The home opener was finally here and like I had written earlier I had no idea what the team would be like as preseason really did not show generally much to get excited about.
The atmosphere was so great to be a part of although I looked down to the left and seemed to be a lot of fans still waiting to get in as a new system has started and seems to be slow early in the season so hopefully the bugs will be worked out.
The Minnesota Vikings all-time leading tackler, Scott Studwell lead the Skol Chant and blew the Gjallarhorn to get the crowd even more fired up as if they really needed that because this is Week one and football is back.
The kicking saga all offseason with who will be the kicker finally revealed itself and the man to win the job was Dan Bailey and we see him start 2019 with a bomb of a kickoff with no return. This was a great start but the Falcons first offensive play the tone was set for the day when we see Falcons’ quarterback, Matt Ryan sacks by Anthony Barr and the frenzy of US Bank was in full emotion.
The Falcons fail to convert their first down and Falcons’ punt team came out and what do we see next? I believe a massive missed blocking assignment because Viking Eric Wilson came up the gut seemingly untouched and blocked the ball cleanly. I wanted so badly to see someone pick up the loose ball and take it for sox but did not happen. Oh well the Vikes offense is set up deep in Falcons’ territory and the offense did not disappoint as we see a Kirk Cousins to Adam Thielen for a quick six. The extra point the last few years has been awful to watch but Bailey did not disappoint nor did he all game. I really thought Bailey had one of his better kicking days for the purple extra points and kickoffs.
The Falcons get the ball back and in the drive we see Vikes Safety, Anthony Harris make an unbelievable interception taking the ball from newly highest paid receiver, Julio Jones seemingly right out of his hands. Julio is an amazing receiver as he is so big, physically and gifted but when it comes to facing the Vikes he seems to really struggle so I jokingly like to Who Jones instead of Julio as he is not a factor in these games. Sunday he had 6 catches for 31 yards so really was nicely shut down.
The interception gives the ball Vikes great field position and once again the Vikes cash it in on a great run by Dalvin Cook but could not have been great without very nice blocking.
The first quarter end and the Vikes are up 14-0 in a quarter I have not seen this good in a very long time. The only complaint was the untimely encroachments by the Vikes giving Atlanta free first downs. This quarter seeing a sack, blocked punt, interception and two touchdowns could 2019 really start out any better?
The second quarter was not as exciting with the exception of Falcons running back, Devonte Freeman being hit nicely but Vkes Trae Waynes and I don’t think Waynes realized he separated the ball as he got up from the hit and seemed excited he made the play but his teammates were jolly on the spot and its Vikes ball. One again the Vikes capitalize except a longer field but this time Kirk Cousins does a quarterback keeper diving across and it’s six more for the Vikes. It’s halftime and the team I love is shutting out what I consider a pretty good offense from Atlanta.
Halftime had a great touch as the Revolution did a mini concert and the packed US Bank was able to enjoy Prince Songs.
Second half was boring compared to the first half as the Vikes did score one more touchdown for the game and basically put the game out of reach and we saw a couple garbage time touchdowns.
There were so many things I like about the game and I will start with the new punter, Britton Colquitt who had 3 or 4 bombs all 50 yards or over and had a nice punt downed inside the ten yard line. I will say for week 1 he was worth the money.
I liked the pass rush all day as the team’s sack numbers were not huge but they seemingly were back harassing Matt Ryan all day and making him feel uncomfortable. I do think Ryan is a very good NFL QB but Sunday the Vikes made him look just ok but I was surprised when I got home and read he threw 46 times and over 300 yards.
The Vikes run defense all day was out of this world and I loved seeing the sideline to sideline pursuit really bottling up the Falcons running backs.
The play of the Vikes safeties I give a letter grade of an A as Anthony Harris had the big early on interception but later as the Falcons were down on the Vikes two and Ryan threw the ball deep in the corner of the end zone where Harris made another unbelievable interception as I watched the Falcons tight end seemingly give up on the ball as I am assuming the pass would go out of the end zone whereas Harris leaped, caught and kept both feet in bounds.
I also like every single game I watch see # 22 Harrison Smith time after time make play after play well on Sunday we saw Ryan connect with a receiver near the sidelines except Smith took exception and cleanly pushed the receiver out of bounds so no chance to keep his feet on.
Sunday was a strange game in the fact where Kirk Cousins threw for just around 100 yards while Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen got their hands on the ball very few times. We saw the Vikes run for over 170 yards a very impressive number.
I am still concerned about Cousins in the pocket as he just does not seem to feel the heat but to his credit no turnovers as he is being creamed. It was such a good day to be a Vikings fan and with the game being out of hand many fans left early making it a little easier to make our way out of US Bank.
It’s going to be a great week at work knowing the Vikes won and now travel to Green Bay for Packer week.
Thank you for reading
Purplestick
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