Everything that stood out in Vikings' preseason opener

JJ McCarthy had two touchdowns in his first preseason action

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By Matthew Coller

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Vikings opened their preseason against the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday afternoon and Kevin O’Connell got his first preseason win as head coach.

Here’s the main takeaways…

Who started?

— Starting offense: Sam Darnold, Ty Chandler, CJ Ham, Josh Oliver, Jordan Addison, Jalen Nailor and the starting O-line

*Brandon Powell and Johnny Mundt came in shortly after

— Starting defense: Pat Jones, Dallas Turner, Jonathan Bullard, Harrison Phillips, Jonah Williams, Byron Murphy Jr, Akayleb Evans, Cam Bynum, Josh Metellus, Ivan Pace Jr., Blake Cashman

Sam Darnold plays one drive, hits on some explosives

The Vikings’ starting quarterback was only on the field for a total of 12 snaps against the Raiders and looked pretty comfortable. He started out with a 19-yard completion to a wide open Jalen Nailor and then found Nailor again three plays later for 26 yards on a pass that had good touch.

Darnold completed passes to Jordan Addison for a first down and Johnny Mundt on a bootleg to bring them into the red zone. Once they were there, the operation wasn’t as smooth. Darnold scrambled and threw to Ty Chandler, who may have had a chance to make the play but couldn’t bring the ball in. A fourth down pass from Darnold to Nailor was knocked away in the end zone and the Vikings didn’t come away with any points.

There aren’t many takeaways from the lone drive other than that Darnold didn’t have any trouble running the offense and getting the ball to open receivers when they were available. He finished the day 4-for-8 with 59 yards.

McCarthy’s tough start and big plays

During the opening drive of McCarthy’s preseason career, he showed some pocket presence right away by hitting Nailor over the middle after resetting himself in the pocket.

On third-and-8, McCarthy again moved out of danger when Kene Nwangwu was trucked in pass protection but the results were less favorable. He threw an easy interception when trying to force the ball to Trishton Jackson. It looked like he needed to either lead Jackson farther up field or throw the ball away.

When he returned to the field, McCarthy delivered an accurate pass to Jackson across the middle for 24 yards. His accuracy on intermediate throws was strong throughout Saturday’s game. Following a long touchdown run from Nwangwu, McCarthy hit on another accurate throw for an explosive play, finding Jackson breaking toward the sideline for 21 yards.

The two 20-plus-yard plays were the types of passes he was struggling to hit with any consistency in OTAs and minicamp but has shown big improvement on during training camp. McCarthy also showed off his wheels a bit, scrambling for a 9-yard gain.

In the second half McCarthy converted a third down to Nick Muse. He followed that up with beautiful touch on a deep pass that dropped right into the arms of Trishton Jackson for McCarthy’s first touchdown pass. The ball traveled easily around 40 yards through the air with very little effort from the rookie QB.

On the following drive, he ripped a pass across the middle to Jackson to convert a fourth down. He followed that up with another deep ball to a wide open Trent Sherfield for a 33-yard touchdown.

Special teams not special but…

It was a tough first half for Matt Daniels’ group. Will Reichard had a field goal blocked and Ryan Wright outkicked his coverage on a 57-yard booming punt and the Raiders picked up a huge gain. Thayer Thomas was also underwhelming as a punt returner and we didn’t see much from the new kick return. Seth Vernon had a rough start with his first punt being shanked.

However, Reichard did kick a game-winning field goal to finish the game.

Nailor, Jackson, Nwangwu shine

The Vikings’ presumptive No. 3 receiver Nailor started in place of Justin Jefferson and found himself open on numerous occasions, catching three passes for 63 yards on four targets. He has established himself during camp as a potentially legitimate weapon and that quickly carried over to the game.

Nwangwu has gotten a ton of work during training camp as he looks to make a case for RB3 behind Aaron Jones and Ty Chandler. He certainly made a strong statement with his remarkable speed when he took a handoff and ran away from the entire Raiders defense for a 48-yard touchdown.

However, he only gained four yards on four other carries in the first half and got run over on a pass blocking rep.