Vikings’ new pieces fit together just right in 28-6 season-opening win over Giants

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.