Second look: Grading the Atlanta Falcons versus Minnesota Vikings
Wide Receivers – A
The Atlanta Falcons have the most talented and the deepest wide receiving room in the league and all of them came to play Sunday afternoon. Five different wide receivers caught passes for the Falcons on Sunday, not including running backs or tight ends, Calvin Ridley, Mohamed Sanu, Julio Jones, Justin Hardy, and Russell Gage all had catches.
Russell Gage took a headshot, no flag, and left with what is presumed to be a concussion, but before he did turn in a couple of spectacular catches. Adding a weapon like that to the trio of Jones, Sanu, and Ridley will make this group even more dangerous.
Tight End – C
If this were all about running routes and catching passes, this would be a B, but they also have to block. Luke Stocker was brought in to do just that and struggled at times. If Austin Hooper earns a B for his performance, then Stocker earned a D as he ran terrible routes, one of which ended in an interception and struggled in pass pro. Hooper ran much better routes and has improved his blocking, but he still has a ways to go.
Quarterback – B
Fans love to blame Matt Ryan for losses, even ones where he has given his team multi-touchdown leads and the defense blows it.
Overall, Matt Ryan did not play too bad for the first outing of the season. Sure, he tried to force the ball to Julio a couple of times and yes he ended up with two interceptions, but overall he was solid Sunday afternoon.
He completed passes to eight different players, threw a touchdown and did all of this while being hit more than a dozen times on Sunday. Could Matt have been better? Of course, but he was not the reason for the loss on Sunday.