Week 5 NFL and the Atlanta Falcons will travel to TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota to take on the Minnesota Vikings. The game has a start time of 4:25 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on FOX. Current Vegas odds have the Falcons listed as 3.5 point favorites, while the total is set at 47.5.
Analysis: The Atlanta Falcons have been pegged by some as a division winner and by some as a cellar dweller. This is a tough team to figure out. They do come in at 2-1 with a home victory over the Saints a road loss to the Bengals and last week they had a thorough destruction of the Tampa Bay Bucs in the 56-14 win. In the game the Falcons piled up 488 yards of offense and outgained the Bucs by 270 yards in the contest. The defense has really struggled for the Falcons this year, as they rank 27th in yards allowed (387 ypg) and 24th in scoring defense (20 ppg). No such problems on offense as they rank 1st in total defense (455 ypg), 1st in passing offense (333.7 ypg) and 1 st in scoring (34.3 ppg).
The Minnesota Vikings went just 5-10 last year, but thanks to a solid draft and a good showing in the preseason, they just may well be a surprise team in the NFC this year The Minnesota Vikings started the year with an impressive road win over St Louis, but in their last 2 games they are 0-2 and have been outscored 50-16 in those two losses. This is a team that is in trouble, as not only have they RB Adrian Petersen, but also have lost QB Matt Cassel as well. Teddy Bridgewater will get the start here and look to breathe life into an offense that has scored just 16 points in their last 2 games. Overall the Vikings come in ranked 29 th in total offense (273 ypg) and 28 th in scoring (16.7 ppg), while the defense has been solid as they rank 11 th in total defense (335.3 ypg) and 9th in points allowed (16.7 ppg)
Pick: Very hard to look anywhere else but the Under in this game. The Minnesota offense was a better offense with Cassel at QB, but still they scored just 16 points in their last 2 weeks. Yes Teddy has had a full week to prepare for this game, and yes the Atlanta defense has been horrible this year, but Teddy was not expected to start this year and I can’t see him coming in and just winging the ball all over the field. The Vikings need to control clock here with their ground game, play conservative and rely on their solid defense if they hope to win this game. The Falcons will throw it all over the filed, but I don’t see them hitting allot of big plays as the Vikings don’t give up many. This OU line is way to high for having one team on the field that just can’t score and has a solid defense as well. We also note that the Under is 4-0 the last 4 in this series. This game may be played in the 30s.
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