Familiar Faces

It’s reunion time. Not for your high school or college buddies, but for Kirk Cousins. It will be his first time returning to Minnesota since he left at the end of last year. A quick synopsis of these two teams; the Vikings can play, and the Falcons are in tumultuous waters. The 10-2 Vikings have been surging all year, and while they dropped back-to-back games in October to the Lions and Rams, that was back in October. It’s December now, and the Vikings are showing us why it’s called “the present.” It was risky to move on from Kirk Cousins, while he was never able to secure their goal, a Lombardi trophy. Regardless, he still had success with the Vikings, only recording two losing seasons and throwing for over 4k yards every year outside 2019 where he threw for 3,600 yards. So, Kirk can play, but it’s clearly not panning out for the Falcons right now. He did throw for 2,200 last year, but only played 8 total games. It could be general chemistry, lack of talent, maybe a weakness from their defense, who give up 25 ppg, but something is rotten in Atlanta right now. I don’t think Cousins is fully to blame, but he has not been playing up to snuff, but he only has 17 TDs and leads the league with 13 INTs. To move on from him to a general question mark in Sam Darnold, was an absolute risk. But, through this season, Darnold has thrown for 2,900 yards, 23 TDs, and a completion percentage of 67.6%, the highest of his career. Sam Darnold, for now, is here to stay and is playing like he knows that, so Minnesota holds a confidence they haven’t had in a while. The question is, can they figure it out come playoff time, as since their last loss to the Rams, they have only won one game by more than one score to some, shall we say weaker opponents. I think ultimately this game comes down to Kirk Cousins. Can he show why he was with the Vikings all those years, or is this the beginning of the game? This game is the Vikings to control, but let’s not give Cousins a chance to get hot, or it could be trouble for the Vikings in this homecoming.

POSTGAME:

Any concerns had with the Vikings, should be dispelled. Last’s Sunday’s game made sure of that. Sam Darnold threw for a career high 347 yards and 5 TDs, finding Justin Jefferson twice and Jordan Addison three times. While the Falcons started hot with a Tyler Allgeier 6-yard TD run on their first drive, they had trouble getting anything going the rest of the first half. Kirk Cousins isn’t helping the rumors that his time may be up, as he went yet another game touchdown-less. While he did notch 344 yards in the air, he also had 2 more INTs, bringing his total up to 15, (a league high.) The Vikings look dominant, and the Falcons have issues at QB. Hopefully, Cousins will have some answers next game or his time as a starter will be in more jeopardy than it was a week ago. One player moves forward, another moves backward. It’s the way of life in the NFL.