The Minnesota Vikings take on the Atlanta Falcons in Mercedez-Benz Stadium at 12 p.m. CST on Sunday.
The Falcons just solidified that the Desmond Ridder era is over (for now) and have given the reigns over to former Viking, Taylor Heinicke.
Heinicke signed as an undrafted free agent for Minnesota after the 2015 NFL draft and backed up Teddy Bridgewater and former NFL Europe passing leader Shaun Hill. he never saw the field and was released prior to the start of the 2017 season.
Now, he comes back and is looking to prove that he can keep Atlanta’s playoff hopes alive.
Minnesota has their own playoff hopes that they are worried about, and the road to that playoff starts with stopping Heinicke and this Atlanta offense.
If they want to do that, they will need to follow these four keys to success.
Heat up Heinicke
If Heinicke is anything, he is fearless with the football.
He’s on record affirming that he “really fell in love with the game” when he was watching Brett Favre with his father and his game reflects that.
Heinicke is a gunslinger. He will take chances and try to make a play even if the play may not be there.
Brian Flores is probably chomping at the bit at the thought of forcing Heinicke into throwing before he wants to. The Falcons have only seen 70 total blitzes through the first eight games and are tied for the fourth-most sacks allowed (26).
Atlanta’s offensive line has not been good in pass-protection. Falcons quarterbacks have been sacked on nine percent of their dropbacks this season, seventh-most in the NFL.
Danielle Hunter and company could be in for a big outing against this front.
Stop The Run
Heinicke is in now and that means that there is more of a threat in the passing game than there would be with Desmond Ridder.
But this is still a team that wants to run the ball first and foremost.
Their offense is not only predicated on the run game, they need it to get the rest of the offense going.
Their passing offense is not good when given straight dropbacks, they want to roll out and move the launch point of their quarterbacks. Let their quarterbacks use their athleticism and have a chance to scramble outside of the pocket.
If Minnesota can stop the run and force the Falcons to be a straight-dropback offense, the probability of success for this defense rises.
Stop the young trio
One of the reasons that Heinicke is given this opportunity is to get the most out of the trio of Bijan Robinson, Drake London and Kyle Pitts in the passing game.
These three were picked in the top ten of the draft back-to-back-to-back by the Falcons as they attempted to build a “position-less” offense.
Their combined 1422 yards account for almost 75% of the offense’s production.
This is much easier said than done, even if Arthur has had trouble scheming them open. London and Pitts can win contested catch opportunities and Robinson creates space like he’s at the top of the key in a basketball game.
Someone else has to beat you. It can’t be one of these three. If one of these three get into a rhythm on the outside or up the seams, it makes life stopping this offense exponentially harder.
Whether that’s Tyler Allgeier or Mack Hollins or Van Jefferson, someone else has to be the go-to.
Cause turnovers
One of the only teams that are as turnover-prone as the Vikings are the Falcons.
Minnesota is fourth in turnovers at 15, Atlanta is right behind them in fifth at 14.
This Minnesota defense has been particularly opportunistic in the past three weeks, causing seven turnovers (T-first in that span).
Every possession will count on Sunday as they try to pull off this upset against Atlanta. Any extra possessions to give to Jaren Hall and the Minnesota offense will be as valuable as gold.
