Matthew Coller: Vikings find blueprint for supporting Sam Darnold

The running game and defense shined for the Vikings in their blowout victory over the Giants, showing how they can win with Darnold under center.

Sep 8, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold (14) throws a pass against the New York Giants during the first half at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images / John Jones-Imagn Images

EAST RUTHERFORD — You know who deserves a game ball for the Minnesota Vikings’ win over the New York Giants on Sunday? Well, about half the roster and the entire coaching staff.

In the Vikings’ 28-6 domination over the G-Men at MetLife Stadium, the Vikings provided the perfect blueprint for how they can win with Sam Darnold as their quarterback: Give him a good scheme, run the ball, play strong defense and let him show off the cannon a couple times.

All of those things came together in order for the Vikings to start the season 1-0 in impressive fashion.

The Vikings’ first drive of the Darnold era was bumbled. Giants star DT Dexter Lawrence sacked the new QB and then when Darnold played things safe on third down, fullback CJ Ham fumbled the ball attempting to grit out a couple more yards.

Every opportunity was there for the Giants to score a touchdown and get on the right side of the score early with a rowdy crowd and all sorts of legends in the house for their 100-season celebration.

Instead, outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel pulled down QB Daniel Jones for a sack, preventing the Giants from jumping on the Vikings’ early miscue.

“You kind of felt that a less mentally tough team might have said, ‘Here we go again,’” head coach Kevin O’Connell said. “But the next time we touched it, we went down the field and scored.”

The way in which the Vikings’ offense scored on Sunday were demonstrative of the ways in which everyone played a role in Darnold’s success in his first win since the end of 2022. Receiver Jordan Addison battled for a third-down 50-50 ball that was tossed up in the air by Darnold on the team’s second drive. He didn’t come down with the catch but his effort led to a questionable flag, giving the Vikings 36 free yards.

When they got to the goal line, they saw a familiar sight: Aaron Jones jolting by people into the end zone. Except he was doing it in purple rather than green and gold. O’Connell explained after the game why it was a superstar type play:

“Things happen fast down there, you rely on vision, you rely on guys understanding the feel of the blocking combinations in front of them,” O’Connell said. “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.”

So often in the recent past, the Vikings’ offense has been asked to score and score and score in order to stay ahead. Sunday’s defensive performance, however, looked like the old days of the 2015-2019 clubs that could sit on a lead and squeeze the life out of a struggling opposing QB. After the Vikings took a 7-3 lead, they snuffed out the next Giants drive despite giving up a 25-yard reception to rookie Malik Nabers. That set up for the game-changing sequence for Darnold.

A tremendous punt by the Giants set up the 27-year-old QB at his own 1-yard line. A quick pass to Ty Chandler pushed forward for a first down and then Darnold made a throw that wowed everyone, including Justin Jefferson. On second-and-12 from his own 10-yard line, Darnold fluttered a ball toward Jefferson, who was running a fade route toward the sideline, despite the fact there were two defenders in the area. The ball dropped into Jefferson’s hands as if Darnold had frozen time and walked over and placed it in his mitts.

“I feel like it’s more confidence for him [Darnold] to see the ball like that into my hands,” Jefferson said. “I feel like that is going to be something that we need throughout the season, just giving him that confidence and giving him that juice to throw me the ball whenever there is double-coverage, because I was double-covered on that play and him throwing it to that spot and me going to get it, that is going to happen a majority of the time during the season. He has to understand that even when I am double-teamed, I’m still open and that I am going to make a play.”

“I just thought that throw to (WR) Justin (Jefferson) was remarkable,” O’Connell said. “To be able to lean on the quarterback in that moment to activate your best player and for his trust and just a lot of time on task with those two opening up. That’s a really big time play in that moment to really set the stage for us to go down the field and come away with seven.”

Darnold built on the explosive play by hitting Addison on time on back-to-back throws of 16 and 13 yards and then with the Vikings set up for fourth-and-2 at the goal line O’Connell decided to show his belief in his QB by going for it. Darnold threw a dart into Jefferson’s hands for a touchdown.

The Vikings’ defense then did their job by forcing New York to punt on every drive in the first half after their opening field goal.

O’Connell’s scheme and play calling needed to be sharp in order for Darnold to thrive as well. With Kirk Cousins in Atlanta, the play caller needed to take a bit different approach than years past where he could have Cousins fling intermediate passes over and over. Darnold needed some easy-button plays.

That came on the opening drive of the second half. After Aaron Jones put the offense on his back with runs of 12 and 19 yards, the Vikings had the ball with first-and-10 at the 21-yard line. Jefferson lined up in the backfield and swung toward the sideline like he was going for a screen. Rather than swing it to him, Jalen Nailor ran wide open and Darnold found him for a touchdown.

“There’s always a little bit of early trying to figure out kind of cover intentions with Justin (Jefferson) and Jordan (Addison) got some double teams today as well,
O’Connell said of the TD. “There was some time on some of those third downs that both those guys were doubled, and we needed to try to make a play elsewhere, but yeah that was great set up of the play. You worry sometimes about sending different motions and things and the noise and silent cadence and getting it snapped. But then that goes right along with kind of just the performance (QB) Sam (Darnold) had that would be really something we can build off of.”

From the 21-3 lead, the defense did the rest.

The Giants kicked a field goal and then stopped the Vikings on a quick three-and-out, leaving the door slightly ajar for them to come back from down two touchdowns. That’s when Van Ginkel put an end to the G-Men’s chances to come back. On a bubble screen, he jumped out in front of the ball and picked it off and then walked into the end zone. Ballgame over.

“I had a similar play last year,” Van Ginkel said. “This defense showed so much pressure and we try to put a lot of pressure on the quarterback. If we can communicate with each other and get them to show us their hand, it allows us to play faster and anticipate things faster, and that’s exactly what happened.”

The only other possible moment for New York to make noise was also snuffed out quickly. Late in the third quarter Darnold was picked off when his arm was hit and the ball fluttered up into the air. The Giants took over at the Vikings’ 39-yard line and converted a couple first downs to get to the 11-yard line. On fourth down, Harrison Smith picked off Daniel Jones and put the final nail in New York’s coffin.

Aaron Jones slammed away at the Giants and the defense shut them down the rest of the game, allowing just 3.5 yards per play when the dust settled.

As the Vikings go into the tough part of their schedule with the San Francisco 49ers and Houston Texans coming to town over the next two weeks, the win in New York will loom large. Not just because it provides a bit of cushion as they match up with teams that have Super Bowl expectations but because it showed that they can play a complete game around Darnold. It proved that they have a veteran defense with the talent to make game-changing plays and a running game that can score in the red zone and create explosive plays. They have a scheme that can play to Darnold’s strengths and allow him to “play point guard” rather than feeling like he has to play hero each week.

“There’s no doubt momentum is a real thing in this league and confidence, there’s nothing like going out on a Sunday in an NFL stadium winning a game by a significant margin,” O’Connell said. “There’s nobody in that locker room surprised, shocked, that we went out there and executed. I think it’s just a confirmation of a lot of work that’s been put in.”