Newcomers to 2024 Minnesota Vikings highlight Week 1 studs and duds

The Minnesota Vikings made a statement to the rest of the National Football League that they shouldn't be overlooked with a 28-6 win on the road against the New York Giants.

The game got off to a poor start for the Vikings. On the third play of their first possession, quarterback Sam Darnold threw the ball to fullback C.J. Ham and he fumbled it to the Giants. It resulted in a field goal and the vibes weren't great. The Vikings scored 28 of the final 31 points on Sunday afternoon to get the win.

Throughout the game, there were a lot of interesting players for the Vikings with most of them being really good performers.

Stud: QB Sam Darnold

This is the most obvious of them all. Darnold was a major question mark for the Vikings coming into the year, especially since he had never seen sustained success. The third overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft, Darnold has always had the talent to be successful, but the infrastructure has never been there.

Well, it is with the Vikings and Darnold took advantage of it. He completed his first 12 passes which tied Fran Tarkenton for second-most completions to start a game in team history. Darnold finished 19-of-24 for 208 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception where Dexter Lawrence hit his arm. This could be the start of a Geno Smith-type renaissance but only time will tell if that's the case.

Stud: OLB Pat Jones II

The Vikings using four edge rusher packages was an interesting twist to how defensive coordinator Brial Flores wants to play football. Last season, Flores did use a lot of three edge rusher sets to compensate for the lack of quality defensive linemen and it worked well but wasn't sustainable.

This season, Flores took things a step further. He deployed multiple four edge rusher looks and they were successful. The reason? Players like Jones, Jonathan Greenard and Jihad Ward are long and physical enough to kick inside. Jones rewarded the Vikings for keeping him around with two sacks on the day. He is a really nice player to have in the rotation.

Dud: FB C.J. Ham

We are going to keep this one short and sweet: you cannot fumble the football. Ham did just that on the third play of the game nonetheless. Head coach Kevin O'Connell was very vocal last season about taking care of the football and Ham certainly got an earful on the sideline.

Stud: OLB Andrew Van Ginkel

The Vikings brought in a lot of players this year to fortify both the offense and defense. They paid massive dividends over the first 60 minutes of Vikings football. This new look Vikings team looks the part of a playoff contender, but there is still a lot of football left to be played in 2024.

One of the biggest standouts of that group was Van Ginkel. He got a sack, two quarterback hits, a pass defended and a pick-six, which was the fastest over the last two years. In the four edge rusher sets that the Vikings used, Van Ginkel was put in positions to thrive and he paid off in a big way.

Dud: ILB Ivan Pace Jr.

In a similar way to Ham, Pace is on here for one play and it was on special teams. It's not uncommon to see a player commit two penalties in a game, but it is rare to see a player commit two of them on the same play. That's what Pace did, including a personal foul penalty where he slapped a defender's helmet. That lack of discipline is frustrating to see but it's not the end of the world. That is, if Pace learns from it and it doesn't happen again.

Related: Impressive play in the trenches highlight Minnesota Vikings Week 1 victory vs. Giants

Related: Head coach Kevin O'Connell provides update on WR Jordan Addison, potentially changing outlook on injury