Sam Darnold momentarily broke his calm attitude after seeing himself on the big screen, enthusiastically twirling a towel to energize the crowd after the Minnesota Vikings pulled ahead of Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons late in the game.
“I just felt the buzz. That was pure passion, pure joy, man,” Darnold said.
Darnold added another big performance to his strong first season with the Vikings, passing for a career-high 347 yards and five touchdowns in a 42-21 victory over the struggling Falcons. This win extended the Vikings’ winning streak to six games.
“It just felt like it was one of those days to keep the gas pedal down,” said coach Kevin O’Connell, enjoying his team’s first 40-point game in his three years as head coach.
Darnold threw for 250 yards in the second half to help the Vikings (11-2) break a 21-all tie early in the fourth quarter and stay just one game behind Detroit in the NFC North with a crucial matchup against the Lions approaching.
Jordan Addison caught eight passes for 133 yards and three touchdowns, while Justin Jefferson had seven receptions for 132 yards and two touchdowns after a six-game scoring drought.
“This is something that we want to do and we can do every single week,” Jefferson said.
Kirk Cousins, who left the Vikings to join the Falcons, threw two more interceptions without a touchdown in a tough return to Minnesota, following a mixed six-year run with the team.
The Falcons (6-7), booed as they took the field, suffered a fourth consecutive loss. This dropped them from first place in the NFC South, putting them one game behind Tampa Bay.
“When you’re playing well, you usually aren’t as good as people are telling you when they’re patting you on the back, and if you’re in a rut you’re usually not as bad as people kind of leaving you for dead,” Cousins said. “The reality’s usually somewhere in the middle. You just have to keep playing and see where the dust settles in January.”
Cousins finished 23 for 37 for 344 yards for the Falcons, who crossed midfield on all nine of their possessions and ended with 496 total yards. However, he overthrew Ray-Ray McCloud III on fourth down in the first quarter, and the Falcons had to settle for short field goals right before and after halftime.
The Falcons’ fate was sealed when McCloud fumbled the kickoff at the 32-yard line after the Vikings went 70 yards in six plays to score a touchdown, followed by another touchdown pass to Addison seven plays later.
The Falcons also handed the Vikings an easy touchdown when Kentavious Street was called for defensive holding during a field-goal attempt late in the second quarter, giving Darnold a new set of downs and leading to a 12-yard touchdown pass to Jefferson on third-and-6.
“You just can’t have the self-inflicted wounds and expect to win football games like we had today,” said Falcons coach Raheem Morris.
Bijan Robinson had 22 carries for 92 yards and a touchdown, and Tyler Allgeier added nine carries for 63 yards and a touchdown for the Falcons against the NFL’s best run defense.
Cousins, who threw four interceptions last week, made another mistake early in the second quarter in a tie game. He hesitated and then threw a pass straight to Josh Metellus, who was in position to make the interception. This brought Cousins’ total to a league-high 15 interceptions for the season.
Byron Murphy grabbed a second interception near the goal line with the Vikings leading 35-21 and 6:26 left. Darnold, who completed 22 of 28 passes without any mistakes despite facing pressure in the first half, then led a seven-play, 98-yard drive to seal the game.
“I think we grew up a lot today offensively,” O’Connell said.
