It turns out Ivan Pace Jr.’s comments about the Giants offense weren’t even strong enough.
The Vikings linebacker was fully validated, and then some.
He made headlines during the week when he said Minnesota’s defense was “about to go crazy” against the Giants offense and that “it ain’t even gonna be no matchup.”
But after the Giants were humiliated, 28-6, on Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium against the Vikings in their season opener, Pace bit his tongue and opted not to gloat, instead letting the Vikings performance do the talking for him.
“We went out there and had a good game,” Pace told The Post. “They had a good game, too. They was out there ballin’, we was out there ballin’. It was a good game. … They had their plan, we had our plan. It was a good time.”
One of his teammates, however, opted for a different approach.
Trailing by the final margin late in the third quarter, the Giants faced a 4th-and-3 at their own 37.
Head coach Brian Daboll sent his offense back on the field, but it was simply to try to get the Vikings to jump offside, which they didn’t. The Giants subsequently took a delay of game penalty and punted, and boos rained down from the stands.
As he jogged to the sidelines, Vikings safety Joshua Metellus was animated and began waving his arms at the crowd, seemingly trying to encourage them to boo louder.
Was he, in fact, trolling Giants fans?
“Hell yeah,” Metellus told The Post. “Anytime you can get the home team to boo, and you’re the away team, that’s a win. It’s one of the best feelings in football. Just knowing you can take away the life of the crowd.”
Pace, who went undrafted last year, has emerged as a hidden gem for the Vikings. He was busy Sunday, recording six total tackles and a quarterback hit.
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Metellus, whom the Vikings drafted in the sixth round in 2020, recorded four total tackles, a pass breakup and a quarterback hit.
And they likely won’t be the last to look down on the Giants.
“We just knew what we had,” Metellus said. “It wasn’t even really about them. I know what Ivan said, but it wasn’t even about them. It was more about, we knew what we had and the kind of guys we had.
“If we’re gonna talk, we’re gonna back it up. That’s the plan every time. Once he said that, we knew we had to have his back.”