Jonathan Greenard admits Vikings were starting to ‘feel a little bit bad’ for Daniel Jones

Jonathan Greenard admits Vikings were starting to ‘feel a little bit bad’ for Daniel Jones

From nearly start-to-finish, the Minnesota Vikings held the upper hand over the New York Giants inside Metlife Stadium in their season-opener Sunday.

Minnesota ultimately won the game 28-6 in dominant fashion, their biggest margin-of-victory since Dec. of 2019. Throughout the majority of the game, you could hear loud boos from the Giants faithful.

According to Vikings defensive end Jonathan Greenard, the team started feeling bad for quarterback Daniel Jones–who took the brunt of the boos because of his poor play Sunday.

“Man, when we heard the boos raining in, we’re like, ‘Okay, now we’re good on our side,'” Greenard said on KFAN’s “The Power Trip” show on Tuesday. “But when they got really loud to where it was as loud as a third down should be when they’re on defense, it was kind of bad. We kind of started to feel a little bit bad for him, as we’re still just completely just taking away everything that he wants to do.”

Jones struggled mightily, completing just 22-of-42 passes for 186 yards and two interceptions, including a telegraphed pick-six to Andrew Van Ginkel on a wide receiver screen. He had routine misses and never felt comfortable in the pocket, even when defensive coordinator Brian Flores dropped seven or eight in coverage.

The Giants’ offensive line–specifically star left tackle Andrew Thomas–held up for most of the afternoon, but Jones was still sacked five times. Flores was playing mind games with Jones, and if you can get into and mess with the mind of the opposing quarterback before the snap is even taken, you’re going to win.

“We understand [Daniel Jones] was dealing with a lot, and if we can add another aspect of pressure onto the guy to make him speed up his reads a little bit more, make sure that he’s not going to get confident and comfortable back in the pocket,” Greenard said. “Man, it was a great feeling to see it on the first couple drives.”

Yeah, Minnesota was delighted with making an opposing quarterback’s life miserable. A defensive player’s dream, right?!? Mind games are an important thing.

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