Atlanta Falcons Coach Jerry Gray Relies on Preseason for Minnesota Vikings QB Jaren Hall

The Atlanta Falcons will be facing rookie quarterback Jaren Hall in his first start for the Minnesota Vikings. Assistant head coach Jerry Gray revealed their preparation for him.

The Minnesota Vikings have a quarterback problem, and playing a strong Atlanta Falcons defense on Sunday doesn’t make things any easier. Veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins was playing some of the best football of his career before tearing his Achilles in Week 8’s win over the Green Bay Packers.

For now, it’s on rookie quarterback Jaren Hall to keep Minnesota afloat. The Vikings have come roaring back from a 1-4 start, winning three in a row to get back into the playoff picture. That includes a win over the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football. They also traded for Arizona Cardinals quarterback Joshua Dobbs to provide eventual relief.

With that said the Falcons have a challenge ahead of them: studying a quarterback with just four regular-season pass attempts. Hall completed three passes for 23 yards against Green Bay.

Hall attempts a pass during the preseason / Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

Assistant head coach Jerry Gray spoke about the balance of collegiate vs. professional tape when preparing to face such an inexperienced passer.

“We had some [college] tape on him and then we also had like 120-something snaps of preseason … which was really good,” Gray said.

Hall had 48 pass attempts this preseason. He completed 26 of them (54.2%) for 264 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. Perhaps concerningly so, he took nine sacks in his limited action.

Dealing with NFL pockets can be a tough transition for rookie passers, especially when they are a BYU product and thus afforded immaculate pockets seemingly all the time. New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson suffered the same fate.

It seems Atlanta relied more so on his limited professional film, given that it translates more directly to what may be shown on Sunday (even with Minnesota running vanilla concepts in the exhibitions).

“You get a chance to see how he operates,” Gray said. “Of course, he’s with a lot of young guys in there so you can’t really look at that, but you can see how he operates. I thought he did a really good job in preseason of operating on the road.”

The Falcons will host the Vikings for the Week 9 contest, hoping to keep a hold on first place in the NFC South. With Minnesota hamstrung in its offensive complexity and stability within structure, Atlanta’s defense—which ranks sixth in dropback success rate—will be licking its chops.

The Vikings will also be without superstar receiver Justin Jefferson.

Simply put, if the Falcons are who head coach Arthur Smith says they are, they’ll make Hall look like the late-round rookie that he is.