The Giants had one task and one task only in Monday night’s game against the Vikings at MetLife Stadium: Stop Adrian Peterson.
They did — better than anyone had since the 2011 season — and it resulted in a 23-7 Giants win.
Peterson has always been the engine to the Vikings offense, but never more than he was Monday night with Josh Freeman, a Viking for about 10 minutes, starting at quarterback.
Peterson entered this weekend’s games as the fourth-leading rusher in the NFL with 483 yards (in only five games) and a league-best five rushing touchdowns.
On Monday night, he added only 28 rushing yards on 13 carries to that total. Thanks to a swarming, gang-tackling Giants defense, Peterson was rendered a complete non-factor.
“I had front-row seat to a great display of a group effort, started with our D-line up front and our guys inside, our D-ends contained him,” Giants linebacker Jon Beason said. “I said before the game this isn’t a stat week. I want no solo [tackles], everybody let’s get assists. When you swarm good things happen. We knew going in we had to make them one-dimensional by stopping Adrian Peterson and making them pass. We did a great job of containing him early, getting him off the field and getting them [in] third and long.’’
Beason, who saved a Peterson touchdown with a solo tackle on the running back’s longest run of the game (8 yards), said he sensed the Minnesota offense getting frustrated when it could not get the running game going.
“Any time you’re a great player and you’re accustomed to certain things happening, it’s frustrating,’’ Beason said. “But he plays every down hard. There was one play where he almost got away from me and I was able to pull him down by his arm. That play would have gone for a touchdown and he would have been right where he normally is. People have done a good job trying to contain him, but then all of a sudden he will rip off a 60- or 70-yarder and he gets his numbers.
“We just contained him as a team as a complete group effort on defense. You never know which play is going to be the play that’s going to determine the outcome of the game.’’
Peterson’s output was his lowest since being held to 26 yards on six carries against the Raiders on Nov. 20, 2011.
“It was definitely tough sledding,’’ Peterson said. “We were just kind of out of whack. Those guys were bringing stunts, doing a lot of movement up front. It put us in kind of an uncomfortable position and we struggled all night.’’
“We take a lot of pride in our run defense,’’ Giants defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins said. “It was a collective effort. The one thing we know about Peterson is you have to do it every play because that one play you let up on … he almost got one on us but Beason made a great tackle, got him by his arm. With Peterson, if you let up on one play he’ll get you.’’
There was no letup from a Giants defense that entered Monday night having allowed a league-high 209 points. Just a dominant defensive effort for a change. The result was their first win of the year, seven weeks into a season seemingly already lost.