The New York Giants are used to having weather play a factor in their December games. They didn't expect this week to be one of them.
New York's scheduled game with the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday had to be postponed one day and moved to Detroit when a blizzard in Minneapolis caused the roof of the Metrodome to collapse Saturday night.
It is a break of sorts for the Giants, who will escape a true road game when the teams line up at Ford Field - home of the Detroit Lions - for Monday night's matchup with the Vikings.
Whether old nemesis Brett Favre will be able to play also may be decided in part by the weather postponement.
Favre suffered a sprained right shoulder in last week's win over Buffalo, and said he would not have been able to play if the game was held Sunday.
The hope for the Vikings is that the extra 24 hours will help the healing process for Favre, who had made an NFL-record 297 consecutive regular-season starts.
New York (8-4) is tied with Philadelphia (8-4) atop the NFC East, although the Eagles won the first matchup between the teams, and is battling New Orleans (9-3), Green Bay (8-4) and Tampa Bay (7-5) for two wild-card berths.
After dropping two games to Dallas and Philadelphia and committing eight turnovers - six by quarterback Eli Manning - the Giants have put together two strong defensive and error-free efforts against Jacksonville and Washington to keep them in the middle of the playoff picture.
After Monday night's game against Minnesota, New York has critical games with Philadelphia and at Green Bay before concluding the season in Washington. The Eagles conclude their season with Dallas this week, New York, Minnesota and Dallas again.
The Giants better not get caught looking ahead, especially since the Vikings have dominated the recent series between the two.
Minnesota (5-7) will be officially eliminated from playoff consideration with one more loss. But even if the playoffs are unlikely, the Vikings will have a say in the postseason picture. They also have games remaining against Chicago and Philadelphia.
Minnesota is 2-0 under interim coach Leslie Frazier and 4-2 at home. The Vikings have a rejuvenated pass rush and thumped New York 44-8 on Jan. 3, 2009, when Favre threw for 316 yards and four touchdowns to put an emphatic exclamation point on the Giants’ late-season collapse.
Favre has won five of his last six against New York, completing 116 of 175 (66.3 percent) for 1,435 yards with 14 TDs against two picks, but it’s doubtful that this version of Favre - even if healthy - could put up those numbers.
If Favre can’t go, Tarvaris Jackson, who had two TDs and three picks last week, will start.
Manning is 0-4 against Minnesota, completing 51.7 percent of his passes with two TDs and nine interceptions – four returned for touchdowns. He has thrown 17 interceptions this season, the second most in the league behind the 18 thrown by Favre.
Manning was a pedestrian 15 of 25 for 161 yards against Washington, but he wasn’t sacked for the fifth straight game in the 31-7 thumping against Washington last week.
Minnesota will challenge that streak this week. After coming up with just six sacks in their first seven games, the Vikings have gotten to opposing quarterbacks 16 times in the past five games, with defensive end Jared Allen recording 7.5 sacks.
Giants center Shaun O’Hara (foot), guard David Diehl (hamstring) and tackle Shawn Andrews (back) are battling injuries, and the club is unsure of the status of wide receivers Hakeem Nicks (leg) and Steve Smith (pectoral).
Minnesota beat Buffalo 38-14 last week as Adrian Peterson rushed for 107 yards and three touchdowns for the fourth time in his career. Peterson leads the NFC in rushing with 1,123 yards and 11 touchdowns and is the fourth player in history to rush for 1,000 yards and 10 TDs in each of first four seasons.