Dan Quinn constantly preaches how important it is to take care of the football, and until they cut down on self-inflicted wounds, it’ll be hard to get back in the win column.
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Peterson knows he won’t dominate forever, and the Vikings know what happens when they don’t give him the chance to dominate.
The Falcons have been a disgusting bet of late, failing to cover in five straight games.
Both teams were hurt by big mistakes in the first half. But if there’s one team that Minnesota would want to face right now, it should be no one else but the Falcons. The guys up front will be the biggest concern down the stretch, especially after the Vikings surrendered six sacks and many more pressures against the Packers.
Ryan Holds Self Accountable: Ryan threw a pair of costly picks against the Vikings, which, in the end, made it extremely hard to mount a comeback.
Today was much different. “I’ll be able to look at those things after the fact”.
Head coach Mike Zimmer said after the game that he thought his quarterback Teddy Bridgewater played well against the Flacons, but the numbers won’t exactly bear that out.
RECEIVING- MIN, Rudolph 7-53, S.Diggs 4-31, Asiata 3-17, A.Peterson 2-29, Jr.
Peterson scored the Vikings’ first touchdown on a 1-yard run in the first quarter after dropping a pass that might have got it for him through the air. Here are my three takeaways from the game. In two of those three losses, he has been held to less than 50 yards on the ground.
YELLOW FLAGS: The Vikings went into last Sunday’s game as the least-penalized team in the league. He needs to mix the offense up because it has become stale and easy to stop.
And it was a spectacular effort from the Vikings’ defense, which took advantage of some poor decisions by Ryan. They can solidify their position with a win here. Hey, everyone can have a bad game. Antone Exum fell on the loose ball at the Minnesota 21, giving Coleman his third lost fumble of the season.
After Tevin Coleman’s go-ahead touchdown run was wiped out by a penalty, Ryan was picked off in the end zone by Terence Newman.
Xavier Rhodes has progressed in his third-year as a pro. Julio Jones is going to be targeted early and often in the game and will put up huge numbers.
But it’s looking increasingly like Matt Ryan has found his level and is intent on staying there, because unless something changes, this won’t be enough to deliver a Super Bowl to Atlanta.
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With the win, the Vikings lead the Packers by a game in the NFC North. They play host the Seahawks at TCF Bank Stadium next weekend. “I don’t think we played our best game defensively, but for the most part we kept them out of the endzone”. Minnesota hopes to continue its playoff push by duplicating last year’s 41-28 home win over Atlanta and picking up its fourth consecutive road triumph.
