1. Jefferson calls Darnold's mobility 'special'

Sam Darnold dropped back to pass 34 times. He was pressured 12 times (35.1%). No problem. Yes, he was sacked four times and forced to scramble twice for 8 yards. But he also completed three of six passes for 113 yards and touchdowns of 49 yards to Jordan Addison and 52 and 12 yards to Justin Jefferson when pressured. The 52-yarder left Jefferson in awe after seeing on the Jumbotron the Houdini act Darnold executed to avoid two blitzers on what would have been a sack up the middle had Kirk Cousins still been a Viking. "Being able to dodge that sack and move around the pocket and still have his eye downfield to find me, that's special," Jefferson said. "That's something that can't really be taught. That's Sam. … What he's doing this season, especially today, is unbelievable."

2. Even with time to throw, Cousins fails

Kirk Cousins' TD-to-INT differential the past four games is 0-8. (Darnold's is 11-0.) Surprisingly, Cousins was pressured only six times in 38 dropbacks (15.8%). But … both of Kirk's interceptions came with time to throw. He put an extra hitch on the one by Josh Metellus, but the pocket was clean enough. He also had time to throw on Byron Murphy Jr.'s interception, but just overthrew his receiver from the Vikings 25 while trailing by 14 with 6½ minutes left. Under pressure, Cousins completed only one of five passes for 11 yards and a sack by Jamin Davis.

3. Redmond becoming Purple payroll's best bargain

Five of Cousins' eight passes defensed came from front-seven players near the line of scrimmage. Andrew Van Ginkel dropped a pick-six. Leading the way with a team-high two pass deflections was Jalen Redmond, a second-year tackle who went undrafted in 2023 and was out of football last year. Redmond, who makes the rookie minimum of $795,000, also had two tackles for losses of 9 yards on Bijan Robinson. Redmond has four TFLs in the past two games and six on the year, fourth best on the team. One of his batted passes came on third-and-goal at the 2 with 15 seconds left in the first half. Redmond then opened the second half with a 4-yard TFL. "They just blocked me into the guy," Redmond said. "The other [TFL] was a nice swim move on the tackle. [Murphy] missed the tackle and I just cleaned things up."

4. Falcons had 12 penalties in last 37½ minutes

Penalty-free for the first 21½ minutes, the Falcons still committed 12 accepted penalties, their highest since Week 1 in 2021 (12), for 127 yards, their highest since Week 3 in 2019 (128). Three were false starts, three were offensive holding and one was a 47-yard pass interference on former Vikings cornerback Mike Hughes. The strangest one was defensive holding on lineman Kentavius Street on a successful Vikings field goal with 3:27 left in the first half. "[Street] swiped my outside arm and then dove at my legs, which is a no-no," said tackle David Quessenberry. "I knew it was illegal because he's trying to create a weird angle or gap in there" for his teammate David Onyemata. The Vikings took three points off the board and scored a touchdown three plays later to lead 14-7. "Big play in the game," Quessenberry said.

5. Asamoah studied returner's 'loose' ball-handling

Thank forgotten linebacker Brian Asamoah II for creating a rare stress-free fourth quarter. The Vikings led 28-21 when Asamoah punched the ball loose from kick returner Ray-Ray McCloud III. C.J. Ham recovered at the Atlanta 32 and the rout was on. "Ray-Ray, he's a good returner, but he holds the ball loosely," Asamoah said. "That was the emphasis in our special teams meetings. I came in from the back side and got a good punch in. Just like [former Bears cornerback] Peanut Tillman."

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