Kirk Cousins makes his return to Minnesota on Sunday in a game with huge NFC playoff implications. US Bank Stadium will play host to this matchup between Cousins’ Atlanta Falcons and Sam Darnold’s Minnesota Vikings. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. ET on Fox. Let’s jump in and take a look at this Falcons-Vikings preview and predictions.
After a 6-3 start to the season for Cousins and his Falcons, they’d dropped the last three games in a row to New Orleans, Denver, and the Los Angeles Chargers. Despite their three-game skid, they still hold the fourth seed in the NFC by virtue of leading the NFC South by tiebreaker over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. A loss to the Vikings and a Buccaneers win would put the Falcons on the outside looking in.
For Minnesota, they are an astonishing 10-2 on the season, but yet sit as the five seed in the NFC playoffs currently. The Lions of course hold the division lead at 11-1, but the Vikings need to do everything in their power to stay right behind the Lions and keep themselves in the mix for the NFC North title and that higher seed.
Atlanta Falcons at Minnesota Vikings Preview and Predictions Video
Atlanta Falcons at Minnesota Vikings Preview and Predictions
Jordan Addison Longest Reception Over 21.5 Yards
The second-year Minnesota Vikings wide receiver has been on a tear over the last few games including a 162-yard receiving effort against the Bears just two weeks ago. One thing Addison loves to catch is the deep ball. He’s caught a pass of at least 21 yards in five consecutive games and in eight of the last nine games he’s played this season.
In his short career Addison has racked up 15 games with a catch longer than 21 yards. If you lower that bar to 20 yards, he’s done it in 18 of the 26 games he’s played in his career. That’s a cool 69% of his career games that he’s catching a pass of at least 20 yards.
Minnesota Vikings -5 (-120)
The Vikings are clearly the better team in this matchup. The team, coaches, and players who played with Kirk Cousins are going to want to stick it to the quarterback who left them high and dry with no starting quarterback. They’ve used that chip all season so far to get to this 10-2 record. The Vikings are on a five-game win streak coming into this matchup. While the Falcons head the other direction on a three-game losing streak. They are also 7-4-1 against the spread compared to the Falcons at just 5-7.
