The Minnesota Vikings took down the New York Giants 28-6 in the first game of the Sam Darnold era. It was a fairly breezy watch for Vikings fans accustomed to dizzying turns of fortune and the narrowest of margins in both victory and defeat.
Minnesota’s day got off to an auspicious start on offense after C.J. Ham fumbled deep in Vikings territory. Despite the initial setback, Minnesota’s defense held strong and only let New York’s offense get three points on the ensuing drive. After the initial hiccup, it was all Vikings for the rest of the afternoon. It started when the offense put together a 65-yard drive, capped off by new running back Aaron Jones rumbling into the end zone. From that point on, Minnesota never relinquished their lead and looked firmly in control.
Below are the numbers that tell the story of the Vikings’ win over the Giants.
3
The Vikings haven’t won a game by three possessions since Dec. 15, 2019, at the Los Angeles Chargers, and they’ve won 36 games since then by one or two possessions. For the past couple years, the Vikings have always found themselves in one-score games that come down to the last drive. Even in games where they look to be blown out or are blowing someone out, it always somehow managed to revert back to a one-score game.
However, this week it felt like the Vikings were firmly in control of the game after halfway through the third quarter. The final nail in the coffin came when Harrison Smith intercepted Daniel Jones’ pass in the end zone on fourth down.
2008
The Vikings went 99 yards on their second scoring drive, which included Darnold’s 44-yard pass to Justin Jefferson. It was their first 99-yard drive since 2008. The Giants punt coverage team was able to down the ball at the one, putting the Vikings in the shadow of their end zone. At that point, most people would have thought more about avoiding the safety considering how Dexter Lawrence and Co. were bullying the offensive line earlier than trying to set up a scoring drive.
However, the offense put together an impressive 99-yard drive that included a 44-yard strike to Jefferson through the air. They capped it off with a three-yard throw to Jefferson on fourth-and-two when head coach Kevin O’Connell decided to roll the dice early and went for the touchdown instead of getting the almost guaranteed three points. The last time they scored after starting at their own one-yard line was when Gus Frerotte threw a 99-yard touchdown pass to Bernard Berrian in 2008.
10
Andrew Van Ginkel picked off Daniel Jones and ran it back 10 yards to put the Vikings up 28-6 in the third quarter. Van Ginkel had a great day even without the interception, recording a sack and two quarterback hits. He was one of the standouts of this new-look defense. However, he was far from the only one to show up. After a rough start and lining up offsides, Dallas Turner recorded an impressive sack, beating Andrew Thomas near the end of the half.
New addition Blake Cashman also was very impressive. He recorded six tackles while forming a new dynamic duo in the middle of the field with last season’s standout linebacker, Ivan Pace Jr. While two years ago, this defense looked completely lost under the guidance of Ed Donatell, after just two offseasons of Brian Flores, you can see the vision start to take shape.
12
Sam Darnold started the game and his tenure in Minnesota off strong, completing his first 12 passes in a row. After Kirk Cousins left the Vikings and with J.J. McCarthy set to miss the entire season, most fans thought the Vikings would have poor quarterback play this season. Instead, they were pleasantly surprised when Darnold went off in his former home stadium.
It isn’t like Darnold was just throwing checkdowns. He had 136 yards on his first 10 completions while showing off great chemistry with Jordan Addison and Jefferson. While everyone knows that the plan eventually is to have McCarthy as the quarterback of the future, Darnold showed why the Vikings targeted him in free agency.
2
The Vikings blew two timeouts to avoid delay of game penalties on a drive in the third quarter. While the Vikings were impressive in nearly every aspect, they must improve their communication of the play. The team had to burn a timeout twice on one drive to avoid losing five yards.
This is nothing new; the Vikings had the same problem early in the seasons. While every team has some version of this issue, Minnesota must rectify it soon beceause losing valuable timeouts so early in games that are close will be much more costly.
