Vikings at Falcons

[CharVike]

Let the new era without captain or loser Kirk depending on what side your on begin. Us and the Falcons are basically stuck in the middle. Neither team is in full rebuild and neither team can compete for a Super Bowl. I guess the Falcons are trying to win the division and eventual playoff beat down and their 4-4 record has them on top. Good for them.
Each team played the Panthers and Packers and both won. The Falcons are turning to Heinicke as there starting QB because Ridder, who I liked coming out, has struggled with turnovers and putting points on the board. They have a nice rookie RB, their young TE Pitts can move and Floyd is good. They do have some weapons. Heinicke is one of the better backup/mentors in the NFL. He has a weak arm and will try to work the short middle of the field. If he goes deep his pass will be a moonshot so maybe Bynum, if he doesn't byte on an underneath route, or another S will pick one off. On our side Hall makes his NFL starting debut and the Falcons have no pass rush and a soft secondary. Rookie Levis looked like Dan Marino against them in his NFL debut. Firing rockets to wide open WRs. The deep passing game will be there. We can't run the ball and punching it in from the goal line is almost impossible. Tossing it to a TE is the only answer we have. Catching it and securing the ball is another story. Since Matti was told no more fumbles he has become a soft runner and goes into full ball protection mode when seeing or feeling contact. First contact he's down clinging to the ball. You can't be an effective runner that way. Lets hope it doesn't come down to Peg trying to kick a game winning FG because he is in a slump and any kick from any distance is a roll of the dice. I expect a few blocked attempts that will sail wide right. Same old story. My guess is 17-7 Falcons.

[VikingLord]

The Falcons have been a more well-rounded, but middling, offense. I'm not sure Heinecke changes the equation much for them save, perhaps, he is less likely to turn the ball over which has been a problem for Ridder. The Falcons are almost the definition of an average NFL offense. They don't strike fear into anyone but they are more than good enough to score enough points to beat pretty much anyone. I think Flores will have a harder time confusing Heinecke with his various pressure looks than he would have if Ridder were behind center, but otherwise, the Vikings defense is going to have to play fundamentally sound football this Sunday.

Defensively, the Falcons don't jump off the page anywhere. Much like the Vikings, they are capable of causing problems and making key stops, but also like the Vikings, they are capable of giving up some big plays and making critical mistakes. I don't think the Falcons are going to be able to scheme much against Hall, mostly because there just isn't enough info on Hall yet for them to gameplan for him, but I'd generally expect them to throw more pressure at him and try to confuse him and goad him into making mistakes. KOC will likely mitigate that by emphasizing the run early and trying to play with a lead. Crowd noise could be a factor as well.

This game is really hard to call mostly because I have no idea how Hall will handle his first regular season start. The Vikings don't have the run game behind him to lean on and lessen the pressure on him, so the defense is going to have to play its best game of the season to compensate.

I've been steadily predicting Vikings losses the last few weeks and so far I've been wrong every time. I did that not because I thought the Vikings were a worse team than their opponents, but mostly because I thought the Vikings wouldn't execute well enough to win. They surprised me with some crisp execution, or at the very least, had stretches of crisp execution that enabled them to leave those games with wins. With Cousins out and this being an away game with a rookie 5th round QB under center, expecting the level of offensive execution to continue at that level might be too tall an order with too many other things that need to go right for them to win.

I'm going to predict:

Falcons - 21
Vikings - 10

[cmoss84]

I'm guessing the Vikings have some some tape on Heinicke. I'm guessing Hall will struggle a bit and KOC will be calling pretty conservatively. Both defenses are basically at or near full strength. This might be a 2 hour game with all of the running and short passing. Maybe each team takes a shot or two down the field, which could determine the game. Most likely, this is a 14-10 type of game with field position being massive.

17-13 Falcons (Falcons get biggest score on TO)

[psjordan]

I’ll be there, decent seats, will report back anything of substance.

[Lash Man]

Totally winnable game ,,,, a typical game the Vikings will step on their sacks and lose by two scores

[psjordan]

Darrisaw out, geez

[JJBreaksRecords]

When I saw this game coming up I was hoping we would finally blow out a team. Now I will be surprised if we will even win. It will be decided by 3 points or less.

[VikingsVictorious]

I am so sick of KOC and his 4th and 1 punts and FGs. That is a loser's mentality.

[CharVike]

I have to give Dobbs credit. Kewsi said he is a smart guy and to come in after a few days is impressive.

[Maelstrom88]

A lot of grit shown by this team today.

Dobbs is impressive and someone they can rally around.

Probably the best coaching performance of the KOC era.

Props to Addison and Hock.

[CharVike]

Never thought I'd see a score like that. Good for Dobbs. Kewsi hit on that one. Best WR out and LT out that usually spells doom and gloom. Not today

[Crax]

Rumors of torn achilles for Akers. Going to be seeing even more Mattison now. May get more chandler at least

[Thaumaturgist]

Rumors of torn achilles for Akers. Going to be seeing even more Mattison now. May get more chandler at least

Oh, man... The hits keep on coming.

[JJBreaksRecords]

Dobbs is a baller. We are still in for the playoffs, so I love his mindset and play.

Addison is the best WR of the draft. Hes so good, and reminds a lot of JJ. Addison is the #1 WR on half the NFL teams I bet. They did their homework on him.

That was a fun game ti watch. Feel bad for Hall.

[CharVike]

A lot of grit shown by this team today.

Dobbs is impressive and someone they can rally around.

Probably the best coaching performance of the KOC era.

Props to Addison and Hock.

I agree with the KOC coaching. That last TD pass Dobbs looked one side came off to the other side. That's how you play QB. The OL blocked which gave the play a chance and that was key.