Dixie Chicks Beat Vikings
September 15th, 2025
Stays on Bucs’ heels.
Dang, had the Dixie Chicks lost on Sunday night, the Bucs would have been the lone team in the NFC South with a win.
The slimy Saints (at home) and the Stinking Panthers (on the road) each lost (again) on Sunday to the 49ers and Cardinals, respectively. Both games were decided by five points. The Panthers game was a flukish finish, with the 49ers having full command of the game; the Saints had the ball with a chance for a game-winning drive for the second week in a row.
Last night, the Dixie Chicks did a good job holding down Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy in a convincing 22-6 road win.
Former Bucs tackle Justin Skule didn’t have the greatest night trying to hold back the Dixie Chicks’ pass rush as Atlanta got McCarthy on the ground six times. Skule left the game in the second half with a concussion.
Bijan Robinson had 143 yards rushing.
So the Bucs can keep a one-game lead in the NFC South with a win over Houston tonight. If the Bucs lose, they are tied with the Dixie Chicks atop the NFC South.
The slimy Saints and Stinking Panthers are still searching for their first win.
September 15th, 2025 at 12:03 am
Sucks
September 15th, 2025 at 12:03 am
Why do Atlanta QBs only look like primetime Show stoppers against the Bucs. Penix looked very pedestrian tonight. If not for B Rob, that team is mediocre. Bucs will back peddle to the. NFC South crown for a 5th year in a row. (Hopefully)
Go Bucs!
September 15th, 2025 at 12:13 am
Rover – the answer to your question is obvious but no one likes the truth. A genius status-seeking DC whose zone blitz exotics are more predictable than the time the sun will come up tomorrow, reports to a head coach who is, in fact, himself.
QED
September 15th, 2025 at 12:27 am
I thought the Falcons proved tonight they are legit, and made the Bucs’ victory in week 1 look much better. They were dominant at the line of scrimmage, played good coverage, and rammed it down the Vikings’ throat. Penix looked quick and decisive, he wasn’t asked to do much because he didn’t need to. Bucs need to take care of business against the Texans so we can maintain our lead, as I think the Falcons will challenge us even more this year than they did last year. LET’S BAKE!!!
September 15th, 2025 at 12:41 am
Credit to Atl for the win, which deserves respect.
If only the Vikings had a passing game..
WE DO
September 15th, 2025 at 12:43 am
Ummm we shut down the run game. That’s why the passing numbers were higher against us. Bijan had a 50 yd rec on 1st drive and then got effectively shut down. Baker had more rushing yards than all of ATL.
September 15th, 2025 at 12:44 am
Bucs have tie breaker. At least for now.
September 15th, 2025 at 12:47 am
Lets see… the Falcons rush for well over 200 yards, and someone is saying Penix looked ‘pedestrian’ because he didn’t have a big night in a blowout.
It’s remarkable how dumb some fans are. If you think the Falcons aren’t going to be a good team, and the Bucs win the division again by just showing up, you’re an idiot.
September 15th, 2025 at 12:50 am
That was one of the most boring games I’ve ever seen.
Also, you can once again see why Licht did not bring Sucke bad – man has he been terrible. Featured in back to back prime-time games, he was about as useful as a lawn chair, until he got injured and left the game. Meanwhile his backup was just about as worthless. Hard to take much from the Falcons defense as the Vikings offensive line was really, really bad – although the good news is that their safeties and corners looked, mostly, pretty bad.
September 15th, 2025 at 12:52 am
I hate the Vikings right now.
September 15th, 2025 at 12:52 am
Either the Falcons defense is legit (the impression i got last week) or McCarthy is bad (I wondered if last week was an overreaction thinking he’d turned the corner). Probably a combination of both. Perhaps out makeshift online was decent.
Also agree with Rod. Obviously when you run all over the other team (our run defense looks more impressive) then you don’t need to throw it much..
September 15th, 2025 at 1:57 am
The Vikings offense gave the game away, Penix had multiple sacks, Falcons should of been beat, but damn the Vikings were awful on offense, not watcheable badd.
September 15th, 2025 at 2:08 am
Vikings injuries killed them tonite….
Kept putting in new backups….
Their offensive line is OFFENSIVE to say the least…
Hung their defense out to dry and they couldn’t stop the run by the time the fourth quarter rolled around.
September 15th, 2025 at 2:19 am
Vikings barely beat the Bears who got boat raced by a Detroit team which got boat raced by Green Bay. The ATL might have simply beaten a mediocre Viking team and they only scored one TD. So, besides Bijan, they did not have much going on offense. Their D did get 4 turnovers and 6 sacks so the Bucs OL did a much better job than the Vikings in that regard.
September 15th, 2025 at 2:38 am
Reee Barrr: We do???
We should, but it sure didn’t show for many yards last week. Actually, it was weak. Yes, EE did great, ME was smothered.
September 15th, 2025 at 3:25 am
jameis shoulda signed with minny…and started…
that mccarthy is no starter
September 15th, 2025 at 3:26 am
cousins sitting on the bench looking across the sidelines like:
“wtf did i do?”
September 15th, 2025 at 4:11 am
All three covered the spread. Falcons a much better team than Joe thought.
September 15th, 2025 at 5:49 am
How in the heck did the Vikes manage to look so putrid! Surprises every single year I guess…
Go Bucs!
September 15th, 2025 at 6:11 am
I guess we won’t be resting our starters anytime soon Joe.
September 15th, 2025 at 6:33 am
Was watching Panthers lose, albeit with a decent game by Young. He is apparently NOT allowed to scramble. WHY would you draft a 5’10” runaround QB then tell him he can’t run? Brady ran more than that guy
September 15th, 2025 at 6:49 am
As for Vikings—I refuse to believe Trask couldn’t be at least as effective than what I’ve seen of McCarthy thus far
September 15th, 2025 at 6:57 am
Buddha … ‘Falcons a much better team than Joe thought.’
Falcons are not just better than what Joe thought Buddha; they’re better than what a lot of people thought. Too many seem to have this tendency to underestimate other teams (and sometimes to overestimate what some are capable of). Any NFL team can beat any other NFL team on any given day IMO IF the conditions are right (injuries, etc).
Falcons played to their offensive strength last night: they ran the ball down the Vikings throats 39 times for 218 rushing yards. Penix was only asked to thow it 21 times & completed 13 of those for 135 yards (not fantastic, but good enough). Penix took 3 sacks in there, but didn’t throw any INTs. And oh ya, the Falcons’ defense played a very good game in sacking McCarthy 6 times, intercepting 2 of his passes, and holding the Vikings offense to 10 first downs total & only 46 plays (23:28 TOP).
The reason WE beat them is almost surely because we shut down their running game & forced Penix to beat us with his arm. He didn’t do terrible (we only beat them by 3 pts), but the Falcons NEED their running game to work to be truly competitive against the big boys. Bucs are the big dogs.
September 15th, 2025 at 7:01 am
whoever picked the qb for the viqueens should be canned. What a dud.
September 15th, 2025 at 7:07 am
BTW, looking at the game play-by-play, Penix didn’t throw a deep pass all game. McCarthy threw 7 deep passes & completed 4 of them for 106 yards but 1 INT. Vikings scored 2 FGs on drives kept alive by deep pass completions. Looks like Falcons played to their strength (running game) and didn’t ask Penix to do anything other than complement that with his short passing. It worked.
September 15th, 2025 at 7:12 am
Been pointing out that the Falcons are legit.
Of course, the Bucs are too.
Need to see the team and the League for what they are. Morris has put together and motivated a good defense. Atlanta has a running gam and looks to have an “efficient” quarterback who’s learning a lot. Eyes open.
The NFC South should run through Tampa for a few years. Can’t ask more than that. Have to choke the Dirty Birds along the way for that to happen.
September 15th, 2025 at 7:17 am
The Falcons are a good football team. DR says “Any NFL team can beat any other NFL team on any given day”. Oughta be a good game tonight but if we’re not playing well we will be beat in a heartbeat. And our coaches and players are well aware of that.
September 15th, 2025 at 8:15 am
Long FG, Long FG, Long FG, walk in TD(whatever that was supposed to be)…Does not a good team make.
September 15th, 2025 at 8:27 am
Falcons had 4 of their draft picks starting at defense. 3 we could have had. Their defense looked legit.
Their run game eventually wore down the Vikings defense as they were gassed from being on the field so much. This was a9 6 game until the 4th quarter.
September 15th, 2025 at 8:44 am
Are the Falcons good? Or are the Vikings bad?
I did not watch the game, but it sounds to me like the Vikings offensive line is complete trash. If that’s the case, McCarthy had no chance.
Here in Tampa, we have the benefit of a GM who made sure our QB is protected. But that wasn’t always the case. Take Winston, for example. Yes, his picks were absolutely horrendous, but most of his big plays were the result of miracles because he was constantly sacked or hit.
So I feel for McCarthy. He went to a team that did not build the OL for him.
Just goes to show how spoiled we are. And I love it.
September 15th, 2025 at 8:47 am
Kenton … I don’t know if this is a valid number, but I’d guess that 70-80% of the NFL games lost are because teams beat themselves. They shoot themselves in the foot via turnovers, too many stupid penalties, missed tackles, giving up explosive plays, etc, and then can’t recover from those mistakes.
The previous Sunday’s game against the Falcons was a case in point IMO. Falcons beat us in a lot of stats … won the TOP 35-25, total yardage 358-260, etc. But they lost. Couple of examples of where I thjink they beat themselves.
Example 1: Koo’s missed FG (would’ve at least tied the game). Of course, we also missed a FG, AND an XP.
Example 2: Halfway through the 2nd qtr, Falcons had a 3rd-and-1 on our 47-yard line. Penix threw deep (incomplete). Questionable play selection right there IMO. But then on 4th-and-1 Raheem went for it & Robinson got stuffed for no gain (personally would’ve given it to Allgeier because he’s 10 lbs heavier). Bucs took over & scored a TD 5 plays later.
That was ultimately the difference in score of the ballgame right there, even though that was only the 2nd qtr. Points are points; doesn’t matter when they’re scored. Or HOW they’re scored.
September 15th, 2025 at 9:29 am
DR, I am a big golf fan. Followed Tiger since he was 15. He won 3 US junior amateur’s and 3 US amateur’s in 6 years. Then for almost 700 days consecutively was number 1 golfer in the world. Unparalleled. His bread and butter was mental toughness. He said everyone else beats themselves. So the chances are DR, that your guess of 70-80% may be a little low!
September 15th, 2025 at 9:38 am
“As for Vikings—I refuse to believe Trask couldn’t be at least as effective than what I’ve seen of McCarthy thus far”
That thought popped into my mind, as well watching the game. To be fair, the Viking’s o-line did not help McCarthy.
September 15th, 2025 at 9:45 am
Mental toughness is something Baker has shown quite a few times…
The Vikings are also sorely missing Addison. Without him on the field, defenses can double or triple Justin Jefferson. Atlanta’s defense and Robinson had huge days. If they keep following that script they will beat a whole lot of teams. But the Bucs are unlikely because of how strong we are against the run.
September 15th, 2025 at 10:19 am
Rookie QB minus two offensive linemen… not an impressive win. Too early for standings watch though. They have Washington and Buffalo next. Win those two and Bucs fan should pay attention. But they could easily be 1-3.
September 15th, 2025 at 10:27 am
I’m going with 1-3 after their next 3 games.
September 15th, 2025 at 11:56 am
Falcons 2 top draft Defensive Ends looked very good against the Vikings. Some say the game was boring. But thats what happens when your Defense is sharp.
September 15th, 2025 at 12:52 pm
Defense Rules :”Of course, we also missed a FG, AND an XP.”
Ugh Mclaughlin scares the crap out of me going forward.
Atlanta nixed their kicker and got new one..but not the Bucs..mixed XP smh.
September 15th, 2025 at 12:53 pm
*missed
September 15th, 2025 at 1:20 pm
The Vikings looked bad, and I hate to say it because I’m not a fan, but they were outcoached as well.
September 15th, 2025 at 1:35 pm
Didn’t Bijan Robinson say that the Bucs out-coached the Falcons? That guy is not only a great athlete; he’s a smart cookie. I am not surprised that Morris is building a solid Defense, and doing it with the Atlanta Offense. Falcons are to be reckoned with. Even I know that, and only cos I follow the Bucs, and have for decades. I watched Raheem Morris when he was an assistant under Dungy, and then thrown into a HC job he didn’t ask for. What has happened to the Vikings? Weren’t they supposed to be a good team? Still scratching my head about listening to the game tonight. At least, it’s a 7pm start time (EDT), and not 9pm like the olden days. C’mon, Bucs, 2-0!!!!!!
September 15th, 2025 at 2:58 pm
Yep the Falcons are a much better team than anyone thought and the Bucs beat them !! Hopefully tonight, Baker and the Bucs will win this Texas night game and move to the top of the NFC South !!
Go Bucs !!
September 15th, 2025 at 5:45 pm
Simple answer is Bijan is a stud. Bucs stopped the run so they threw to him. Vikes couldn’t stop anything