All the focus for the San Francisco 49ers right now is on stopping the current New York Jets quarterback in their Monday season opener , but their Week 2 assignment already looks a little more ominous after a familiar face excelled on his debut for his new team.
Sam Darnold, the former third overall pick of the Jets, returned to MetLife Stadium on Sunday for his first game with the Minnesota Vikings after spending the 2023 season with the 49ers as Brock Purdy's backup .
Darnold was superb as the Vikings strolled to a 28-6 road win over the New York Giants, in which Minnesota recovered from an early fumble to start the year in style.
He went 19 of 24 for 208 yards and two touchdowns with one interception, Darnold going 12 for 12 to start the game through the air to help defeat a Giants team that looked overmatched throughout.
Darnold will look to maintain his early momentum when the Vikings host the 49ers next Sunday, his performance in the opener sending a message to San Francisco that a quarterback with in-depth knowledge of the 49er defense will make it extremely difficult on his former team.
His performance earned effusive praise from head coach Kevin O'Connell, who told his post-game press conference: "There’s a lot of things that Sam will probably come in here and say he can do better, but I can tell you starting twelve for twelve and having the presence to help overcome that early adversity comes directly from the quarterback position.
"And that’s probably why his teammates viewed him as a captain and almost unanimously voted him one.
"I just can’t say enough about what he was able to do and how excited I am to build on his performance today and moving forward."
The 49ers haven't won in Minnesota in the regular season since the 1992 campaign, and that winless run could well continue if Darnold is able to showcase the accuracy and anticipation that enabled him to carve up the Giants.
San Francisco is a substantially better team than the Giants, and its defense will have a much better idea of how to keep Darnold in check after practicing against him last season.
Still the 49ers will know better than most that, with his physical attributes, Darnold is not to be taken lightly.
The Niners will be favored heavily to deal Darnold a dose of reality. However, Darnold boasts huge big-play upside that has been obvious since his college career. As was the case during his time in San Francisco, he also has an excellent supporting cast on both sides of the ball, and an offensive play-caller in O'Connell who does an excellent job of putting players in favorable positions. That is a combination to allow both Darnold and the Vikings to keep dreaming.
Despite all that, the Vikings are not expected to seriously contend in 2024. Yet that arguably makes them more dangerous in allowing Darnold to display significant aggressiveness in attacking opposing defenses without the burden of expectation.
San Francisco has some history of early-season slip-ups against the Vikings, and Darnold's debut served to illustrate just how tough ending that long run without a road win against Minnesota will be.
Related: Brock Purdy already has a victory to his name in 2024 after winning Cy-Hawk bet with George Kittle
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