If you had this game circled in Week Three as a match up between two of the league’s hottest teams, congratulations. You are a witch and must be destroyed. For the rest of us, it’s a nice surprise to see that the Atlanta Falcons (2-0) might not be the victim of a Super Bowl jinx and even more of a surprise that the Detroit Lions (2-0) might actually be good.
You’ll get to see this one at 1 p.m. EST on your local FOX affiliate. It’s the game I’ll be paying the most attention to.
The Game: Atlanta Falcons at Detroit Lions (+3)
O/U: 50.5
The History
The two teams have faced off 36 times since the Falcons joined the NFL in 1965. Detroit holds a pretty significant lead at 24-12.
The Lions won the first nine games of the match up from September, 1966 to September, 1976. Atlanta won the next two straight games, 17-6 in November, 1977, and 14-0 in October, 1978
The Falcons and Lions have only played two overtime games in their rivalry, with the Lions winning both. The first, 27-24, in September, 1984 and the second, 31-28, in September, 1994.
The longest Atlanta win streak was three games from September, 2008 to December, 2012. They’ve only played once over the last five years since, a game in London in 2014. The Lions won it 22-21.
ATLANTA FALCONS (2-0)
The Falcons actually had their best defensive performance in a couple of seasons against the Green Bay Packers last week. For three quarters they held the Pack to just 10 points. They did give up 13 in the fourth quarter, but we’re going to stick with the positives here.
The bad news is Atlanta lost Vic Beasley Jr and Courtney Upshaw to injuries in that game and neither guy is expected to play Sunday. How much of the Falcons’ success last week had to do with their talent and scheme and how much had to do with two first time starters at offensive tackle for Green Bay? We’ll find out against Detroit.
The Falcons offense finally put up some serious points last week. Even though offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian tried to screw every fantasy football player on the planet by plugging in Tevin Coleman on the goal line a couple of times. Regardless, Devonta Freeman punched it in twice, but all this Coleman nonsense did cost him a 100 yard game.
Matt Ryan had a nice day of his own, going 19 of 28 for 252 yards and a touchdown. Julio Jones was his favorite target, as he should be, catching five balls for 108 yards.
DETROIT LIONS (2-0)
The big news coming out of Detroit this week was head coach Jim Caldwell signing a multi-year contract extension. No terms have been released yet, but the Lions have decided Caldwell is their man for the foreseeable future. Until this year, I thought signing him up the first time was a mistake.
Now, granted, we’re just two games in, but this Lions team is playing its ass off and Matthew Stafford has made a leap in performance that has him already in the way too premature MVP conversation.
Last week Stafford’s numbers weren’t gaudy. He was 15 of 21 for 122 yards and two touchdowns. He never needed to do more than that. Ameer Abdullah actually showed up at running back, gaining 87 yards on 17 carries. As pedestrian as Stafford’s numbers look there, I see him having a monster game against the Falcons defense. If his offensive line can hold up against Atlanta’s reserve pass rushers (and with Greg Robinson at left tackle, it might not), he could break out the carving knife and serve up some choice cuts.
The Pick
I honestly can’t believe I’m about to do this. No one has talked more shit about Jim Caldwell than I have over the years, but here we sit. I’m making the call. I not only think Detroit keeps Atlanta from covering, I think they pull off the upset. Lions 34, Falcons 31
This week
Straight up: 1-0
Against the spread: 0-1
Last week
Straight up: 11-5
Against the spread: 8-8
Season
Straight up: 22-10
Against the spread: 16-16
To make a wager on any sport, go to the world famous Diamond Sportsbook by clicking here.
