NFL Football Preview: New England Patriots at Atlanta Falcons
Sunday Night Football this week features non conference action from the Georgia Dome as the Atlanta Falcons host the New England Patriots. The Patriots haven’t looked great so far this season but have managed to go 3-0 in their first three games. The Falcons are 1-2 after road losses to New Orleans in their opening game and at Miami last weekend.
The Atlanta Falcons tied for the best regular season record in the NFL last year (13-3) but once again suffered a playoff disappointment as they were eliminated by San Francisco in the NFC Championship Game. Many NFL observers felt that the Falcons overachieved mightily last season and by definition there’s now concern that Atlanta may regress this season. They are playing against the weight of history-no team has ever won back to back NFC South titles. The Falcons’ defense was a liability last year and hasn’t looked especially good this year. They added running back Steven Jackson on offense but he’s a former Ram and that might work in the favor of the St. Louis defense. Tony Gonzalez is nearing the end of his Hall of Fame career and Roddy White is playing hurt with a high ankle sprain though is listed as ‘probable’ for this game.
New England is 3-0 but we’re not sure what to think of them and especially how they’ll fare in the longterm. The mainstream sports media is convinced that there are problems despite this 3-0 start-they have a tendency to overreact but questions abound with this team. New England does have some issues to deal with-Brady is without his top 5 pass receivers from a year ago-but the Patriots are still a team to be reckoned with. Tight end Rob Gronkowski is nearing a return though it doesn’t look like he’ll play this week.
From a pointspread standpoint there is a good case to be made for both sides. Atlanta has been a very good home team during the Mike Smith era while New England has covered 14 of their last 21 road games. Since those factors are a ‘wash’ we’ll back the Falcons for the simple fact that they ‘need’ the win more than the 3-0 Pats.
BET ATLANTA FALCONS -2′ OVER NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS