No revenge today, Kirk

The Vikings blew out the Falcons on the back of an all-time great showing by Sam Darnold

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By Matthew Coller

MINNEAPOLIS — Revenge game? Never heard of it.

The former Minnesota Vikings quarterback may have been the story coming into Sunday’s game between the Vikings and Atlanta Falcons but behind their new quarterback Sam Darnold the Vikings put on a fireworks show at US Bank Stadium.

Darnold annihilated the Falcons defense throwing for 347 yards and five touchdowns in a 42-21 victory. He made spectacular plays, threw deep balls to Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison like it was going out of style and responded every single time the team needed him. And as the clock ticked down, Darnold ramped up the crowd on the jumbotron, showing the most emotion we’ve seen from him all year.

With this type of QB play, folks, anything becomes possible for the 2024 Vikings.

Here’s how it went down….

Desperately wanting the Kirk Cousins Revenge Game to be a thing, we waited for the Atlanta Falcons to trot out onto the field to see what the reaction from the crowd would be. Is there a such thing as a polite booing? Obligatory booing? Nobody seemed to be yelling “boo” from their chest. Pretty much describes Cousins’s time with the Vikings. It was neither great nor terrible. Mild boo.

The storyline all week was that Cousins has hit the skids. It’s over. He’s washed. The Vikings are going to smash his face in. That didn’t feel quite right. How many times did we think the Vikings were done with him or that he was down too many points to come back in a game and he found a way to come back?

Well, he certainly didn’t look very washed to start the game. On third-and-8, he got strong pass protection on a blitz and floated a throw to his new favorite target Darnell Mooney for a 28-yard gain. We know if Cousins has time to throw, he’s going to convert, repaired Achilles or no repaired Achilles.

After slowing down a couple runs, Kirk was looking at another third down inside the 15-yard line. He completed a short pass underneath and the Falcons decided to go for fourth down. They moved the sticks and kept the drive alive. Tyler Allgeier took a handoff on the next play and plowed forward for a touchdown.

No booing now, just quiet. He can still play?

Sam Darnold’s turn.

No floating passes from him. On third down Darnold dropped back and fired a laser beam to Jordan Addison, who leaped up over the defender and made a terrific catch. But the drive died quickly when the least sack-y team in the league suddenly figured out how to rush the passer. There was some confusion up front on one sack and then — in a very rare occurrence — Brian O’Neill got beat around the edge for a third down sack. Punt.

Cousins went right back to work. He hasn’t had much pocket movement all year but the Falcons dialed up a play-action and he floated a pass into a hold in the defense for a 24-yard pickup. How many times did the Vikings run that same play while he was here?

Cousins took his biggest hit of the day as Dallas Turner whipped into the backfield and laid out the veteran quarterback. The Falcons went for another fourth down and Cousins’s throw was wide. As much as there was a cheer, there was relief. Points there would have suddenly made things tense.

How quickly the turn tables.

After an opening play screen to get going, Darnold heaved the ball up in the air wildly but Addison tracked the ball better than former Viking Mike Hughes. He pivoted back to catch the floating football and then trotted easily into the end zone. That’s why he was picked in the first round, friends. 7-7.

When Cousins went back on the field, he made a Washed Era throw. The Vikings dropped everyone back into coverage and Cousins hopped around the pocket and then seemed to get anxious. He threw the ball right to Vikings safety Josh Metellus for his seventh interception in the last four games. Was that a product of Cousins getting hit on the last drive?

To quote Denny Green: They let him off the hook. On third down Darnold was forced out of the pocket and nearly scrambled for a first down but came up just short of the first down. Ryan Wright then had one of his worst punts of the year, sending the ball flying into the end zone for a touchback.

On the subsequent drive, Cousins did not get any revenge for his interception. He was sacked by newcomer Jamin Davis and the Falcons punted.

Finally Justin Jefferson got involved after two drives with a third down conversion over the middle. Darnold followed up with showing off the cannon again. He fired a ball high enough to be a punt in the direction of Addison. Hughes dragged him down for a 47-yard penalty.

Kevin O’Connell — as he does far too often — decided to get cute. In the red zone, he called an abominable trick play that lost yardage. Darnold was then pressured on back-to-back passes and the Vikings kicked a field goal. However, the Falcons committed a defensive holding penalty on the field goal and the offense went back onto the field. On third down, Darnold rocketed a pass to Jefferson in the end zone to take a 14-7 lead.

Cousins took over at the 2-minute warning. Ah, memories. He’s not one to underestimate in this situation. The veteran quarterback completed two passes and got the drive going and then actually scrambled for a first down, shocking onlookers. But it was called back by a holding penalty.

Cousins then showed that he can still put the ball up in the air too. Mooney was one-on-one with Shaq Griffin and burned him down the sideline for a 49-yard completion. With 15 second left in the half, Cousins’s pass was broken up at the line of scrimmage by breakout DT Jalen Redmond and the Falcons settled for a field goal.

Just like last week, the Vikings opponent did them a favor by not going for it.

Onto the second half…

The Vikings started off the second half with a little more of a safe gameplan than trying to wing it all over. Aaron Jones and TJ Hockenson went back-to-back-to-back on successful plays and moved the football to mid-field. Darnold then found Hockenson again on third-and-5 for a first down.

But the overall sloppiness of the offense continued with a penalty on a screen pass that moved the Vikings back to the 35-yard line. Then Darnold got sacked for the fourth time on the day to move them out of field goal position. Jefferson made a sliding catch to get them back into field goal position.

Returning to the lineup for the first time since suffering a leg injury, Will Reichard hit the goal post. Uh oh.

As always, once it looks like Cousins is down in a hole, he finds a way to climb out. Facing third-and-14, he threw into the middle of the field and it looked like Griffin intercepted the ball but Drake London had the ball at the same time and it was ruled a completion. O’Connell challenged the play but the play stood. It felt like that timeout might matter down the road in a game like this.

Cousins had all day on the next third down and easily dumped the ball off for a huge gain to get into the red zone. Andrew Van Ginkel nearly picked off a pass and took it the distance but he couldn’t quite bring it in and the Falcons settled for a field goal. A lot of bending, not as much breaking by the defense. You have to figure there will be breaking soon. 14-13.

With five minutes left in the third, the very fresh-legged Vikings offense got going immediately with a bootleg throw to Justin Jefferson. Then Darnold went into freak mode. Instant pressure caused him to scramble left, scramble right and then fire down field to a wide open Justin Jefferson, who walked backward into the end zone for a touchdown.

No matter what happens, let’s just stop for a minute and say that the QB on the other sideline could never pull off a play like that. 21-13.

But don’t go thinking this one is over.

The Falcons offense put the gas pedal down and responded in an eyeblink. They hit on a 25-yard rush, then a 16-yard screen, then another run for 13 yards and bang, touchdown. Atlanta ran again for the two-point conversion to tie the game at 21-21.

The offensive play count heading into the fourth quarter: 54-35. The accumulation of the previous two weeks — OT vs. Chicago and 82 plays vs. Arizona — was starting to show up late in the game. The Vikings desperately needed a long drive.

Or not. Darnold dropped back, aimed toward the ceiling and threw the ball as high as he could. It dropped down in the arms of Addison for another successful bomb. Nobody has thrown the ball around the yard like this since Daunte Culpepper. Oh hey, Mike Tice is in the building too.

After going from their own 42-yard line to Atlanta’s 16, Darnold converted in the red zone quickly with another throw to Addison for a touchdown. Shootout, baby. 28-21.

With 13 minutes to play, Jefferson and Addison combined for 12 catches, 243 yards and four touchdowns. Is that good?

On the ensuing kickoff, the Falcons fumbled and the Vikings recovered. Why not? We’ve already had everything else.

Darnold completed short throws to Jefferson and Aaron Jones, he converted a third-and-2 throw to Addison to the goal line.

O’Connell decided to get cute again. He lined up Jones at QB and tried to run forward but the Vikings committed an illegal shift with Darnold. But the veteran quarterback made up for it quickly by throwing a touchdown to Addison, his fifth of the game.