The Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers kick off Week Ten National Football League action tonight. The Falcons are road favorites and are surprise co-leaders of the NFC South Division. Co-leaders, but not with a winning record.
No team in the NFC South has a winning won/loss record this season. The Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are tied with 4 wins and 5 losses for the top spot and Carolina is in last place with only two wins in nine decisions. The other team in this division is the New Orleans Saints, they are a game up on the Panthers and a game behind the Falcons and Buccaneers.
The Falcons are a lot like the Seattle Seahawks this season. Both teams parted ways with their long-time starting quarterbacks and were supposed to be entering rebuilding stages in their organizations. Instead, the Seahawks are atop the talented NFC West Division with an impressive 6 and 3 win/loss record behind Geno Smith while the traded Russell Wilson has struggled in Denver.
The man the Falcons traded, Matt Ryan, was pretty much a bust with his new team, the Indianapolis Colts, and lost his starting job while his head coach, Frank Reich, lost his job.
The Seahawks and Falcons parting ways with Wilson and Ryan looks like two of the better offseason moves.
The Panthers also tried to make an off-season move at quarterback to spark their long lethargic offense by bringing in a one-time first player in the draft choice, Baker Mayfield. In 2018, the top two quarterbacks selected in what was considered a strong quarterback draft, were Mayfield and third overall pick Sam Darnold. Last year, when the New York Jets made another stab at finding a franchise quarterback through the draft and brought Zach Wilson to New York, they traded Darnold to the Panthers.
Both Mayfield and Darnold have been non-effective while struggling to put up points for the Panthers. When first Darnold and then Mayfield suffered injuries, the Panthers turned to backup P.J. Walker to run their offense. Even as Darnold and Mayfield recover from their injuries, it appears new head coach Steve Wilks is committed to sticking with Walker as his starting quarterback.
Wilks, who spent one season as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, 2018, was fired after a season in which Arizona won only three regular season games. Since taking over the Panthers last month for the fired Matt Rhule, he has won one of his four starts.
So, take the favored Falcons tonight when they visit Carolina?
No.
Definitely not.
The Falcons have overachieved this year to where tonight they are road favorites for the first time, and they are not ready to succeed as a favorite on the road while perched atop their division. In fact, the Falcons have been an underdog in all but one of their games this year, and that lone favorite role was just two weeks ago in Atlanta against these same Panthers. In that game, the Falcons won by three points, 37-34, while giving four points on the spread.
Tonight, they lose as road favorites.
The best thing about having an underdog that wins outright is you always win the bet.
Qoxhi Picks: Carolina Panthers (+2½) over Atlanta Falcons