Falcons @ Vikings 9/14/25

[Parfigliano]

Perfect ending

[The Great Hambino]

4 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

Impeccable timing on this twins tweet 

 

Joe Ryan is weird in a good way

[Vanimal46]

2 minutes ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

Ponder would run around in circles confused like a chicken with… 

Whatever his flaws tonight, McCarthy doesn’t do that. 

3 turnovers and 6 sacks. He did that tonight. 

[Aggies7]

Just now, Vanimal46 said:

3 turnovers and 6 sacks. He did that tonight. 

Been so long since we had a rookie (basically) QB. Forgot how bad it can be. Hope we don’t start getting into wide receiver unhappiness drama. 

[Aggies7]

About as concerning as McCarthy being poor are the injuries. Got decimated tonight. Crazy how the injury luck ran out so fast and so hard 

[nicksaviking]

10 hours ago, The Great Hambino said:

Joe Ryan is weird in a good way

Does that sweatshirt mean he lost his fantasy football league last year? 

[nicksaviking]

A rookie QB and a bad OL are the worst possible combination in the NFL. Can't change the rookie part so they better fix that OL ASAP. 

And while Skule is clearly the weak part of the line, O'Neill is healthy but not looking like he's doing his job either. After those two spots, it seem Jackson keeps getting beat on stunts and delayed blitzes. Ugh, he's a rookie, and he looks good otherwise so I'll presume he'll improve there.

I don't think I've heard Fries name once this year, which is positive, and aside from that botched snap (and concussion) I think Kelly has been good. 

[Aggies7]

I gave credit to KOC for his decision to throw downfield before the half and get some points, but overall he had an uncharacteristically rough game. Did not understand the deep throw on 3rd and 1 and then the punt in the 4th. You knew with how tired the defense was, we probably weren’t getting the ball back twice with enough time to score twice. 

[The Great Hambino]

15 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

I gave credit to KOC for his decision to throw downfield before the half and get some points, but overall he had an uncharacteristically rough game. Did not understand the deep throw on 3rd and 1 and then the punt in the 4th. You knew with how tired the defense was, we probably weren’t getting the ball back twice with enough time to score twice. 

Agreed, I thought the shot downfield on 3rd and 1 was a good call, but I also thought it meant they were in a 4-down mindset.  Punting made no sense and it all played out exactly how we thought it would.  I saw somewhere he mentioned the earlier 4th down failed sneak as being on his mind when he decided to punt. Okay ... then maybe run something other than a sneak?  Pretty sure that's allowed.

[The Great Hambino]

Ways I am lying to myself to convince myself that everything is going to be alright:

Skule/Rouse have no business being out there and Darrisaw will make a huge difference

Losing Kelly mid-game threw the line calls into chaos and they'll now develop a better contingency plan

JJ won't be bringing a newborn baby into the world every week

KOC hasn't yet gotten to the part of his QB tutorial where he teaches JJ how to step up in the pocket without just running forward and waiting to get sacked

Addison will be much sharper and have better timing on outs/comebacks than Nailor

The Falcons will reveal themselves to be a top 5 defense as the season goes on

Dallas Turner will throw a coin into a fountain and use his wish on learning how to set the edge in the run game

I'm definitely not staring into the abyss once again with only Christian Ponder staring back at me

[The Great Hambino]

1 hour ago, nicksaviking said:

Does that sweatshirt mean he lost his fantasy football league last year? 

I think it means he really likes gummies

[nicksaviking]

1 hour ago, Aggies7 said:

I gave credit to KOC for his decision to throw downfield before the half and get some points, but overall he had an uncharacteristically rough game. Did not understand the deep throw on 3rd and 1 and then the punt in the 4th. You knew with how tired the defense was, we probably weren’t getting the ball back twice with enough time to score twice. 

Yeah, I thought that deep throw on 3rd meant for sure they were running a play on 4th. The deep pass and punt made no sense.

I think without Bradbury under center, they now CAN run up the middle on short down plays, but it looked very much like they never practice it. They need to practice the hell out of that stuff now, and with both centers.

Also, JJ looks more comfortable improvising when flushed outside of the pocket to the right. They should be bootlegging more; particularly in short yardage. Scan the field for busted coverage or take off running.

[Aggies7]

1 hour ago, The Great Hambino said:

Agreed, I thought the shot downfield on 3rd and 1 was a good call, but I also thought it meant they were in a 4-down mindset.  Punting made no sense and it all played out exactly how we thought it would.  I saw somewhere he mentioned the earlier 4th down failed sneak as being on his mind when he decided to punt. Okay ... then maybe run something other than a sneak?  Pretty sure that's allowed.

That earlier 4th down should have been reviewed before they rushed up and got stopped on the sneak. That was a whole cluster F. At least call a timeout and get set up 

[gunnarthor]

So, I'll go with a few positives. 

First, the defense really did a great job. They kept the Vikes in the game a lot longer than they should have. 

Second, nothing in the game makes me think McCarthy isn't the long term answer at QB. He had a rough game but he kept his head down field, even when running. I think a lot of the bad things that happened weren't his fault and, with more experience, he'll be just fine.

A few negatives - 

The o-line was horrible. As Nick stated, O'Neil struggled. On the strip sack, the line blocked down and O'Neil didn't even put a hand on the edge rusher who had a straight line to the QB. That was clearly a pre-snap blocking call (Jurgens? McCarthy? O'Neil?) that was screwed up by somebody. And, kind of like the Rams playoff game, KOC didn't adjust much to fix it. Oliver wasn't often put in, for example, as a pass blocker to help Skule. I thought both Fries and Jackson mostly were pretty good up the middle but the edges and Jurgens were a bit iffy. 

Second, we had some opportunities and didn't convert. Some stupid penalties hurt. McCarthy missed Nailor on a (likely) TD and Nailor made a few good catches for him on some other bad throws. Growing pains. But it hurt.

[Vanimal46]

2 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

A rookie QB and a bad OL are the worst possible combination in the NFL. Can't change the rookie part so they better fix that OL ASAP. 

And while Skule is clearly the weak part of the line, O'Neill is healthy but not looking like he's doing his job either. After those two spots, it seem Jackson keeps getting beat on stunts and delayed blitzes. Ugh, he's a rookie, and he looks good otherwise so I'll presume he'll improve there.

I don't think I've heard Fries name once this year, which is positive, and aside from that botched snap (and concussion) I think Kelly has been good. 

A lot of the OL problems are due to McCarthy holding onto the ball way too long. I saw that he had over 3 seconds to throw the ball on his drop backs. KOC loves his slow developing plays, and McCarthy isn't capable of doing that yet. We gotta simplify the playbook. Quick throws, 1 or 2 read plays, and pound the rock with Mason way more than we're doing right now. 

[gunnarthor]

1 hour ago, Vanimal46 said:

A lot of the OL problems are due to McCarthy holding onto the ball way too long. I saw that he had over 3 seconds to throw the ball on his drop backs. KOC loves his slow developing plays, and McCarthy isn't capable of doing that yet. We gotta simplify the playbook. Quick throws, 1 or 2 read plays, and pound the rock with Mason way more than we're doing right now. 

I don't disagree with you but I'm not sure the 3 second thing is helpful. On some plays in the second half, McCarthy had all day to pass. I figured the line and weathered the storm and I thought we were going to win. But on several of the sacks, they just go through, right quick. There wasn't a play that I remember where I was thinking "he held it too long." Nor did I think he had happy feet and bailed out of a clean pocket. (Which is why I'm generally not that concerned with the loss - the oline will get better with Darrisaw, the playcalling will get better because we have smart people). 

But, generally, I think you're right. But KOC has had long developing plays as his thing since day one. So we will see what sort of adjustments we make. 

[nicksaviking]

1 hour ago, Vanimal46 said:

A lot of the OL problems are due to McCarthy holding onto the ball way too long. I saw that he had over 3 seconds to throw the ball on his drop backs. KOC loves his slow developing plays, and McCarthy isn't capable of doing that yet. We gotta simplify the playbook. Quick throws, 1 or 2 read plays, and pound the rock with Mason way more than we're doing right now. 

I agree that he held on to the ball too long quite often, but I don't think he did on the sacks. The first one looked like he got hit right at the 2 second mark and that was the most time he had.

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/falcons-vs-vikings-atlanta-keeps-jj-mccarthy-minnesota-out-of-end-zone-in-strong-22-6-victory-225351115.html

Took me a minute, but the first sack was shown twice for some reason.

Two other sacks McCarthy had the wherewithal to get out of the pocket and run, but got caught before getting back to the line of scrimmage. I'm on board with those efforts; I'm fine risking giving up a yard or two if the reward for escaping is picking up ten.

The other three sacks he had less than two seconds; twice having about a second. The OL was awful. Might have been due to McCarthy not calling the right protections, but Skule and O'Neill were brutal in any case. The strip sack in particular was an awful look for O'Neill. He decides to double the nose tackle with Fries (who appears to the be lineman least in need of help), so I have to assume he thought Aaron Jones would pick up the 270 lb Zach Harrison running at full speed? And then even though he's double teaming the nose tackle, O'Neill still gets pancaked. Even if it was a blown protection call, O'Neill should have instantly understood he had to get hands on the the edge rusher.

 

 

 

[nicksaviking]

Also, I'm fine with Harrison Smith keeping whatever his ailment is private, but when did the Vikings know about this? They could have signed other safeties instead. Sorry to be unsentimental about it, but Julien Blackmon cost half as much. And that's just one safety off the top of my head, there were plenty of others out there late in free agency.

[Vanimal46]

Brutal. Injuries piling up. 

[Aggies7]

25 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Brutal. Injuries piling up. 

Came here to post this. Honestly might not be a bad thing to have him out a game for his sake and that of the team. No idea what to expect from wentz

[Vanimal46]

13 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

Came here to post this. Honestly might not be a bad thing to have him out a game for his sake and that of the team. No idea what to expect from wentz

Seems bizarre to announce on Monday that he's out for the next game. Didn't even take a day to see how he reacts with treatment from the medical staff...

[The Great Hambino]

3 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Seems bizarre to announce on Monday that he's out for the next game. Didn't even take a day to see how he reacts with treatment from the medical staff...

I'm sure it will be a total coincidence that his ankle will be good to go as soon as Kelly and Darrisaw are back in the lineup

[nicksaviking]

3 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Seems bizarre to announce on Monday that he's out for the next game. Didn't even take a day to see how he reacts with treatment from the medical staff...

Yeah, I'm guessing it means they know it's a high ankle sprain and he's going on the IR.

Agree with Aggie that it might have a silver lining, though I think if we were going to play that game with an injury, it would have been better if JJ had gotten a couple more weeks to learn from yesterday's loss, THEN let Wentz take all the lumps facing an absolute brutal schedule of the Eagles, Chargers, Lions and Ravens.

Wentz's worst habit is holding on to the ball too long too. Lucky for him and the Vikings, the Bengals are a great fix for that problem.

 

 

[Vanimal46]

3 minutes ago, The Great Hambino said:

I'm sure it will be a total coincidence that his ankle will be good to go as soon as Kelly and Darrisaw are back in the lineup

Kelly now has 4 documented concussions which is quite concerning. And the Darrisaw thing is weird too. Why wasn't he placed on short term IR to begin the season? Are we going to have him playing over in Europe on questionable fields? If not, then we should have put him on IR and signed a LT for depth. 

As of now Rouse looks like he's going to start at LT and that will be a disaster.

[nicksaviking]

3 minutes ago, The Great Hambino said:

I'm sure it will be a total coincidence that his ankle will be good to go as soon as Kelly and Darrisaw are back in the lineup

Last night I said they should pull him after the 3rd string LT was in the game; those guys are going to get him killed. Better a few games now than all the games after next week.

McCarthy has to play at least 10 games this year; I don't want to be in the same position in 2026 that we were in 2025 wondering. We need to have a pretty good read on the situation.

[nicksaviking]

2 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

As of now Rouse looks like he's going to start at LT and that will be a disaster.

Might as well just run two TE sets from now until Darrisaw and Addison come back anyway. I was less than thrilled watching Nailor let the nickelback hop over his shoulder on that INT and the near INT.

Trey Hendrickson is the Bengals only useful defensive player. If he's not double and triple teamed on every play next week, the Vikings are getting too cute with things.

[Vanimal46]

The question needs to be asked... Would you call up Atlanta and bring back Kirko Chainz? 

[gunnarthor]

7 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

The question needs to be asked... Would you call up Atlanta and bring back Kirko Chainz? 

God, no. 

[Aggies7]

40 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

The question needs to be asked... Would you call up Atlanta and bring back Kirko Chainz? 

It was sad watching him stand there while Penix was doing fairly well. I’m guessing he could still play for a lot of teams in the league if given a chance. Unless age has caught up with him.

[nicksaviking]

46 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

The question needs to be asked... Would you call up Atlanta and bring back Kirko Chainz? 

Nope. The stratification of where Cousins may be too good to bench, but not good enough to win it all is too big. Players, fans and some coaches would be calling to keep Cousins just to watch entertaining football, but at the expense of figuring out a long term solution, which was the path they committed to when Cousins left. I'd rather lose ten games with McCarthy than win ten games with Cousins, simply because to someday win a championship, they have to figure this out.

Even if Wentz plays well enough to win games, we're way less likely to have that problem.