EAGAN, Minn. — Andrew Van Ginkel has shown elite ability to diagnose plays by opposing offenses before the snap, hand-eye coordination to secure footballs from the air and some nifty moves with the ball in his hands on interception return touchdowns of 10 and 63 yards this season.
In addition to the traditional plays, Van Ginkel will also need to be alert for trick plays by Detroit (4-1) when the Lions visit the Vikings (5-0) at U.S. Bank Stadium Sunday.
"It's reverses, it's reverse passes, it's hook-and-laterals. It's everything," Van Ginkel said Thursday. "They've got the whole tree, the whole bunch there, so we've got to be prepared."
Detroit ran a double reverse flea flicker last week at Dallas for a 52-yard touchdown pass to tight end Sam LaPorta and a 17-3 lead early in the second quarter.
Look back at photos over the course of time featuring games between the Vikings and the Lions.
The Lions tried another trick play late in the third quarter with a 34-9 lead. Jared Goff threw a quick pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown, and the receiver lateralled the ball to right tackle Penei Sewell, who nearly scored by diving at the goal line. That play was negated by a penalty. Vikings fans might remember Sewell recording a 9-yard reception (the only one of his career) in December 2022 to ice a Lions victory in Detroit.
Lions Offensive Coordinator Ben Johnson was asked Thursday about the possibility of running out of trick plays and said, "The well is deep."
So has been Minnesota's ability to prevent opponents from getting off to good starts.
"I think with being in the league six years now, I can diagnose plays, how they're trying to attack you in different ways," Van Ginkel said. "There's a lot of the same motions, a lot of different tweaks that teams will try to do to get you off balance, but the end of the day, it's kind of positioning themselves to be able to get a block here, be able to catch-and-run here, so just having the knowledge and instincts has helped me."
Van Ginkel recorded his first career touchdown against Goff when the former was with Miami and the latter was with the Rams in 2020. He scooped a fumble forced by Emmanuel Ogbah and returned it 78 yards to break a 7-7 tie in an eventual 28-17 Dolphins win.
Here are all the ways to catch the action.
BROADCAST TV
FOX (KMSP FOX 9 in the Twin Cities)
Kickoff: Noon (CT)
Play-by-Play: Adam Amin
Analyst: Greg Olsen
Sideline reporter: Pam Oliver
Fans who live in the red areas shown on the map from 506sports.com will be able to watch the game on broadcast TV.
LOCAL/REGIONAL RADIO
KFAN (100.3-FM), KTLK 1130-AM and the five-state Vikings Radio Network
Play-by-Play: Paul Allen
Analyst: Pete Bercich
Sideline reporter: Ben Leber
Note: The pregame radio show on the Vikings Radio Network will begin at 10 a.m. (CT).
Audio Streaming Option: Catch the audio broadcast on your smart devices through the KFAN channel on the iHeart app.
NATIONAL RADIO
ESPN RADIO
Play-by-Play: Steve Levy
Analyst: Mike Tannenbaum
Sideline reporter: Myron Medcalf
SPANISH RADIO
Catch the Vikings on Tico Sports at WREY "El Rey" 94.9 FM and 630 AM in the Twin Cities and on Tico-Sports.com, elrey949fm.com and Vikings.com.
Play-by-Play: Gabriel Rios
Analyst: Isaias Zendejas
SATELLITE RADIO
Minnesota: SiriusXM 82 or 229/Vikings Team Page
Detroit: SiriusXM 106 or 381/Lions Team Page
ADDITIONAL OPTIONS
Click here for the full bevy of options that include over-the-air, cable, satellite, over-the-top and streaming methods.
NFL+ AND NFL+ PREMIUM
Watch out-of-market Vikings preseason games live or on-demand with NFL+ or NFL+ Premium. It is available in the NFL app and at NFL.com/plus.
NFL+ is available for $6.99/month or $49.99/year and offers the following:
- Live out-of-market preseason games across devices
- Live local and prime-time regular-season and postseason games on your phone or tablet
- Live game audio (home, away & national calls) for every game of the season
- NFL Films on-demand content, ad-free
- Ad-free highlights from every NFL game
- Fantasy+
- NFL Network
NFL+ Premium is available for $14.99/month or $99.99/year and offers all NFL+ features and the following:
- Full-game replays across devices
- Condensed game replays across devices
- Coaches film
- RedZone from NFL Network