Sam Darnold delivered a steady performance on Sunday afternoon
Heading into the 2024 season, Justin Jefferson had played 60 career games with the Minnesota Vikings, and in 38 of them he had either scored a touchdown or gone over the 100 yard mark. On Sunday afternoon, Jefferson bumped that number up to 39 after finding the end zone halfway through the 2nd quarter in Minnesota's 28-6 rout of the New York Giants.
As Justin Jefferson ran off the field, Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell had a realization… his star receiver was pleased with the veteran QB with whom he connected on that three-yard touchdown pass.
“I saw Justin's face after that drive,” O'Connell said after the game, per Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com, “and I think he felt pretty darn good about who is throwing him the football.”
Who is throwing the football to Justin Jefferson is journeyman quarterback Sam Darnold, who signed with Minnesota on a one-year prove it deal in the offseason. Darnold is expected to only be a stopgap quarterback for the Vikings as the team prepares to eventually hand the reins to the 10th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft JJ McCarthy, but on Sunday, Darnold looked the part of a legitimate starter.
“I don't think anybody's surprised that Sam Darnold played the way he did today,” O'Connell said. “I know I'm certainly not. I tried to foreshadow as much as I could throughout training camp, and I'm just proud of him.”
Building confidence is key for Sam Darnold and the Vikings
Confidence has been the biggest issue for Sam Darnold in the past, but that's understandable when you're seeing ghosts on a football field. Three brutal seasons with the New York Jets clearly broke him. Short stints in Carolina and San Francisco started the rehabilitation process, but it's this Kevin O'Connell system in Minnesota that has allowed Darnold to regain the confidence he once had as the 3rd overall pick in the NFL Draft.
“The biggest thing is just playing with confidence,” Darnold said. “I think that's the biggest thing. We've got a great offense. We've got a great system. If I just play on time and do all the things we need to do to execute, we'll be alright.”
Not surprisingly, confidence was the buzzword that Justin Jefferson used after the game as well.
“That's going to be something we're going to need throughout the season,” Jefferson said, “so I'm just giving him that confidence, giving him that juice to throw me a ball whenever I'm doubled — because I was doubled on that [44-yard] play. That was him throwing it to a spot and me going to get it. That's going to happen a majority of the time this season. He's got to understand, even when I'm doubled, I'm still open and I'm going to make that play.”
Justin Jefferson is clearly confident, and from the looks of it, Sam Darnold is too, but the Vikings are in for a much tougher test in Week 2 than they were against the New York Giants, as they'll host the defending NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers next Sunday.
