Falcons vs. Lions: Preview, score prediction for Week 3

Atlanta Falcons vs. Detroit Lions

The Atlanta Falcons and Detroit Lions will be squaring off in the most-exciting NFC game of the weekend on FOX. Both teams are currently sitting undefeated with a 2-0 record, while also setting their sights towards becoming the team-to-beat in the conference. Needless to say, it’s going to be one heck of a game in Ford Field come Sunday afternoon.

These two franchises don’t play too often, but when they do, it tends to be pretty darn exciting. For example, Matt Ryan’s first-ever pass in the NFL was a touchdown to Michael Jenkins against the Lions in 2008, Calvin Johnson broke Jerry Rice’s single-season receiving yards record against the Falcons in 2012 and the Lions erased a 21-0 deficit against the Falcons in London just a few seasons ago to win, 22-21.

If you’re looking for a game that will surely feature some kind of incredible feat on Sunday, then this is definitely the match-up to watch.

Falcons Keys to Victory

Get Devonta Freeman Going Early: This will easily be one of the Falcons’ toughest endeavors on Sunday afternoon against the Lions. If you didn’t already know, Detroit is a top-five run defense through the first two weeks of the regular season, which is why the Arizona Cardinals and New York Giants were unsuccessful in beating the Lions. That said, I believe Atlanta is more well-equipped in this facet of the game than those two teams.

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The scariest part about Detroit’s defense isn’t necessarily their run defense — it’s what stopping the run does for their confidence level and pass-rush. Atlanta saw some big dudes on the defensive-line in Chicago a few weeks ago and they’re about to see even more this weekend in Ford Field. Therefore, how must Atlanta go about neutralizing the Lion’s pass-rushers? Get the ground game going early and often.

Tackle Well: This may seem like a very obvious point, but there are so many NFL teams I see that lose games each weekend soley because of poor tackling. Heck, Atlanta fans almost saw that come back to bite the Dirty Birds in Week 1 against the Bears and Tarik Cohen. Needless to say, the Lions have a plethora of offensive weapons that can take the football to the house is they can break a tackle.

Two of the players I would be most concerned with are Golden Tate and Marvin Jones. These two wide receivers are extremely dangerous in the open field and will make the Falcons defense pay if they’re not focused on Sunday. That said, after seeing the Packers in Week 2, Atlanta’s defense should be well accustomed to seeing talented receivers on the outside.

Lions Keys to Victory:

Protect the Football: If the Lions learned anything from the Falcons game against the Green Bay Packers last weekend, it better be “protect the football”. I don’t care how good of a quarterback your team has; if they start turning over the ball, it severely hurts their team’s chances of coming away with a victory.

That said, the Lions have done a pretty good job this season with doing just that, as they’ve only turned it over twice in two games — that’s pretty darn good when compared to the rest of the league. If Detroit’s offense focuses on having productive and clean drives on Sunday afternoon, they very well could hand Atlanta their first loss of 2017.

Get Interior Pressure With Defensive Line: This is exactly where the Lions could make some noise on Sunday against the Falcons. If they defensive line can create pressure up the middle on Matt Ryan, it will almost shut down the Atlanta offensive-scheme completely.

However, the Falcons just happen to have the best center in football with Alex Mack. There’s not too many times that he truly gets beat or bullied up front, which is exactly why the Falcons have been so darn good on offense the last two years. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible, but it will be a very tough task on Sunday.

Odds

Point Spread: Atlanta -3
Moneyline: Detroit-120, Atlanta +100
Over/Under: 50.5

Odds via Sportsbookreview.com

Next: NFL 2017: Picks against the spread for Week 3

Prediction

At the end of the day, I believe the Falcons will be able to throw the football all over Detroit this weekend. Atlanta is coming off a game where they absolutely torched Green Bay’s secondary, which gave them a ton of confidence moving forward. Not to mention, the Dirty Birds love playing on turf. Hello, Ford Field. This will be a close one for a while, but the Falcons eventually break away and go back home with their third win in three weeks.

Pick: Atlanta Falcons: 31, Detroit Lions: 18

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