It was a modest but respectable Vikings debut for Kyler Murray.

Vikings Head Coach O'Connell on Tuesday named Murray the starting QB, and on Saturday Murray played the first series of Minnesota's first preseason game at the New York Giants, an eventual 13-10 win.

Murray was 2-of-3 passing for 10 yards against the Giants with a passer rating of 71.5.

"It was a blast," he told reporters postgame. "The reality really is kind of settin' in. I talked to my family this weekend and just, spending seven years in one spot, everything for me has been brand new this weekend — from getting on the bus with new faces to traveling in a new plane, new seat, new operation — and I'm just really embracing what's new for me. Today was a blast, man."

Murray's pair of completions went to rookie fullback Max Bredeson for a short gain and Jordan Addison, the latter of which converted a third-and-7. Addison secured the ball along the right sideline for 8 yards. John Harbaugh, in his first game as New York's head coach, challenged the call of a completion but was unsuccessful.

Murray took the majority of his snaps from under center and, in addition to his three passes, helped command the Vikings run game. He handed off three times apiece to running backs Aaron Jones, Sr., and Jordan Mason.

Jones traveled an impressive 18 yards on his first run of the preseason and totaled 27 yards on the series with Murray. Mason had a pair of 1-yard rushes and a nice gain on second-and-6 where he bounced away from the defender, found open space and collected 15 yards.

The Vikings faced third-and-4 at the Giants 17 and Murray targeted Jones, but the pass went slightly outside the RB's grasp. Minnesota settled for a 35-yard Will Reichard field goal to take an early 3-0 lead.

"I thought that first group ran it [well], and we had that third-down conversion to J.A., going down and making that nice play," O'Connell told Vikings Entertainment Network's Tatum Everett during a halftime interview. "Had a chance to convert on the third down and just time on task — Aaron Jones sitting down right on the chains on the check-down, Kyler might think he's breaking out, Aaron's sitting down. Little things that we're going to continue to work out as we go here.

"But I thought Kyler commanded the offense well; I would have loved to see that group get in the end zone," O'Connell added.

During his postgame press conference, O'Connell noted the Vikings are "doing a lot in our run game on those early downs."

"We might not have shown a lot of the things that maybe we've been working on, but there were still some principles of … what we want to see," he said. "I thought the guys ran off the ball; they were physical."

Murray later echoed the coach's comments.

"Communication went well. The checks and operations went great, the o-line did their thing," he said. "There were big, gaping holes that [the running backs] didn't get touched until 5, 6, 7 yards down the field. That's kind of what K.O. wanted to see, guys coming off the ball and getting the run game going.

"I know I didn't get many ops, but like I said, I'm blessed to be out there again," Murray added. "I haven't played since October, so I had a blast."

Murray played behind the Vikings starting five offensive line of LT Christian Darrisaw, LG Donovan Jackson, C Blake Brandel, RG Will Fries and RT Brian O'Neill.

When O'Connell swapped out Murray for J.J. McCarthy, he also changed out the entire OL for the following: LT Ryan Van Demark, LG Joe Huber, C Michael Jurgens, RG Walter Rouse and RG Caleb Tiernan.

McCarthy and Company played the remainder of the first half, during which he completed 4-of-7 passes for 34 yards with a 69.9 passer rating. The group struggled to find its rhythm because of offensive penalties and a Giants defense that left in many of its starters.

The second-team offense went three-and-out to start, with Johnny Hekker punting for Minnesota.

McCarthy's second series started stronger, as he connected with TE Ben Yurosek for 7 yards, then handed off to rookie RB Demond Claiborne on consecutive plays. With a new set of downs, McCarthy stepped off his back foot and fired over the middle to Myles Price for a 17-yard gain; the Vikings were awarded an extra 5 when New York's Deonte Banks was penalized for defensive holding.

"[J.J.] hung in the pocket, had a little push there and was able to throw the ball in between the numbers in the intermediate part of the field, which I thought was big-time," O'Connell said.

Asked about the play, McCarthy said he saw single-high coverage and knew Price would be in a 1-on-1 situation.

"Just feeling stuff beneath my feet, that's the reps and the experience. Give it time. Trust the field beneath you," McCarthy said. "I saw he was 1-on-1 and know he's a ball player, so he's going to go make that play."

Shortly thereafter, however, back-to-back penalties on Tiernan set the Vikings behind the 8-ball with 10 minutes left in the first half. McCarthy got a short pass to Price but followed with two incompletions that led to another Hekker punt.

"Penalties have shot us in the foot," O'Connell said at the half. "As we were driving there, J.J. made a nice completion and then we start going backward with penalties."

In his final drive of the game, McCarthy handed off to Zavier Scott for a 4-yard gain, completed to Tai Felton for 5 yards but then was pushed farther into his own territory after Minnesota committed a second illegal shift penalty. McCarthy evaded an initial sack attempt and sprinted toward green grass but was taken down for a 4-yard loss by Darius Alexander just inside the 2-minute warning.

After a Brett Thorson punt, the Giants managed to move down the field and kick a 46-yard field goal.

"Little miscues here and there, getting the handoff on a jet sweep, the timing on that, on J.J.'s first play — we've gotta clean up that stuff," O'Connell said. "That's what preseason's for, but we're trying to win a football game here today."

The Vikings did that, leaving MetLife Stadium with a 3-point victory, several things to be proud of and a list of things to improve during the rest of the preseason.

O'Connell noted the upcoming joint practices with the Ravens on Wednesday and Thursday and extra opportunity that provides, as well as two more exhibition games against Baltimore and Denver.

"We've got two great days planned versus Baltimore and then a bunch of time leading up into the season to make sure we get these guys on the same page," he said. "What I am seeing, though, is a confident group. I think they feel like they're gelling, they're coming together in a way that they know what we're trying to get done. They know the philosophy behind it.

"And as we're able to kind of fully unleash what we're doing, we expect to see the play style hold up and really be a part of what we want to be," O'Connell added.

Following the game, McCarthy acknowledged there are "several things to clean up" and said he appreciated feeling familiarity in the system, "seeing everything clearly" and operating with several different teammates.

"It was just a lot of fun being back out there playing football again," he said.

Carson Wentz started the second half for the Vikings, quarterbacking the first two drives that ended in a 54-yard field goal by Reichard and a 1-handed touchdown catch by Price.

Justin Jefferson, who was mic'd up for the broadcast during the third quarter, loved the throw by Wentz to the corner and impressive grab by Price.

Max Brosmer subbed out Wentz with just over a minute remaining in the third quarter, but the former Golden Gopher played just one series (a three-and-out) before being sidelined with a right thumb injury.

"We wanted to be smart with that. We'll obviously image it," O'Connell said. "Don't have anything on that yet, but we just didn't want him — as much as he wanted to go back in the game, we just wanted to make sure he didn't have anything [serious]."

Wentz back in and played the fourth quarter for Minnesota. The veteran QB finished his day 9-of-14 passing for 81 yards, the touchdown and no interceptions. His passer rating was 103.6.

Wentz logged the Vikings longest completion of the day, a 28-yarder to Price, and also had passes of 17 and 12 yards to Jeshaun Jones and Marshall Lang, respectively. In the final 2 minutes of the game and from deep in his own territory, Wentz got a second-down ball out to Dontae Fleming for a 7-yard gain and then the double-digit throw to Lang. On the game's final third down, he connected with Fleming again for a game-sealing first down.

"I liked the way we situationally ended the game from a standpoint of getting two first downs backed up like that," O'Connell said. "And it was a big deal to be able to take a knee in your first game of the year for the victory formation."

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