Vikings kick off season with satisfying win, and other sports news

CATHY WURZER: Hey, did you catch the Vikings game last night? They started this season with a satisfying win against the New York Giants, 28 to 6. That's a pretty good way for Sam Darnold to start his tenure as quarterback. He told reporters after the game, the offensive, defensive, and special teams had a lot to be proud of. For his part, staying efficient was the motto.

SAM DARNOLD: I think that was kind of our mindset coming in. And that's always our mindset, or my mindset, personally, passing the ball. And I feel like if I can stay efficient and do all those things I need to do to do that, we'll be all right.

CATHY WURZER: Joining us right now to talk about what went right for the Vikes and the latest Minnesota sports news are Wally Longfellow and Eric Nelson, the hosts of the 10,000 Takes sports talk show on radio and TV. How are you guys doing?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Good, Cathy. How are you?

CATHY WURZER: I'm fine.

ERIC NELSON: Good Monday you, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: And a good Monday to you as well, Eric Nelson. Thank you. I have to admit, I did not watch the game. I'm terribly sorry to admit that to you both. But I'm going to ask Wally, obviously they won. What worked for the Vikes yesterday?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, I think, number one-- and we could talk about Sam Darnold, and we can talk about Aaron Jones, the running back that the Vikings hijacked from the packers in the off-season. And both had good games, no question. But I think it was the defense. They held the New York Giants out of the end zone the entire day. They only allowed the two field goals. I think that those were-- if your defense plays well, if the other team doesn't score, particularly if they don't score touchdowns, you give yourself a pretty good chance to win the football game.

Darnold was good. I'd say efficient is probably a right term for it, 19 of 24, 208 yards, two touchdowns. He did throw an interception. So if you want to look at the flip side of things, what things are they going to have to correct? Because let's face it, the New York Giants are a mess. They are not going to be one of the NFL's better teams. As a matter of fact, they might be bottom of the barrel as far as NFL teams this year.

So what do you have to correct? The Vikings had two turnovers. They had seven penalties. I think that the penalties, that really hurt the Vikings last year. And the turnovers in early part of last season, that's how they got themselves into a big hole. I think if they correct those things-- and those things are going to happen early in the season because, really, your starters, they don't play in the preseason. So this is almost like a preseason game in some respects.

But I think if they correct those things-- and those things can be corrected-- they could be all right. But again, let's back off a little bit. It's overreaction Monday after the first game of the season. Let's not print those playoff tickets quite yet. But they did play well yesterday.

CATHY WURZER: But, Eric, doesn't that happen? Fans get very excited about this. So do you agree with Mr. Langellow, some of his assertions there, that we have to be careful?

ERIC NELSON: Yeah, yeah. What happens when week one is finally completed-- and we'll finish it up tonight with the Jets and the 49ers-- is you have 16 fan bases that want a new quarterback. The other 16 think they've got the quarterback that's going to take them to the Super Bowl and get them the Lombardi trophy. It's always very knee jerk one way or the other. I would say this about Sam Darnold. He went back to the stadium he played in with the New York Jets, where there was a lot of failure, not all because of him, but some of it because of him. And he was very good yesterday. I just thought he was clinical, surgical in the way he dissected the Giants' defense with his accuracy. So that had to feel good for Sam Darnold.

But what's next is the team he played for last season, San Francisco. That'll be at noon at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Sunday, Vikings' home opener. Darnold was the backup to Brock Purdy last season. Now, if you're a Vikings fan and you want to see the 49ers, watch them tonight on ABC against the New York Jets. The game is in Santa Clara, California. You'll get an idea of what the vikings are going to face because San Francisco was in the Super Bowl last season and took the Chiefs to overtime. They almost knocked off Kansas City. They are that good, the 49ers. Their window for winning is now. So this is going to be a huge test for Minnesota.

But the good news is for the Vikings, the 49ers play tonight. They'll have a short week. They will lose two hours going from the Pacific time zone to the Central zone on Sunday. Those things can play into the possibility of an upset. But I don't think San Francisco will overlook Minnesota because they came here last year on a Monday night and lost 22 to 17. But there's no doubt with Christian McCaffrey, and Brandon Aiyuk, and Brock Purdy, and the defense led by Fred Warner and some other guys, The 49ers are going to be a formidable challenge for the Minnesota Vikings. But right now, their focus is on Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets tonight out there in NorCal.

CATHY WURZER: Right. I did watch the Gophs, and they had a good game this weekend, I thought, Wally.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: You have Peacock?

CATHY WURZER: I do. I know. I actually paid for it. I know.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Thanks.

CATHY WURZER: I know. I'm not as cheap as you.

ERIC NELSON: I'll bet I don't because of the Olympics.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: No, I have Peacock. I'm just surprised that you do. Very good. I'm glad you laid out the money so you could watch Gopher football once every 10 weeks or whatever it is that they appear on there, although if you play teams like Rhode Island, that's where you belong. You belong on Peacock where nobody can see you.

They beat a much lesser opponent. As we like to call it, this was a body bag game. Rhode Island gets a big check to come in here and get beat up by a Big 10 team. And that's exactly what happened. But the good news for the Gophers, Max Brosmer looked very good, threw for 271 yards. He's the new quarterback for the gophers, threw a couple of touchdowns.

And again, this is kind of the same MO as the Vikings. I'm going to repeat what I said about the Vikings. It was the Gophers defense that played well. They pitched a shutout. They do not allow Rhode Island to score. And I think if you're going to point a finger at the loss in week one to North Carolina for the Gophers, it certainly wouldn't be on the defense. The defense gave up a handful of field goals. But they didn't allow North Carolina to run over them and get into the end zone.

Now, again, North Carolina was basically without a quarterback. But I think that the Gopher defense has played well, and that's something that they can hang their hats on going forward. They have Nevada this week at Huntington Bank Stadium. And then they start getting into the thick of it when Iowa comes to town, although Iowa lost to Iowa State at home. So there are some very unhappy Hawkeye fans these days.

CATHY WURZER: Which is fine. So I'm wondering here, Eric, I'm a little worried about the Twins. Should I be?

ERIC NELSON: Well, I'll tell you what, they had a meltdown in Kansas City over the weekend. And that was a huge series, a showdown in the Show-Me State. And it was all Royals, as they won all three games. The Twins scored a grand total of two runs in the three games. They got blanked yesterday. So the Twins are now smack dab in third place in the AL Central. As we speak, they would still be in the playoffs if the season were to finish today as the final wild card.

But in the rearview mirror is Detroit, Seattle, and Boston. These teams are creeping up. So the Twins do have reason for concern. And, boy, I'll tell you what, I think a lot of the folks in Twins territory, they're not happy. First of all, yesterday, third base coach Tommy Watkins tries to wave Jose Miranda home and he's thrown out by about 10 feet. That's happened before with the Twins. And then Rocco Baldelli, I was watching the game Saturday night. Bailey Ober threw seven shutout innings. He was dealing against the Royals. Rocco gives him the hook, brings in Johan Duran, and the bullpen literally implodes.

| City gets four in the eighth and goes on to win. If the Twins wind up going sideways, and the Royals do some really good things-- and they might-- I think that's the point in time we're going to look at and say, wow, maybe things really did take a turn. I know it seems a little bit hyperbole to say that when there's 162 baseball games. But the Twins let one get away. And even Eric Karros, who did the game for Fox on national TV, said that Rocco should never have taken Bailey Ober out of that game.

CATHY WURZER: Hey, before we go, the professional women's hockey league Minnesota team, the other teams in the league got names today, the Minnesota Frost, I think. That's not bad. It's not bad, Wally. No? Yes?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: I like it, actually.

CATHY WURZER: I do too.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: It was one of them that I suggested. No, I like The Frost. It kind of goes along with the Wild, this kind of obscure nickname that doesn't have an S at the end, The Frost.

CATHY WURZER: I like it.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah, the purple colors and everything. I think it works. I'm perfect-- I'm just glad they finally have a nickname. I don't know how you went a whole year without one, but they blew a chance to sell a lot of jerseys and hats, I think, but good for them, The Frost. The women's hockey team in St. Paul has a name.

ERIC NELSON: Can I weigh in, though, Cathy?

CATHY WURZER: No, we don't have time. No, we don't have time now. We've got to-- see, the music is behind us. We've got to go. I know. I'm sorry. We'll get you next time. I'll talk to you later. Wally Langfellow is the founder of Minnesota Score Sports Magazine. Eric Nelson is the host, along with Wally, of the 10,000 Takes sports talk show. Thanks for listening.