Not until early in the fourth quarter, when the rookie Paul Perkins turned a swing pass from quarterback Eli Manning into a twisting 67-yard gain, did the Giants snap the ball inside the Vikings’ 20-yard line. Orleans Darkwa’s 1-yard touchdown run cut Minnesota’s lead to 17-10 with 13 minutes 42 seconds to play.
But Bradford directed the Vikings (4-0) right down the field. He found wide receiver Charles Johnson for a 40-yard gain to the Giants’ 4, where Jerick McKinnon ran it in with 9:20 to play. Nine Vikings caught passes from Bradford, who has not thrown an interception since joining the team in a trade from Philadelphia.
“Offensively, we have to play better and score more points, plain and simple,” Manning said. “We’re doing some good things, but we’re not good enough, not efficient enough.”
The Vikings limited Beckham to three catches for 23 yards, none until the Giants were down two touchdowns. Beckham lost his cool after his first catch, in the second quarter, jawing with the physical Vikings cornerback Xavier Rhodes and drawing an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty for taunting. That was one of eight…
