The 2023 National Football League playoffs are officially underway, beginning with Super Wildcard Weekend. Two games occurred on Saturday. Three games happened on Sunday. The final game took place on Monday. We ended the regular season with the Buffalo Bills being the last team crowned. In the first-ever playoff Top Team of the Week for Super Wildcard Weekend will be the New York Giants.
Saquon Barkley is Him
Saquon Barkley played a massive role in the Giants’ 2023 playoff run. Against the Minnesota Vikings, Barkley had nine rushes for 53 yards and two touchdowns. Saquon put this team on his back, especially in a crucial year for him. Barkley has exceeded all expectations of how essential he has been to New York’s success. The New York Giant goes as far as Saquon Barkley goes.
Danny Dimes is the King of New York
Imagine last year, saying in 2023 that Daniel Jones is a top-15 arguable top-12 quarterback in the NFL. In his playoff debut, he completed 24-of-35, equals 68 percent, for 301 yards and two touchdowns. In addition, Jones was very effective in the rushing game as New York’s leading rusher, rushing 17 times for 78 yards.
Daboll’s of Steel
Brian Daboll deserves tremendous consideration for coach of the year like Sean McDermont is. He took the New York Giants and dragged them to the playoffs. The Giants’ roster is not good by any stretch. As of right now, they are in the Divisional Round of the playoffs. Not many people were saying that during the pre-season. Whereas, real NFL fans knew Coach Brian Daboll was destined for greatness once Daboll pulled up to work in a blue Ford pickup truck.
Click here for Gates’ full Team of the Week archive.
New York Giants Players Stepped Up
A Key Reason why the Giant won was players stepped up in pivotal moments. Isaiah Hodgins had eight receptions for 105 yards and one touchdown. Darius Slayton had four receptions for 88 yards. Graham Gano was what the Giants needed him to be, reliable. Gano went 100 percent on his kicks for seven points.
Exposing the Frauds
Throughout the regular season, the Minnesota Vikings have been exposed time and time again. For example, the Green Bay Packers were predicted to blow the Packers out of the water. But, instead of winning by a lot, the resulted in a loss for the Vikings, the final score being 41-17.
The Vikings were eventually exposed again in the first half of the Indianapolis Colts game when Minnesota let the Colts put up over 20 points. Even though that game did turn into the biggest comeback in NFL History, the Colts would end up losing to the Houston Texans.
Then flash forward to this past Wildcard Weekend; the New York Giants exposed the Minnesota Vikings. All three of those teams shut down Justin Jefferson. In the most recent game versus the Giants, he had seven receptions for 47 yards. Yes, you heard that right. Another thing to mention in playoff seeding, the Vikings were the third seed with a 13-4 record, while the Giants were the sixth seed with a 10-7-1 record.
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Main Image Credit: Embed from Getty Images
