Running back Aaron Jones, quarterback Sam Darnold and edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel provided evidence of a Vikings plan coming together.
Vikings running back Aaron Jones celebrated the team's 28-6 win over the New York Giants in the season opener Sunday in East Rutherford, N.J. (Jerry Holt/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The Vikings led the Giants 28-6 in the fourth quarter Sunday. Most of the New York fans who had filled MetLife Stadium for the opening game of the Giants’ 100th season had filed out, with little to cheer in the four quarters of football bookending a halftime celebration that included everyone from Bill Parcells and Tom Coughlin to Lawrence Taylor and Eli Manning.
The Giants had scored just six points, with Daniel Jones absorbing 12 hits from the defense whose identity shift he precipitated with his masterful playoff performance at U.S. Bank Stadium two years ago. The Vikings needed only to run the clock out; coach Kevin O’Connell saw an opportunity to help Aaron Jones extend the NFL’s longest active streak of 100-yard games, which included his 120-yard night in the game that effectively ended the Vikings’ playoff hopes last New Year’s Eve.
“Tried to get him over 100 there late, but wanted to be smart about him as well,” O’Connell said. “I told him he would get one more shot at it, but [he had a] huge impact.”
An O’Connell-led team had a comfortable-enough lead to chase individual milestones while salting away a 22-point victory highlighted by a defense that left Daniel Jones grasping for answers and a running game that had all the solutions the Vikings needed.
How many elements of that scene would have seemed incalculable a year ago? Two years ago? The coach handed out five game balls; four were to players not on the roster a year ago. The first went to Sam Darnold, who has left MetLife Stadium for three other homes since the Jets traded the former No. 3 overall pick. The last went to Andrew Van Ginkel, the quiet linebacker whose touchdown tally, now at four, began with a score in Brian Flores’ 2020 defensive masterpiece against O’Connell’s Rams.
The 2024 Vikings might feel, in some ways, like a collection of disparate parts, with veterans on one-year contracts combined with foundational young players on multiyear deals. The way they aim to play could last for just a moment in time, with J.J. McCarthy possibly taking over as the starting quarterback next year and seven of Sunday’s defensive starters headed for free agency after the year.
But in their first game, the Vikings shook off an early fumble and scored 21 consecutive points before Van Ginkel’s interception return TD meant the most lopsided victory of O’Connell’s tenure would come against the team that beat the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium in the playoffs two years ago and the coach who outpaced him in the 2022 NFL Coach of the Year vote. It was O’Connell, not Brian Daboll, who could praise his players’ preparation, conditioning and execution in a locker room victory speech.
The rest of the 2024 season might not be so easy, and the Vikings’ performance on Sunday certainly had its blemishes (two turnovers and seven penalties, chief among them).
At a base level, though, the Vikings won in the way they had intended to all offseason.
“This goes back a long way, when you are preparing for your first opportunity and you go out to a football game and really see a lot of what these players have put in, really long before training camp started, but over the last month and a half or so just building up to this moment. I’m really proud of our team,” O’Connell said.
Darnold completed 13 of his 14 first-half passes, including all seven of his throws on a 99-yard touchdown drive that ranked as the Vikings’ longest since 2008 and put them up 14-3 in the second quarter. His 44-yard completion to Justin Jefferson on the drive came with two defenders covering the receiver; “That’s going to happen a majority of the time this season,” Jefferson said. “He’s got to understand, even when I’m doubled, I’m still open and I’m going to make that play.”
When the Vikings faced a fourth-and-2 at the end of the drive, O’Connell showed little hesitation about keeping the offense on the field; Darnold threw a 3-yard dart to Jefferson on a quick slant against Deonte Banks.
“I think just down there in the red zone, especially in the fringe area where we scored, it’s always important for me to just continue to make quick, decisive decisions in the red zone,” Darnold said. “I feel like I did that for the most part but again, there’s a lot of room for me to get better.”
Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson (18) catches a touchdown pass against New York Giants cornerback Deonte Banks (3) during the second quarter Sunday. (Jerry Holt/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Darnold, who completed 19 of 24 passes for 208 yards with two TDs and an interception, got his first victory at MetLife Stadium since his final start with the Jets in 2020. He wasn’t the only one who could leave feeling like he had proven something.
Aaron Jones signed a one-year deal with the Vikings this offseason after the Packers released him once the 29-year-old declined to restructure his deal for the second consecutive season. He had surpassed 100 rushing yards in each of his final five games last season, helping the Packers reach the NFC divisional playoffs with a 48-point outburst at Dallas; Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst moved on anyway, instead signing Josh Jacobs in free agency.
The Vikings snapped up Jones, who had run for 847 yards against them in 11 career games. They believed his decisiveness and agility would deliver the efficiency they had long sought after releasing Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison. Jones’ speed impressed teammates throughout training camp; the running back said he was primed for one of his best seasons, citing the 40-minute routine he had begun using to get his body ready for practices in his eighth season.
On Sunday, Jones posted 94 yards on only 14 carries, and had 11 successful runs on those attempts. The Vikings didn’t have a rushing touchdown until Cam Akers’ Week 8 score at Green Bay last year; Jones scored their first TD of the year Sunday, bouncing outside and beating a defender to the pylon on a 3-yard run that mirrored many of his touchdowns from Green Bay.
“Things happen fast down there,” O’Connell said. “You rely on vision. You rely on guys understanding the feel of the blocking combinations in front of them. As people attach to blocks, sometimes it declares and it’s in milliseconds that you’ve got to make a decision to then have a chance to gain leverage on the outermost defender. In that play, particularly when he bounced it. Then it’s a race to the goal line. You’re talking about vision, feel, and then acceleration and burst to go finish the play. It was a great example of what he’s going to bring to our team.”
The touchdown put the Vikings up 7-3, before Darnold hit Jefferson for the team’s second score. On the first drive of the second half, O’Connell returned to a concept he used earlier in the game, having Jefferson look like he was waiting for a screen pass to lure defenders while Jalen Nailor broke open downfield. Darnold hit Nailor for a 21-yard touchdown that O’Connell said was “pretty much the exact intent of what I wanted to happen on the play.”
The final score came from Van Ginkel, who rushed off the right edge and stuck a hand up to intercept a screen pass in just 1.16 seconds, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. Former Dolphins defensive coordinator Vic Fangio had given him a tip on similar plays last year that helped Van Ginkel know what to look for, he said; he declined to share specifics so he could use it again later.
Fangio was Van Ginkel’s final defensive coordinator in Miami. His first coach there was Flores, whose first season there was Van Ginkel’s rookie season. The Dolphins fired Flores after 2021; the coach had planned to interview with the Giants for their head coaching job in 2022 when Bill Belichick, his former boss in New England, sent him a text that made him realize the team had already planned to hire Daboll. The exchange was a key component of Flores’ lawsuit against the NFL and three teams (including the Giants), alleging racial discrimination in its hiring practices.
On Sunday, Flores was at MetLife Stadium for the first time since the lawsuit, overseeing a group that held the Giants to six points after allowing at least 27 in each of the Vikings’ four season-ending losses last year.
It was another twist in a day that had plenty of them, and yet, hewed closely to the Vikings’ plan.
“There’s nobody in that locker room surprised that we went out there and executed,” O’Connell said. “I think it’s just a confirmation of a lot of work that’s been put in.”
Ben Goessling covers the Vikings for the Star Tribune. He has covered the team since 2012, and has previously covered the Twins, Wild, Washington Nationals and prep sports.
Running back Aaron Jones, quarterback Sam Darnold and edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel provided evidence of a Vikings plan coming together.
Jordan Addison, who had three catches for 35 yards, left in the third quarter after being tackled low. Coach Kevin O’Connell said it’s not the same ankle Addison injured previously.
