Stephen, yes Vikes blown out a couple times by good teams, I would rate Giants closer to the bad teams that the Vikings have defeated by double digits. Too many guys not playing, i.e. WR Beckham and TE Donnell. My personal opinion.
Razorback Fan, some coaches are of the school of thought that even if you have a chance to rest players, your team still does better to compete hard, and I feel Zimm is that way.
This game is on SNF and Zimm is an intense leader of a hard-fighting team. It would be an embarassment to the Vikings, the league and NBC if Zimm did anything to soften the intensity of the game.
As for the injuries, as I posted he plans on "being smart" which I think means if there's a substantial chance that playing the game will worsen an injury, the player's time will be reduced maybe even to zero. But we'd better wait for news from the horse's mouth.
Peterson is confident he'll play, and RotoWorld posted this morning: "Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said Adrian Peterson will practice Thursday. He will likely be limited in practice, but that puts him on track to play."
The other injured players, we'll have to wait and see about.