Eli Manning completed 23 of 39 passes for 200 yards and a touchdown and didn’t throw an interception for the first time this season as the New York Giants picked up their first victory of the year 23-7 over the Vikings on Monday night.
Meanwhile, the Josh Freeman era in Minnesota is off to a rocky start.
Minnesota didn’t score offensively against a team that entered the game allowing a league-worst 34.8 points per game. Marcus Sherels 86-yard punt return touchdown was the only score of the night for the Vikings. Adrian Peterson carried just 13 times for 28 yards while Freeman threw 53 passes for a team he’s been a part of for less than two weeks.
Needless to say, the result wasn’t pretty for the Vikings.
Freeman completed just 20 of those 53 passes for 190 yards with an interception. His passer rating for the night finished a lowly 40.6.
Josh Brown kicked three field goals for the Giants and Manning connected on a 24-yard touchdown pass to Reuben Randle in the second quarter. Peyton Hillis also added a 1-yard touchdown run in his first game with the Giants as Brandon Jacobs and David Wilson were sidelined with injuries.
Not surprisingly for two teams entering the night with just one combined victory, the game was sloppy. There were five fumbles combined and just 463 yards of combined offense.