The Minnesota Vikings kicked the season off with a convincing 28-6 victory over the New York Giants. Getting off to a nice start feels very good, but it is a long season. Sam Darnold played a wonderful game, earning him the highest rated QB in the NFL in Week 1. He threw for over 200 yards with TD passes to Justin Jefferson and Jailon Nailer (a beautiful play design). Aaron Jones scored a rushing TD and Andrew Van Ginkel had a pick-6 (a genius play design). An absolute beat down by the Vikings in Week 1!
Let's recap Birdman's Blog’s prediction for Week 1, and then we can go over some talking points.
"VIKINGS @ GIANTS WEEK1:
The Minnesota Vikings kick the season off in New York against a terrible Giants team. I think the Vikings are going to destroy the Giants and it won't be particularly close. The Giants are one of the worst teams in the NFL. Outside of having a solid DL, this game has a chance to get ugly on Sunday. Sam Darnold will throw for over 300 yards, about 200 yards going to Justin Jefferson. Aaron Jones and Ty Chandler will combine for 125+ yards. The Vikings defense will contain QB Daniel Jones' rushing ability and record at least 1 defensive touchdown. This will end in a 34-13 victory for the Vikings to start the season. Winning by more than 2 scores has not happened for the Vikings since 2019. Bold prediction, yes, but I believe the national media is completely wrong about the 2024 Vikings."
Before you all get your panties in a bunch and say "yeah, but it was just the Giants," winning by 3 scores or more (17+ points) hasn't happened for the Vikings in a REALLY long time...since Week 15 of the 2019 season. So long, in fact, every other team in the NFL has at least 3 wins of 17+ points over that stretch... 13 teams have at least 10 wins of 17+ points over that time... and 3 teams have at least 20 wins of 17+ points. We call that the Curtis Cousins effect! Boy, does it feel good to have moved on from that idiot.
The TD pass to Jalen Nailor was a brilliant play call by KOC. The offense put Jefferson into motion as if he was going to catch a screen pass with Addison and Nailor blocking for him. Addison ran a post route to get out of the way, and Nailor pretended to block for a second so that his man and Jefferson's man both started going for Jefferson. As soon as that happened, Nailor sprinted to the back right corner of the endzone for a beautiful TD pass from Darnold. I love it!
The Pick 6 by Andrew Van Ginkel, by the naked eye, looked just like a wonderful play by AVG...and it was, obviously...but it was also a BRILLIANT defensive play design and execution by DC Brian Flores and the entire Vikings defense. Below, I have put together 4 images from the play to help illustrate what the Vikings did to confuse Daniel Jones. In the first 2 frames, Daniel Jones looks down and sees a Giants 4 on 3 advantage for a WR bubble screen. As soon as the ball is snapped, Ivan Pace drops out of the blitz look (you see Ivan Pace peaking that way before the snap) and sprints over to eliminate the 4 on 3 advantage by covering the 4th receiver. Also, when the ball is snapped, Andrew Van Ginkel does not do a typical rush. He instead moves upfield into the anticipated Daniel Jones passing lane and makes an amazing play to catch the ball and score the fasted pick-6 in NFL history. This was not an accident. The Vikings made Jones think it was a 4 on 3 advantage, but in reality, the Vikings had the 5 on 4 advantage the entire time. Huge credit and shoutout to Brian Flores!
In Week 2, the Vikings will host the dominant San Francisco 49ers. Both teams will likely have a key player out for the game. Star RB Christian McCaffrey is dealing with Achilles Tendonitis and Vikings WR Jordan Addison has 2 sprained ankles. Both teams have plenty of playmakers that will be asked to step up in the absense of these 2 players. The Vikings and 49ers both have very good defenses, so I think this will be a dog fight type of game, coming down to the last seconds. I predict the Vikings will win 23-20 on a game-winning field goal from future star kicker Will Reichard. The 49ers have not beaten the Vikings in Minnesota in 32 years, and that will continue this Sunday! Let's go, baby! Start the season 2-0!
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