The Atlanta Falcons got themselves back into the win column with a road victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday Night Football.
While it was far from pretty, it was a gutsy effort by the Dirty Birds. If this were last year's team, they wouldn't have won this game.
With that being said, here are the winners and losers from the Week 2 win.
Falcons winners and losers from grind-it-out win in Minnesota
Winner: John Parker Romo, K
Wow, just wow. It never ceases to amaze me how volatile the kicker position can be. These guys come out of nowhere.
You have to give so much credit to the new kicker for the Falcons. He made all five goals attempted, including a clutch 54-yard field goal -- all while not knowing who anyone but Bijan Robinson was.
Loser: Zac Robinson, OC
There is no way around it, the biggest disappointment through the first two games has been second-year offensive coordinator Zac Robinson.
His playcalling is too predictable; you can look at Charlie Woerner and know where the ball is going. Scoring just three touchdowns in eight quarters is unacceptable. The other part of this is how those touchdowns were scored -- a great catch and run by Robinson, a heroic fourth-down run by Penix, and the Vikings letting Allgeier score.
He has to get this team in-sync quickly.
Winner: The rookies
I don't like doing winners that are a group of players, but this game cannot be summarized properly without it.
The four rookies, James Pearce Jr., Jalon Walker, Xavier Watts, and Billy Bowman Jr. made a huge impact. The two linemen got J.J. McCarthy on the ground, and the two secondary players logged picks.
Loser: Wide receivers
There was zero chemistry between the wide receivers and Michael Penix Jr. The group logged five catches for 69 yards.
With Darnell Mooney, you can understand it; he missed all of training camp and had no time with Penix. For London, it is unexplainable.. Outside of his 20-yard catch boosted by Isaiah Rodgers, he was MIA with a costly fumble.
Winner: Pass rush
Five sacks in the first half sounds like a dream for Atlanta Falcons fans. It feels even more surreal when you consider it was a group effort, with no one having more than 1.5 sacks.
In the game, they had six, with one of them resulting in a J.J. McCarthy fumble. It was a special night for what looks to be an ascending unit.
Loser: Red zone offense
The Falcons started 0 for 5 in the redzone before being gifted a touchdown by the Vikings' defense. It was ugly, to say the least.
There isn't much more to it, they have to improve and it all starts with the play calling and execution.
Winner: Running backs
The duo of Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier looked more like themselves against the Vikings' defense. They finally found chunk yards on the ground, with Bijan catching a few passes (he did have a big drop in the redzone, but we will forgive him).
Zac Robinson must continue leaning on these two guys as the rest of the skill players figure things out.