Than that Minnesota Vikings General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and coach Kevin O’Connell prepared for the draft earlier this year and had a keen eye on the prospects for their next franchise player. They often spoke about the importance of integrating a young quarterback into an environment that promotes success.

When they targeted JJ McCarthy in the first round, the Vikings were confident they presented the culture, offensive players and playbook for the 10th overall pick to ultimately be successful, even if he needed time to develop.

Turns out they were busy making the place nice for Sam Darnold.

The seventh-year veteran who struggled through stints with the New York Jets and the Carolina Panthers came to the Vikings this season and served as a useful bridge to McCarthy, who could shift pressure away from the rookie and extend his path to take the reins. With McCarthy on injured reserve while recovering from knee surgery, Darnold’s stopgap status has quickly faded from the picture.

With Darnold on his first four-game winning streak as NFL As starters and the league’s leader in passer rating and passing touchdowns, the Vikings (4-0) are one of only two undefeated teams. The other is two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City.

“You can feel it, the juice and the energy in here. “Swing in football is a serious thing,” O’Connell said after the Vikings used a dominant first half to hold their own for a while 31-29 win last week in Green Bay. “I just lean on your quarterback. My confidence in him is really high.”

This time, Darnold and the Vikings are preparing for another demanding test on Sunday in London against the team that drafted him third overall in 2018. The Jets look a lot different now, of course, but there’s no hiding from the NFL’s history of facing your former team.

“I had a lot of opportunities in New York,” Darnold said diplomatically, “and I always felt like I could have played better there.”

The early returns this season suggest the Jets were the reason Darnold got off to such a poor start to his career, with a 13-25 record as a starter in 2018-20. The Panthers also did nothing from 2021 to 2022 to disprove that theory. But Darnold, who was named the NFC Offensive Player of the Month award winner on Thursday, still has three quarters of the schedule left to continue to prove his worth as a winning starter.

“I think he’s doing a great job, man,” said Jets defenseman Quinnen Williams, his teammate during the 2019-20 season. “He’s acting crazy right now.”

Aaron Rodgers, a highly known opponent

The Vikings went 11-17-1 against Aaron Rodgers when he played for the Packers, their nemesis in the NFC North, allowing 57 touchdown passes with just eight interceptions in those 29 games. He’s wearing a different shade of green and has a lot more gray in his beard, but those laser throws and smart decisions still look the same.

“A very special football thrower, the likes of which we may have never seen before, and he’s a supercomputer,” O’Connell said. “Totally great vision, sees everything and has the ability to check and achieve everything he wants to achieve. It’s going to be a hell of a challenge.”

The 40-year-old Rodgers, who needs 74 yards to pass Dan Marino for seventh place on the all-time passing list in the regular season and postseason, is a big fan of Vikings running back Aaron Jones, his teammate in Green Bay for six years.

“He would advocate for me to see the field, whether in meetings or in the middle of a game. That’s why I’m so grateful to Aaron Rodgers and what he’s done for me in my career,” Jones said. “It kind of opened my eyes that he stood up for me. I was a rookie at the time and he was a future Hall of Famer, so I was like, ‘Wow, that’s Aaron Rodgers speaking for me.'”

An Adams-Rodgers reunion?

The Jets have been mentioned as a trade destination for disaffected Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams, who spent the first eight years of his career in Green Bay with Rodgers, but the Jets naturally weren’t inclined to speculate on a theoretical transaction this week .

“We will always look at everything,” said coach Robert Saleh in general. “But at the same time, we’re focused on the people that are here and those are the ones we’re going to focus on.”

Bring the noise

Technically, this is a home game for the Vikings, who will have to miss the loud atmosphere under the roof of US Bank Stadium and the advantage that gives their defense amid the noise. Their fans love to travel, but the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is open air and will definitely have plenty of Jets fans too.

Defensive coordinator Brian Flores smiled as he dodged a reporter’s question about whether he was disappointed the Vikings wouldn’t get Rodgers in Minnesota.

“I wouldn’t say I’m going to punt, but I’m very happy to go to London and have this experience,” Flores said.

Clean up

The Jets called 15 penalties against Denver last week, 13 of which were accepted. Five of those were false start calls, raising questions about whether the frequency of Rodgers’ pre-snap calls caused problems for his offensive linemen. Saleh emphasized that Rodgers’ cadence is an advantage for the Jets when playing chess against opposing defenses and that they are always “pushing the limits” with the way they use it.

“We feel confident in our plan to address this and we just have to clean it up,” center Joe Tippmann said of the pre-snap penalties. “We have to get better. We can’t beat each other before the game even starts.”

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL