In Darnold's winning debut, Vikings find a blueprint for supporting him

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

Photo courtesy USA Today

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By Matthew Coller

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 Met Life 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.”