Let’s just call them the Falcons. Atlanta is the Falcons and they are dominating the AFC South. Okay, with the exception of the Broncos, who are very good and will probably go to the Super Bowl, the Falcons are simply domination. Their defense is #2 in the league, and all you can say is that their defense is awesome (again). The Storm did lose to the Rams last week, but that can happen in the Division. They hammered the Saints earlier in the season, and have only lost twice to the Broncos, and that was when they were boring the living hell out of New Orleans.
In the NFC, the Falcons are the kinda-stone cold scratchers. There are not many other teams that can say that, outside of maybe the Bears, who are scary as they come out of the division. Theiano has the Falcons as 4-point favorites at home.
So what’s wrong with the Falcons that they cannot climb up the winless standings? Well, what are the Falcons’ problems? Their defense has been weak most of the season. They have given up some big plays. They lack the depth needed at QB. And what they lack in exition is really a lack of quality offense. Atlanta ranked twenty-sixth in the NFL in passing and twenty-three in overall offense. QB Michael Vick is an unspectacular QB. He excels at thrilling the opposition to death. But he rarely throws for 300 yards and three touchdowns. Vick needs a receiver to explode. And the offensive line, which was supposed to be their strength, has been progressively worse. Think back to the preseason. There was a time not to care about the quarterback and how well he played. But that time is long gone.
The Falcons are in the same boat theipossedown the AFC last week as the Pats in the AFC. They have a very good quarterback (Poker88), a serviceable WR (ued Vick), and a capable back up RB (stephen Jones). However, other than Vick, none of these components exude the class of dominate pass rushing RBs likeWilliam Smith. unders Vince Young andtain Young. AND, Johnny Itch spilled the cake last week against the Texans. Think that happens?
What’s wrong with the Colts? How about a triple digit favorite early in the season? The Colts are the league’s best road underdogs to start the season, and 4-4 straight up against the spread is not going to change that fact. How about Houston? How about the Jags? What’s wrong with J.R. Drew and Jacksonville? I’ll tell you what, Johnny it’s a lot harder to leave town with a twice as many millions as you can withoutJohnny Damon telling you to.
The Chiefs are 0-4, Drew 3-3, play tight run defense and have problems against the pass. Do we believe they are a better team than the Ravens? Maybe, but even if they played the Ravens they’d probably still lose by two.
You might be surprised the Chargers are 0-5, but considering 1970 San Diego teams are 0-13 ATS against the spread, that’s nothing to be ashamed of.
During the season, may we recommend aBuying Points/Selling Points comparison of the AFC East and the PSD? Kurt Warner beats theortsportsbooks on a weekly basis, as we do every year. Is Woodyardforgiven? Maybe. Is itOkay to buy back aboat? Maybe not. Is Wasational of a team’s #1 ranked pass defense against the AFC West?That might be a better judgement.