The Atlanta Falcons looked about as bad as a football team could look last Sunday. If you were to replay the All-22, you could pinpoint multiple moments where the Atlanta players’ souls began to leave their bodies. It was that awful against Miami, and this Sunday the Falcons stay in the AFC East when they face New England on the road.
They enter as 5.5-point underdogs, per FanDuel Sportsbook, and given the level of ‘football’ played at home against the Dolphins, it honestly feels like it could be a larger spread.
The Falcons are facing a much tougher and more disciplined team in the Patriots, who enter Foxborough sitting at 6-2 and atop their division. New England is riding a five-game win streak, and they’ve been buoyed by the level of play they’re getting from sophomore quarterback Drake Maye. Maye has thrown for over 200 yards in each of his eight starts, and has 15 touchdowns and 3 interceptions to his name.
The Patriots will be without starting running back Rhamondre Stevenson in this one, as he battles a turf toe injury.
For Atlanta, the question is, does this team have the grit to manufacture a win against a top opponent after collapsing against two of the NFL’s worst teams in Carolina and Miami? If they do, they have not shown it so far this season.
Mercifully, quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and wide receiver Drake London are both slated to return, so the passing game should get a boost. Absolutely nothing worked for the offense last week, so we’ll see how they perform with two key pieces back in the fold.
Atlanta is 0-7 against New England in its last seven meetings, which include…that one game. They haven’t beaten the Patriots since the turn of the century, their last win coming in 1998 in New England.
With that bit of history and the Falcons looking like microwaved meatloaf against the Dolphins, it’s no shock that they’re underdogs ahead of Sunday’s game.
