{"id":368798,"date":"2025-09-12T16:13:04","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T20:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/?p=368798"},"modified":"2025-09-12T16:13:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T20:13:04","slug":"falcons-vs-vikings-week-2-sunday-night-football-picks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/falcons-vs-vikings-week-2-sunday-night-football-picks\/","title":{"rendered":"Falcons vs. Vikings Week 2 Sunday Night Football picks: Back Justin Jefferson and the over"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Minnesota Vikings are back in prime time as they host the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday Night Football in Week 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The pregame narrative:<\/strong> Justin Jefferson played a key role in Minnesota&#8217;s comeback win last Monday, and he should be heavily involved for the Vikes in their home opener. These teams played in a shootout last year, with Minnesota earning a 42-21 win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Check out my Falcons vs. Vikings picks for the Week 2 Sunday Night Football matchup on Sept. 14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Falcons vs. Vikings picks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.com\/sportsbook\/sports\/american_football\/competitions\/12295\/matches\"><strong>Full NFL markets<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.com\/sportsbook\/news\/stats\/nfl\/top-players\/passing-yards\"><strong>NFL player &amp; team stats<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.com\/sportsbook\/news\/article\/nfl-injury-report-news\"><strong>NFL injury report<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.com\/sportsbook\/news\/stats\/nfl\/standings\"><strong>NFL standings<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Best bet: Jefferson over 74.5 receiving yards (-118)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jefferson&#8217;s first game with new quarterback J.J. McCarthy got off to a slow start. Like, really slow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the first half of the Vikings&#8217; season opener, Jefferson had just two targets and four receiving yards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For a guy who averaged 10.0 targets and 100.4 yards per game over the previous three seasons, that&#8217;s just not going to cut it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the veteran wideout stayed patient and positive with the inexperienced McCarthy, and eventually they clicked. In the second half, Jefferson caught three of five targets for 40 yards and a touchdown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This video, clipped from the Vikings&#8217; YouTube page, shows the level of communication McCarthy and his WR1 had throughout the game:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Vikings?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Vikings<\/a> WR Justin Jefferson showing his leadership qualities on Monday night, always there for JJ McCarthy despite the early struggles:<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/pzdAUtR5OR\">pic.twitter.com\/pzdAUtR5OR<\/a><\/p>&mdash; VikingzFanPage (@vikingzfanpage) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/vikingzfanpage\/status\/1966275303002747350?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 11, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Jefferson&#8217;s uptick in target volume and production in the second half is something I expect to carry forward. He&#8217;s too dangerous to be kept quiet for long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Also, on a rate basis, there was nothing concerning about Jefferson&#8217;s involvement. He had a 35.0% target share, which exceeded his sky-high share last season (29.9%, third in the NFL, per Hashtag Football).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>With Sam Darnold under centre last year, Jefferson torched the Falcons for 132 yards and two TDs. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m not suggesting he&#8217;ll repeat those results, but a 70-yard milestone is easily within reach for arguably the best receiver in the NFL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key stat:<\/strong> Jefferson is averaging 95.8 yards\/game in his career, which is an NFL record. His lowest single-season average entering this year was 87.5 yards\/game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sunday Night Football over\/under pick<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Over 44.5 points (-110):<\/strong> After some frustrations and miscues earlier on, Minnesota scored 21 fourth-quarter points in its opener to complete a comeback win on the road \u2014 and cash the over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m a Kevin O&#8217;Connell believer, and I expect he&#8217;ll have the McCarthy-led offence ready from the jump in Week 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to an all-world receiver in Jefferson, the Vikings have an enviable backfield tandem (Aaron Jones, Jordan Mason) that combined for 142 scrimmage yards and a TD in Week 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Atlanta&#8217;s side, neither Drake London nor Darnell Mooney carries injury designations into this matchup. Mooney missed Atlanta&#8217;s opener, so it&#8217;ll be nice for the team&#8217;s top two receivers to be in the mix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When these teams met last December, they combined for 63 points and 929 yards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both quarterbacks are different, mind you, but I don&#8217;t know that either one is a downgrade \u2014 at least not to the extent that I expect a 19-point cutback in total points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over Minnesota&#8217;s final six home games last season, the average total was 49.3 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Falcons vs. Vikings<\/em> <em>picks made at 4:10 p.m. ET 09\/12\/2025.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Minnesota Vikings are back in prime time as they host the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday Night Football in Week 2. The pregame narrative: Justin Jefferson played a key role in Minnesota&#8217;s comeback win last Monday, and he should be heavily involved for the Vikes in their home opener. These teams played in a shootout [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":368789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sidebar_plugin_meta_block_field":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[452,61],"tags":[14],"class_list":["post-368798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-com","category-nfl","tag-nfl-betting"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Falcons vs. Vikings picks SNF: 2025 NFL Week 2 | NorthStar Bets<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Check out our 2025 Week 2 Falcons vs. Vikings picks. 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