The Minnesota Vikings kicked off their 2026 preseason on Saturday afternoon, and they did not meet the primary goal of every preseason game, as they have a couple of potentially significant injury concerns that they are awaiting word on.
Carson Wentz’s one-yard touchdown pass to Myles Price made the ultimate difference on the scoreboard, as the Vikings defeated the New York Giants by a final score of 13-10 at MetLife Stadium in Week 1 of the 2026 NFL preseason, but the greater concern is with safety
Jamal Adams, who was carted off the field with what appears to be a significant non-contact leg injury. Quarterback Max Brosmer was also unable to finish the game for the Vikings as originally planned, as he was pulled after one series with what was reported to be an injury to his right wrist.
The Vikings got the football first, with Kyler Murray leading the offense onto the field. All of the offensive starters, with the exception of Justin Jefferson, got onto the field for the Vikings, and they put together a decent drive. They established the run early, with both Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason getting a run for double-digit yardage on the drive. Jones had a run for 17 and Mason had one for 15. The drive stalled when a pass from Murray to Jones on a third down in the red zone fell incomplete, and Will Reichard connected on a 35-yard field goal to give the Vikings an early 3-0 lead.
The Giants then took over for their first possession and managed to pick up one first down before their first possession ended, courtesy of a sack by Dallas Turner to end the drive.
When the Vikings took the field on offense again, J.J. McCarthy brought them onto the field at quarterback. They went three-and-out after what looked to be a busted play on first down, a run from rookie Demond Claiborne, and an incomplete pass.
The Giants took over again and put together a fairly long drive, and it looked to have stalled out on another sack, this one a huge hit on Jaxson Dart by Jay Ward that sent Dart to the medical tent temporarily.
However, the Giants converted on a 3rd-and-23 on a screen play from Jameis Winston to Devin Singletary, and then a couple of plays later Dart returned and lofted a 15-yard touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver Malachi Fields to give the Giants a 7-3 lead just over a minute into the second quarter.
It was on that play that Adams suffered the injury that sent him to the injury tent. After spending significant time in the tent, the call was ultimately made to bring the cart to the sideline and take him back to the locker room. Many of his teammates were seen comforting Adams on the sideline, and the initial reactions seemed to point to the injury being a fairly significant one, although no announcement had been made as to the nature or the severity of the injury by the time the game had concluded. We will bring you updates as soon as we have them.
McCarthy and the Vikings took the field again after the Giants’ touchdown and pushed into New York territory, but a holding penalty and a false start helped to stall out the drive, and the Vikings were forced to punt. McCarthy also threw a 20-yard pass to Tai Felton that would have converted a first down and hit Felton between the 1 and the 3 on his uniform, but it fell to the turf incomplete.
After a Giants punt, the Vikings took over deep in their own territory, inside the 10-yard line with less than four minutes left before halftime. The Vikings appeared to get a first down that would have taken the clock to the two-minute warning, but a penalty took it off the board, and McCarthy was sacked on the first play after the two-minute warning, so the Vikings punted it away. That allowed the Giants to tack on a 46-yard field goal by Ben Sauls to send the game into the locker room with a score of 10-3.
The Giants got the first possession of the second half, and the Vikings’ defense forced a quick three-and-out, taking over inside their own 10-yard line after yet another special teams penalty. Carson Wentz took over at quarterback and got things started with a 28-yard pass to Myles Price to get the offense going, and followed it up with a 17-yard pass to Jeshaun Jones to get into New York territory. Ultimately, the drive stalled again, and the Vikings again called upon Will Reichard to do Will Reichard things. He did, connecting on a 54-yard field goal, cutting the New York lead to 10-6 with eight minutes left in the third quarter.
On the Giants’ next offensive play, Brandon Allen’s pass was intercepted by undrafted free agent linebacker Jacob Roberts, who took the return down to the New York 27-yard line and set the Vikings up with outstanding field position.
The Vikings pushed down into a goal-to-go situation, and a pass interference call in the end zone then gave the Minnesota offense a first-and-goal down at the 1-yard line. Then, after another pass interference call in the end zone made it first-and-goal from the 1 again, Wentz found Price in the end zone, and Price made a very nice one-handed catch for a Minnesota touchdown, with Reichard’s extra point giving the Vikings a 13-10 lead with four minutes left in the third quarter.
At the start of the fourth quarter, the Vikings got to Allen again, as his deep pass to the left was picked off by undrafted free agent safety Jacob Thomas for the team’s second pick of the day. That gave the Vikings the ball near midfield.
Unfortunately, the Vikings could not take advantage of the interception and punted it back to the Giants, pinning the Giants inside their own 10-yard line. The two teams then exchanged punts again, and it’s worth noting that the Vikings had to put Carson Wentz back into the game at quarterback, as Max Brosmer. . .who came in for Wentz after the touchdown. . .appeared to have suffered some sort of injury to his right wrist and did not return.
After being pinned inside their own 5-yard line after a Brett Thorson punt, Allen put together his best drive of the day, hitting a series of completions to get the Giants into Minnesota territory as the fourth quarter wound down. An offensive pass interference penalty stalled their efforts, however, and they were forced to punt it away. Wentz and the Vikings ran out the clock from there, and the Vikings got out of MetLife Stadium with their first victory of the preseason.
We now await word on the injuries to Jamal Adams and Max Brosmer and hope that they’re not too bad. Keep your fingers crossed, folks.
The Vikings’ next preseason game will see them return to U.S. Bank Stadium next Saturday afternoon at noon Central time, as they’ll play host to another new head coach, as Jesse Minter and the Baltimore Ravens will come to the Twin Cities, with a couple of joint practices leading up to that at the Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center.
The Minnesota Vikings take down the New York Giants in their 2026 preseason opener by a score of 13-10. Thank you to everyone who got their coverage of this week’s game right here at The Daily Norseman!
