Atlanta Falcons vs. Minnesota Vikings Preview & Prediction | PFF

Atlanta Falcons vs. Minnesota Vikings Preview & Prediction | PFF

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Ghost your losses, get your payout in partnership with DraftKings Sportsbook. The crown is yours. The Falcons and the Vikings. Uh the Vikings once again playing on prime time. This is the Sunday night football game this week. Vikings obviously coming off of a thrilling fourth quarter win uh in which JJ McCarthy, one offensive player of the week. Not so sure I agree with that, but hey, respect to it. I’m not going to take it away from him. It was hell of a fourth quarter from JJ McCarthy. We won’t worry about what happened in quarters one through three. And the Falcons, they’re coming off of a loss to the Buccaneers, but one that was very close. One that they got into field goal range. They had a chance to tie it and to go into overtime, uh, but they just missed the field goal there. And so, we know that this team is kind of right there. It’s another game with those young rookies on the defensive side getting to play well. Dalton, what do you want to start talking about with this game? Well, you said we’re not going to worry about the first three quarters, but I am going to talk about them. I’m going to split some things up here. And you know, watching back McCarthy’s tape, I thought about something you uh mentioned to me on the grade show about Cam Ward and the Tennessee Titans where, you know, all I want to see from this guy, you mentioned about Ward was in the fourth quarter when he’s got a shot. Is he that guy? Does he have enough guts to at least give you a chance in those moments? It’s kind of exactly what McCarthy did. His first three quarters, he had a 35.5 passing grade. Now, it’s heavily dragged down by the pick six that he threw. Um, and that that was actually the one of the lowest graded it was actually the lowest graded throw of the entire week by any quarterback. It was the lowest on our minus two to plus two scale. If you’re ever looking for a minus2 throw from a quarterback, that was it. That was it right there. How just a house call out in the flat just like that. That’s a classic example of it. You know, you’re talking about 7 to 12, 56 yards, an interception, three sacks through the first three quarters. But he found it and I think, you know, with his with his team down 17-6, Kevin Oonnell told him, “Hey man, let it rip. We’re already down two scores. You might as well let it fly and see what happens. And you look at this fourth quarter, 90.3 passing grade, six of eight, 87 yards, two touchdowns, one big time throw on one of those touchdowns, and a rushing touchdown as well on the read option. You just saw a guy that just locked in and focused and did what he had to do to win a football game. So, are there a lot of things to clean up? Yeah. Did Dennis Allen throw a whole lot of different looks at him? He was a little uncomfortable against the Blitz? Yeah, absolutely. Was the pick six awful? Yes, it was. But when it came down to it, in that big moment, he came through for him, right? You have to give him that much. And it’s going to take time for him to get in a full rhythm of this offense. We’re not used to the Vikings offense getting off to slow starts, but that’s what they did. The fact that in his first start, he did have the ability to punch back in a big moment like that, that means a lot to that football team. Obviously, you want to come out 1 and0 in a big road division win, but to do it in that manner with him, yes, carrying them through the fourth quarter, that was big time, and we have to give him credit for that. Yeah. Look, for as much as, you know, we criticize the first three quarters from McCarthy because we have to, that’s what we’re supposed to do. It’s a full game performance, at the end of the day, the confidence that you get from winning that football game, like that’s tangible. Like, just just because you have to go back to the film room and after you celebrate and everything, you go back on money and you go, “All right, let’s take a look at the first three quarters and see what went wrong.” It’s a lot better to sit down in the film room and talk about the things that didn’t go well after you won the game. I mean, you’re still flying high. The confidence in which his teammates now have in him, that is translatable to the next week. So even though we obviously take into account his full performance and again probably wouldn’t have given him offensive player of the week, that doesn’t take anything away from the leap that this team might be able to make even in the short term with him and the confidence that he has and how much better JJ McCarthy is going to get now in the next coming weeks or we think that it’s possible from him. So that that confidence is so huge for him regardless of what happened in those first three quarters. The confidence he gets to take is very very important. The Vikings, obviously, they win this football game and it was a thrilling fourth quarter for them, but JJ is still like every rookie quarterback. It’s going to be up and down. And with that, you’re going to have to have a more stable run game. Jordan Mason was able to get it going, I think, in that second half, but Aaron Jones, eight carries, 23 yards, just a 2.9 yards per carry average. The Atlanta Falcons, they hel I I I would say held the Buccaneers to 101 yards rushing. Now, it’s obviously 100 yards, that’s kind of a goal that every team has, but when you think about Bucky Irving and what he was able to do last year for this team, they really did, I think, bottled up the Buccaneers rushing attack as a whole decently well. And so, if they are able to do that once again to the Vikings, then of course, you put more weight and more throws of importance on JJ McCarthy’s shoulders there. So, I think that is a matchup that I’m really looking forward to on the Falcons side of things. Can they defend the run against the Vikings as well as they did for one of the better backs in the NFL uh in Bucky Irving? And then man, I want to take the Falcons so bad in this game. I really do. And the reason why is because I was really impressed with what Michael Pennock was able to do in week one against this Buccaneers defense, specifically with blitzing and pressure. Right? When we talk about Brian Flores, that’s what we talk about a lot. double mug looks, pressure from everywhere, uh letting letting guys maybe whether it’s from the secondary, from the slot, from the linebacker level, green dog delayed blitzes, just straight up full house blitzes on you. Like they are trying to come up with pressure everywhere. And yet Michael Penn Jr. last week against the Buccaneers when he was blitzed and that created a pressure a 71.7 passing grade with four first downs against those types of situations that was tied for the most in the NFL. I think Michael Penn Jr. is a baller. I think this dude’s awesome and I think that sure you can rattle him. There’s no doubt you could rattle any quarterback in the NFL, but he stands tall and has the arm talent to complete passes, quick passes, and even long passes under pressure. So, I think this game could be a lot closer than people anticipate, but I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t continue to lean on the fact that coaches matter, and it’s a reason why I like the Vikings so much to win this division and potentially represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. ultimately with the Vikings being at home, narrowly escaping that that defeat against the the Chicago Bears and what I think that confidence will do to this coaching staff and the rest of this team. I’m going to take the Vikings 24 to 21 in this one on Sunday Night Football. Both teams played games that went down to the wire last week. I think this game is going down to the wire this week. If the Falcons are going to win, they’ve got to take advantage of some injuries. Linebacker Blake Cashman is out for this game. Andrew Van Ginkle is in uh concussion protocol. Not sure if he’s going to play. We don’t know if Christian uh Christian Darasaw is going to play on the offensive side. We don’t know if Harrison Smith is the the all-star safety is going to play on the defensive side as well. They’re going to have to run the football. And I know Bjon Robinson had a big day receiving last week, but they got to be better up front. Um if Van Ginkle’s out especially, I think that works a lot in the Falcons advantage. But I I I just I’m with you. I trust Brian Flores in the looks that he’s going to throw at Penn. And a big thing for me, you want you want a big one? Justin Jefferson, two career games against Atlanta. 16 catches, 300 yards, four touchdowns. He is an absolute Falcon killer. They have no answer for him. And if the Falcons, if Darasaw does play, the Falcons pass rush we still saw last week was not good enough against Tampa Bay. They didn’t finish the job on Baker Mayfield when they had the chance. So, I’m going to take Minnesota 24 to 20. Also, I think it’s going to be a razor thin margin. This game’s going to come down to a handful of plays at the end of it. The Falcons getting points in this one. If they end up winning that game, this might be the bet that got away from me. But I got to stay true to uh what I’ve been talking about over the last couple of weeks as we’ve been previewing this

PFF’s Dalton Wasserman and Trevor Sikkema preview the matchup between The Atlanta Falcons and The Minnesota Vikings.

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