The Minnesota Vikings‘ Week 1 victory over the New York Giants wasn’t without its mistakes, including a fumble from C.J. Ham that had the potential to spell disaster on the road for Minnesota.
Facing third-and-16 on the Vikings’ opening series, Ham caught a pass and turned upfield before the tackler’s helmet jarred the ball loose, resulting in a turnover on their own 20-yard-line.
The Giants gained an early edge, converting a field to take a lead over Minnesota at home.
However, unlike last season where the Vikings ranked 30th in fumbles lost and 31st in turnovers, they were not shaken. Minnesota scored 21 unanswered points en route to a dominant 28-6 victory on September 8.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell addressed Ham’s fumble after the game, assuring fans that the four-time team captain is one of the team’s most-trusted players with the ball in his hands.
“Hated seeing putting the ball on the ground early with how much emphasize it. But I can promise you, there is nobody I trust more on this football team than him,” O’Connell said in his postgame news conference. “I didn’t even think tic about that moving forward, I knew we would respond.”
Kevin O’Connell Felt No Quit From Vikings After C.J. Ham Fumble
While O’Connell maintained that turnovers would take the Vikings out of games against Super Bowl-caliber competition, he saw only positives in how his team responded.
“If you wouldn’t have held me down and said you need to give us one name that you don’t expect [to fumble], C.J. would have been that name,” O’Connell said in a September 9 news conference. “What I was most proud of: there was no feeling of ‘Here we go again.’ It was just, ‘Defense, get a stop.’ Sudden change. Respond.”
The Vikings stopped the Giants in the red zone to force a field goal on the ensuing drive before responding with a 5-play, 65-yard drive capped by an Aaron Jones touchdown to take the lead entering the second quarter.
It was emblematic of the complementary football the Vikings played for the majority of the game.
The Sam Darnold-led offense marched 99 yards for a touchdown on their next possession to take a two-possession lead at halftime, while the defense went on to stop the Giants in the red zone three times.
That led to several individual accolades. Jones surpassed 6,000 career rushing yards on Sunday, while Harrison Smith snared his 35th career interception — the most by any active player in the league — in the red zone.
Vikings Must Play Clean in Week 2 vs. 49ers
The Vikings passed their Week 1 test in New York but have a much more difficult challenge ahead in the San Francisco 49ers this week.
“I think they’ve got a lot of really good coaches. And obviously Kyle’s going to have those guys playing really well,” O’Connell said, per Vikings.com.
“So we’re going to just have to have a good plan. Great personnel on that side of the ball and, really, their whole team. We’re going to need to have a really, really good week of prep to play well.”
The Vikings under Kevin O’Connell when they break even or win the turnover margin: 18-0.
