zimmer, who was Parcells' defensive coordinator in Dallas from 2003-06, has ensured a winning record for Minnesota in his second year as head coach.
10. CLOSE AS THEY COME
Including the 38-35 loss last week to the undefeated Panthers, the Giants have lost six games after they were leading or tied with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
"I'm still trying to deal with that and understand it," quarterback Eli Manning said this week.
