Thursday night marks the beginning of Week #6 of the NFL season. This week, the Thursday night action will be between the Atlanta Falcons and the New Orleans Saints. The Falcons have been off to a great start this year and are currently 5-0, while the Saints have really struggled at 1-4. The Saints have home field, but the Falcons are 3.5 point favorites, according to Vegas bookmakers.
The big thing that the Falcons have going for them is the Matt Ryan-Devonta Freeman matchup. Quarterback Matt Ryan has been near the top of the list each week when it comes to QB performances. And even on a bad week, like last week’s game against the Washington Redskins, Ryan has been able to lead his team to a win. That’s where running back Freeman steps in. Freeman had 153 yards rushing last week and a touchdown. He’s currently tied as the RB with the second highest number of yards to date in the NFL, and leads the league in touchdowns with 8. This combination has ensured that even when Ryan is not accurate on his throwing game that the Falcons have a source of a lot of yards and points. It has also done wonders for both of their daily fantasy football value, especially Freeman. He’s averaging 81 yards a game right now, and more than 1 touchdown per game, too. There’s no reason to believe that this will stop, especially going up against the Saints.
The performance of wide receiver Julio Jones hasn’t hurt, either. For the first three weeks of the season, Jones was undoubtedly one of the top WRs in the NFL. He has now gone two games in a row without a receiving TD, though, although he did recover a fumble in the end zone last week for a TD. The good thing about this is that Jones has had an excuse since he’s battling an injury, and there’s a good chance that he’s ready to start playing at his top form again.
The Saints have had some major complications in their season, the biggest of which is QB Drew Brees. He has been having a problem with his should and it has hurt his performance quite a bit. His accuracy has dropped, and it is very noticeable. For the Saints to start winning games, Brees needs to find another way to move the ball down the field. They do have two decent RBs in Khiry Robinson and Mark Ingram, but so far their combined impact is not enough to make the team a winning one. That’s unlikely to change this week. The Falcons have only been giving up 22.4 points per game.
Another major Saints issue is that they rank third worst in the league with yards allowed per game. Against a powerhouse like Atlanta, this could be a huge liability. The Falcons are the third best point scoring offense in the NFL, and it seems like they will be too much for the Saints to handle. This could change, though, depending upon Brees’ health and whether or not the Atlanta offense works well together. A weak team like the Redskins was unable to pick up on all of the miscues last weekend, but the Saints have the potential to do so. And if Brees is healthy, the lack of points and the Saints’ inability to move the ball down the field with ease could turn around at any time. The Falcons are still the favorites here, but there are a lot of what-ifs surrounding this game, especially with New Orleans playing at home and eager to turn things around.
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