The Falcons Offense Will Look Very Different in Week 9
This weekend, the Minnesota Vikings and Atlanta Falcons are set to do battle inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium as part of the Week 9 NFL slate.
Going into that game, both the Vikings and Falcons offenses will look very different than what they’ve been throughout the first eight weeks of the season.
On Minnesota’s side, of course, the Vikings are dealing with Kirk Cousins’ season-ending Achilles injury, and rookie Jaren Hall is set to make his first NFL start. For Atlanta, they are also dealing with injuries and making a couple changes to their offensive lineup on Sunday. Here is a look at the news out of Atlanta coming into this weekend.
QB Taylor Heinicke Takes Over
As reported earlier in the week, the Atlanta Falcons will be switching up their starting QB on Sunday. After rolling with Desmond Ridder for the first eight weeks of the season, Atlanta has named Taylor Heinicke the starter for Week 9 against the Vikings.
Ridder competed 65.4% of his passes for 1701 yards, 6 TDs, and 6 INTs over the opening eight games of the season. He also added 139 rushing yards and 3 more TDs. These are certainly modest totals in today’s NFL, and to make matters worse, he also had 7 fumbles to his name.
The second-year QB left last weekend’s game with concussion symptoms thus prompting head coach Arthur Smith to put in Heinicke. However, even after Ridder passed the tests, Atlanta opted to keep the veteran in, and he threw for 175 yards and a touchdown in the Falcons’ losing effort vs. Tennessee.
The Vikings have some familiarity with Heinicke going into this matchup. Firstly, Minnesota actually had him on their team for a couple years after signing him in 2015 as an undrafted free agent out of Old Dominion. He never saw any game action, but he was on the practice squad from 2015-17 before being released in September 2017.
Heinicke also made a start against Minnesota last season with the Washington Commanders, another Week 9 game that the Vikings won 20-17. In that game, the QB threw for 149 yards, 2 TDs, and an INT. Hopefully, Minnesota’s defense is able to hold him to a similar outing this weekend.
WR Drake London Ruled Out
Helping in Minnesota’s effort to slow down the Falcons offense is the fact that WR Drake London was ruled out for the game with his groin injury. Atlanta listed him as such on their Friday injury report after he did not practice throughout the week.
London was another player to leave last weekend’s game because of the ailment, and he would not return after catching 5 passes for 55 yards to that point in the game. Throughout his first two seasons in Atlanta, London has made the most of a tough QB situation, and to this point, he has 109 receptions for 1304 yards and 6 TDs through his first 25 NFL games.
Atlanta will miss their WR1 this weekend, but there are plenty of other playmakers for the Vikings to worry about. Kyle Pitts is one of the most explosive players at the tight end position in the league while RB Bijan Robinson has been a top running back throughout his rookie season. This game won’t be easy for the Vikings by any means, especially on the road.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho and managing editor of PurplePTSD.com. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.
