It's difficult to see Detroit dominating Atlanta sufficiently to get a
result here. Megatron is at his freakish best and will severely test a
Falcons' secondary that is down some personnel and looks vulnerable, but
Stafford will have to have a perfect game and he's been inconsistent
lately and prone to throwing picks, or missing his passes. Mikel
Leshoure and Joique Bell have some punch out of the backfield, but even
though the Atlanta run D is workmanlike at best, Detroit may well be
playing from behind.
The Falcons can clinch the No. 1 seed in the NFC with a victory and
with Nick Fairley and Jacob Lacey out and Louis Delmas injured, the
Lions are looking threadbare on defense. Matt Ryan torched the pathetic
Giants last week and while I don't expect such a gutless performance
from the home team tonight, Roddy White, Julio Jones and Tony Gonzalez
should have big games. Detroit are pretty thin on the line with
the loss of Fairley, and haven't much of a pass rush (18th in sacks on
the year) so Ryan should have room to pass; equally, although it's not
much of a run game, Atlanta will at least have that option.
I like the Falcons here; they have the momentum, the form and the incentive. The Lions are looking at draft picks.
Pick: Atlanta Falcons -3.5 @ 1.95
Pick: 1st TD Calvin Johnson @ 7
Pick: Anytime TD Julio Jones @ 2
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