Time to put our picks on the table. The Eagles travel to Atlanta to face the Falcons on Sunday Football in front of the whole nation. It's time to decide who wins.
It's a surprise to see Atlanta, who only lost once at home last year in the regular season, actually be home dogs in this game. The Eagles looked very solid against the Rams and the Falcons were awful against Chicago, but you still wouldn't expect to see a popular Super Bowl pick be a home underdog already.
There's a few things at work here to pay attention to. For one, the Falcons are a very good home team and they're desperate to avoid falling into an 0-2 hole. No team has made the postseason in the last two seasons after starting 0-2. Plus, the Eagles are playing the second of back to back road games, which trends would tell you makes for a tough spot to get a win.
However, recent matchups would suggest that the Eagles really seem to have the Falcons number. They manhandled this Falcons team last season in Philadelphia with Kevin Kolb at quarterback in 31-17 win. The Eagles outgained Atlanta 474 to 293 in that game. In 2009, the Eagles went down to Georgia and blew out the Matt Ryan-less Falcons 34-7. Overall, the Eagles are riding a four game winning streak against Atlanta and are 8-1 vs the Falcons since 2000.
Michael Vick back on the fast track in that dome with all of his weapons? That's a scary proposition. As for betting trends and what the line may tell us? The Eagles are favored by one and teams favored by one on the road have covered the spread 57% of the time and won outright 58% of the time over the past five years.
Pick: Eagles 24, Falcons 20