Sam Darnold shines in his Minnesota Vikings debut vs. New York Giants

The biggest storyline for the Minnesota Vikings heading into the season was how well their quarterbacks were going to play – and just who that quarterback would be. We knew that Sam Darnold would be the quarterback to start, but what we didn’t know was how long he’d keep the job or how well he’d perform in the job.

We got a little clarity on how long he’d keep the job after the unfortunate knee injury to rookie first-round pick J.J. McCarthy. As for the latter, we had to wait for our answer to that. If the first game is any indication, the answer is a resounding success.

Darnold came out and played a near-perfect game for the Vikings in their first game of 2024 against the New York Giants. He set a new career record for consecutive completions to start a game, starting the game 12-for-12 for more than 150 yards. All told, Darnold finished the game 19/24 for 208 yards with two touchdowns and just one interception on a tipped ball. All that resulted in a Vikings win, and a quarterback rating of 113.2 for Darnold.

The raw stats only tell a portion of the story, though, about how good Darnold was in his Vikings debut. When we examine some more advanced stats, we get an even better picture of how efficient Darnold was against the Giants.

Of all the quarterbacks who played Thursday, Friday, or Sunday afternoon (excluding the Sunday and Monday night games), Darnold finished with the highest Completion Percentage over Expectation (CPOE), a measure that takes into account the likelihood of completion of ever throw vs. what actually happened on each throw.

Darnold also finished Week 1 as the third-best quarterback so far in terms of Expected Points Added per play (EPA/Play), behind only Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Baker Mayfield.

Obviously, it’s a small sample size, and Darnold is likely to have his ups and downs all season, but today’s debut was nothing short of sensational for the much-maligned quarterback.