Josh Metellus knew he had seen that play before. When he was with the Miami Dolphins last year, Andrew Van Ginkel anticipated that the Washington Commanders were running a screen play and intercepted Sam Howell for a pick-six.
“I think I’ve seen him do that before,” said Metellus. “Yeah, he did. Might look a little familiar.
“That’s why we brought him here. We all knew what play was coming, once they lined up, he just knew the play even better than us. So, yeah man, anytime you can have a guy like him on the field, to be able to change a game at any moment is lovely.”
Van Ginkel wasn’t the only player the Minnesota Vikings added in the offseason who made an impact. Kevin O’Connell handed out four game balls after Minnesota’s 28-6 win, each to a player they signed in free agency. Sam Darnold went 19 of 24 for 208 yards, two touchdowns, and a pick. Aaron Jones had 94 yards on 14 carries. Dallas Turner had three tackles and his first career sack.
But Van Ginkel’s pick-six sealed the game.
“That was a smart play,” said Harrison Smith. “And then the athleticism to do it in the end zone. Pretty much iced the game. You never know: Maybe they go on a drive there and it gets interesting. So to be able to do that is kind of like the dagger.”
Metellus said that the Vikings built strong relationships in the offseason, one in which they lost Kirk Cousins and Danielle Hunter to free agency.
“When those guys came in, they just felt like they were on the team already, I know me and JG (Jonathan Greenard) hit it off immediately. Once Gink got back on the field after his injury, we started hitting it off immediately. Cash (Blake Cashman) immediately. Me and Cash know each other going back into last offseason.”
He also said that the Vikings brought in smart players who immediately picked up on Brian Flores’ complex defense.
“They’re just very smart football players,” said Metellus. “That was a big reason why we brought a lot of guys with those assets and free agency.
“That was the big thing, bringing them in, because we do a lot of stuff on defense, a lot of scheme. So we needed very smart guys to be able to come in and immediately get that done. But that’s part of being professional. Guys get traded, gotta go learn the scheme, and then play that same week, so that’s just part of being a pro, and those guys are pros.”
The defense did their part, holding Daniel Jones and the New York Giants to six points. However, the Vikings wouldn’t have won their first game by three scores since 2019 if Darnold hadn’t had the game he had offensively.
Darnold didn’t put up gaudy numbers, but he hit Justin Jefferson for a 44-yard bomb in the second quarter, completed two touchdown passes, and took care of the ball. Dexter Lawrence tipped his lone interception, and Darnold looked in control of the offense against New York’s vaunted pass rush. He completed his first 12 passes and showed flashes of being the player the New York Jets wanted him to be when they took him third overall in 2018.
“I’ve talked a lot about the quarterback journey,” O’Connell said after the game. “Quarterbacks in our league don’t get to control a lot of that journey, and they’re expected to perform in some cases immediately.
“I’ve just always really liked the way Sam carries himself. He’s a talented player, and he can make big-time throws. Every throw we’re going to ask him to make, he’s more than capable of doing that. And then he’s a great example of what this last month and a half have really been like preparing in a way that will show up on a Sunday.”
Jones took some of the pressure off Darnold by giving the Vikings a viable running threat they didn’t have with Alexander Mattison last year. He beat New York’s defense to the edge to score Minnesota’s first touchdown, and his 94 yards were the seventh-most by a Vikings running back since O’Connell took over as head coach.
“What you’re going to see out of Aaron (Jones), no matter what concept we call, he’s going to make things come to life,” said O’Connell. “He’s got an ability in his body and the experience of over 6,000 yards in his career.
“This guy can make things happen for you in the run game. When you can get people covered up and figure out front structures and how we can try to give him a head start to hopefully get through the initial surge and the initial line of scrimmage, he’s not going to get tackled by the first defender very often.”
Greenard and Cashman also contributed, even if it didn’t show up on the stat sheet. Greenard constantly pressured Jones, forcing him to make quick throws and poor decisions. Cashman had six tackles and was in command of the defense as the linebacker with the green dot. Turner looked like a first-round talent.
However, Van Ginkel had the greatest impact with his game-sealing pick-six.
“We for sure felt comfortable as a defense,” said Cam Bynum. “So many new pieces, but everybody played together as if we’ve been together for years.
“But it’s Week 1. We have a lot of tests coming up. So, we know that we’ve got to get right back in the lab.”
Bynum is right. All the Giants game proves is that the Vikings didn’t play like one of the league’s worst teams in Week 1. However, the Houston Texans and San Franciso 49ers will be a bigger test for Minnesota in the next two weeks. We won’t know how good they are until they play those two formidable foes..
Still, we learned that the Vikings built a completive team in the offseason, which has already withstood a lot of adversity. That alone is a win for a team that looked like they may be headed for a lost season before it even started.