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Inside the Numbers

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Inside the Numbers: Giants Playoff Primer

DANIEL-JONES-BRIAN-DABOLL-TERADATA

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The Giants will play their first postseason game in exactly six years and one week on Sunday when they face the Minnesota Vikings in an NFC Wild Card Game in U.S. Bank Stadium.

Their most recent playoff game was also on the road against an NFC North team, the Green Bay Packers, on Jan. 8, 2017.

The Giants were 9-7-1 in the regular season and enter the postseason as a wild card and the conference's sixth seed. The Vikings are seeded third after winning the NFC North title with 13-4 record.

The following is a Giants playoff primer:

*The Giants are making their 33rd postseason appearance, which ties them with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the third-highest total in NFL history, behind Green Bay and the Dallas Cowboys at 35 apiece. Dallas is seeded fifth in the current playoffs, while the Packers and Steelers each finished eighth in their respective conferences. Only the top seven teams advance to the playoffs.

*The Giants are 24-25 all-time in the playoffs. They were 4-13 prior to the 1970 merger and are 20-12 since. In postseason play, the Giants are 12-9 at home, 8-15 on the road and 4-1 in neutral site Super Bowls. Since the merger, they are 8-4 at home, 8-7 as visitors and 4-1 on neutral fields.

*The Giants are 6-5 in wild card games (3-2 at home, 3-3 on the road), 5-6 in the divisional round (3-2 at home, 2-4 on the road) and 5-0 in conference championship games (2-0 at home, 3-0 on the road).

*The Giants are 2-1 in the postseason vs. Minnesota. All three games were played in Giants Stadium. The Giants won a 1993 wild card game, 17-10, and crushed the Vikings in the 2000 NFC Championship Game, 41-0. They blew a late lead and lost a 1997 wild card game, 23-22.

View rare photos from the all-time series between the New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings

*The Giants have 17 players on their active roster with postseason experience: Matt Breida, Landon Collins, Justin Ellis, Jon Feliciano, Graham Gano, Jamie Gillan, Mark Glowinski, Adoree' Jackson, Richie James. Tony Jefferson, Henry Mondeaux, Fabian Moreau, Tyre Phillips, Jaylon Smith, Tyrod Taylor, Nick Vannett and Jihad Ward. Three players on the practice squad – Terrell Burgess, Vernon Butler and Jaydon Mickens – have also been to the playoffs.

*Breida, Gano, James, Burgess and Mickens have played in Super Bowls.

*First-year Giants head coach Brian Daboll coached in 30 postseason games as an assistant coach – 24 with New England (nine appearances) and six with Buffalo (three). His teams were 23-7, including 4-1 in the wild card round and 5-0 in Super Bowls.

*Including Daboll (12), the Giants' coaching staff has made a combined 74 postseason appearances. Defensive line coach Andre Patterson has reached the playoffs for the eighth time.

*Daboll is one three first-year head coaches to lead his team to the postseason this year, joining Minnesota's Kevin O'Connell and Miami's Mike McDaniel. That increases to 27 the number of head coaches who advanced to the playoffs in their debut season since the 2002 realignment.

*According to the Elias Sports Bureau, when Daboll and O'Connell square off it will be just the fourth postseason meeting of first-year head coaches since the merger:

12/30/2000: New Orleans (Jim Haslett) defeated St. Louis (Mike Martz), 31-28

1/4/2009: Baltimore (John Harbaugh) defeated Miami (Tony Sparano), 27-9

1/24/2010: Indianapolis (Jim Caldwell) defeated the Jets (Rex Ryan), 30-17

The first two were wild card games, the third an AFC Championship Game. Harbaugh was the only one of those coaches to win on the road.

*Nine coaches have led the Giants in postseason games. Four won their playoff debuts with the team (Jim Lee Howell, Ray Perkins, Bill Parcells, Dan Reeves) and five lost (Steve Owen, Allie Sherman, Jim Fassell, Tom Coughlin, Ben McAdoo). Reeves (Denver) and Coughlin (Jacksonville) had previously coached in the playoffs.

The last Giants coach to win his NFL postseason debut was Parcells in 1984. The last to win his first game as the Giants coach was Reeves – who defeated the Vikings in a 1993 wild card game.

*The Giants lost in Minnesota, 27-24, on a last-play, 61-yard field goal on Dec. 24. They are 14-7 in postseason games against teams they played in the regular season, including 9-7 vs. teams they lost to.

*The Giants were 0-6 in the regular season vs. the NFC playoff field (0-2 vs. Dallas and Philadelphia, 0-1 against Minnesota and Seattle). But they were 2-0 vs. AFC participants, defeating Baltimore and Jacksonville. In 2011, the Giants entered the playoffs with an 0-3 record vs. the conference's playoff teams – and won the Super Bowl.

*Speaking of that championship season…the Giants had a minus-6 point differential in 2011 (394-400). Their point differential in 2022? Minus-6 (365-371).

*The Giants finished fourth in the NFL in rushing with 148.2 yards a game, their highest average since they finished with a league-leading 157.4 yards-per-game on the ground in 2008. They averaged 4.8 yards a carry, they highest figure since their league-best 5.0 in 2008.

*The Giants rushed for more than 100 yards in 13 games this season, their highest total since 2010 (also 13). They topped the century mark in each of the last six games, their longest streak since they hit 100 yards in seven straight games in 2020 and their longest to end a season since 1998 (six).

*The Giants have rushed for a touchdown in a franchise-record 15 consecutive games.

*Quarterback Daniel Jones led all qualified passers in the league with a 1.1 interception percentage in the regular season (a career-low five interceptions on a career-high 472 attempts). Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers had led the league in interception percentage each of the previous four seasons. Kurt Warner (1.4 in 2004) and Jeff Hostetler (1.4 in 1991) are only other Giants quarterbacks in the Super Bowl era to lead qualified passers in interception percentage in a season.

*On Sunday in Philadelphia, Davis Webb became the Giants' 27th different starting quarterback since the merger. That ranks them tied for 24th in the NFL. Since MetLife Stadium opened in 2010, five quarterbacks other than Eli Manning and Jones have started for the Giants – Geno Smith, Colt McCoy, Mike Glennon, Jake Fromm and Webb. Their combined record is 1-9. The victory belongs to McCoy, at Seattle in 2020.

*Jones and Webb each played games this season in which they threw a touchdown pass and rushed for a score. The Giants joined Carolina, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington as teams with two quarterbacks with a passing and rushing touchdown in a game.

*Saquon Barkley finished fourth in the NFL with 1,312 rushing yards and seventh with 1,650 scrimmage yards, the former the highest total of his career and latter the second-highest. He also tied Richie James for the team lead with 57 receptions. Barkley was one of three players this season to lead his team in rushing and receptions:

Saquon Barkley (Giants) - 1,312 rush yards/57 receptions

Rhamondre Stevenson (Patriots) - 1,040/69

Austin Ekeler (Chargers) - 915/107

*The last time two Giants players finished a season tied for the team receptions lead was 2001 when Amani Toomer and Tiki Barber each had 72 catches.

*The Giants finished with 41 sacks, a seven-sack increase over their 2021 total and the most they've had since 2014 (47). Dexter Lawrence led the team with a career-high 7.5 sacks.

*Safety Dane Belton had two interceptions and two fumble recoveries and was one of three NFL rookies with multiples in each statistical category. He was joined by Detroit's Aidan Hutchinson (three and two), Jacksonville's Devin Lloyd (three and two) and Seattle's Tariq Woolen (six and three).

*The Giants' six interceptions this season tied for the fewest ever by a playoff team, joining the 2004 Rams and 2021 Raiders.

*Graham Gano made 29 of 32 field goal attempts (90.6%) and 32 of 34 extra point tries. Two of his missed field goals included a blocked kick vs. Carolina on Sept. 18 and a 58-yarder into the wind on the last play of overtime in the 20-20 tie vs. Washington on Dec. 4. Gano scored 119 points, the highest total by a Giants player since Aldrick Rosas scored 127 points in 2018. He set a Giants record with eight field goals of 50+ yards, one more than he had in 2021. He finished tied for fifth in the NFL in 50+ field goals. Las Vegas' Daniel Carlson led the NFL with 11.

*Barkley and left tackle Andrew Thomas were among the 17 starters who were rested in Sunday's regular-season finale in Philadelphia. They had each started 23 consecutive games, which had been the Giants' longest active streak. That distinction now belongs to offensive lineman Nick Gates and cornerback Nick McCloud, who each started the last seven games.

*Philadelphia's Jake Elliott kicked field goals of 52- and 54-yards Sunday to become the first player with a pair of 50-yarders in a game vs. the Giants since Oct. 22, 2018, when Atlanta's Giorgio Tavecchio booted 50- and 56-yarders. Elliott was the first opponent to kick five field goals against the Giants since Sept. 25, 2016, when Washington's Dustin Hopkins did it.

*The Giants' 2023 opponents:

Home: Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington, Green Bay, L.A. Rams, Seattle, New England, and the Jets.

Away: Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington, Arizona, San Francisco, New Orleans, Buffalo, Miami, and Las Vegas

*The Giants re-signed defensive tackle Vernon Butler to their practice squad and released Jack Heflin, who plays the same position.

View rare photos of the Giants' history playing on Wild Card Weekend in the NFL Playoffs.

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