Bills vs. Falcons: Preview, score prediction for Week 4

Buffalo Bills vs. Atlanta Falcons

The Atlanta Falcons and Buffalo Bills will be meeting up in a cross-conference battle on Sunday afternoon in the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium. While most people may have expected this match-up to be between a somewhat terrible Bills squad and a Super Bowl hungover Falcons team, it’s actually turned into one of the premier games of the entire weekend.

Combined, these two franchises are 5-1 heading into the fourth week of the NFL regular season, with the only loss being charged against the Bills in their game versus the Panthers. Needless to say, with both teams playing solid football to start the season, both squads will be extremely confident heading into the weekend.

That said, take a look at the keys to victory for both Atlanta and Buffalo.

Falcons Keys to Victory

Linebackers Must Stay Disciplined: I honestly believe this point cannot be stressed enough with defenses that are about to face LeSean McCoy. If you’ve had the opportunity to watch this guy play football, you know exactly what I’m talking about when it comes to this former Philadelphia Eagles running back. If he finds room up the middle, you better hope a linebacker is staying disciplined because if he’s not, McCoy is gonna take it to the house.

That said, I’m fairly confident in the Falcons ability to set the edge versus the Bills offense and also cover McCoy in the passing game. With Tyrod Taylor under center on Sunday, Atlanta must be careful to not lose track of where McCoy is on the field. If a linebacker overcommits towards Taylor running the football, it could mean a walk-in receiving touchdown for the Bills veteran running back.

Protect The Football: If the Falcons want to win more than eight games this season, last weekend versus Detroit has to be the last time in 2017 they turn the ball over three times. While all three of those turnovers aren’t necessarily on Matt Ryan’s shoulders, it did put Atlanta in a very vulnerable situation against the Lions. Heck, if Golden Tate fell one-yard further, the Falcons would be coming back to Atlanta 2-1.

That said, the Falcons are going up against the best defense in the NFL this weekend, in terms of points allowed per game. If the Dirty Birds start giving the Bills more and more free possessions, mark my words, they will pull off of the upset.

Bills Keys to Victory:

Shut Down Atlanta’s Rushing Attack: When most people start to talk about the Falcons great offense, they usually being with Julio Jones, then move onto Matt Ryan and then to their talented running backs. That said, I believe most people get that order of importance completely backwards, as it’s their rushing attack which makes them so darn dangerous.

When you start to study what the Falcons want to do on the offensive side of the football, you’ll quickly realize that most of their passing game is set-up by successfully running the football. When Devonta Freeman or Tevin Coleman start moving the chains, it becomes an almost impossible offense to get off the field.

It’s definitely easier said than done, but if Buffalo wants to win their third game of 2017, they must find a way to keep Freeman and Coleman under wraps.

Get The Football Out Of Taylor’s Hand Quickly: If I were the Bills offensive coordinator for this upcoming weekend, my main focus would be to keep Atlanta’s pass-rush as neutralized as possible. If you haven’t had a chance to watch the Dirty Birds yet in 2017, their defensive line/outside linebackers are extremely quick off the ball, which has created chaos for opposing offensive lineman.

While flat-out blocking efficiently helps the cause, you can’t always count on that when facing a talented group of defensive lineman. Therefore, Buffalo needs to get the football out of Tyrod Taylor’s hand quickly, while focussing on solely moving the chains – keep the Falcons offense off the field and wear those defenders out.

Odds

Point Spread: Atlanta -8
Moneyline: Buffalo-108, Atlanta -102
Over/Under: 48.5

Odds via Sportsbookreview.com

Next: NFL 2017: One burning question for each team, Week 4

Prediction

At the end of the day, I believe the biggest difference in this game will come down to whether the Falcons can contain LeSean McCoy or not. If that indeed does happen, I don’t have too much faith in Tyrod Taylor’s ability to throw through a tough Atlanta secondary all game long.

That said, the Dirty Birds will focus in on McCoy and make life extremely hard on Buffalo’s passing attack. Not to mention, Falcons fans will make life hard on communication for the Bills on Sunday as well.

Pick: Buffalo Bills: 18, Atlanta Falcons: 31

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