The Atlanta Falcons are on a mission to repeat as NFC South champions in Week 15 when they visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Falcons are solid (-6) road favorites at TopBet for an important divisional matchup for this coming Monday Night Football. Atlanta has the opportunity to claim the NFC South title with a win here, considering that they took out the New Orleans Saints by a score of 20-17 in Week 14.
On the road this season, the Falcons are currently 4-2 straight and flip that record around with a 2-4 against the spread. At home this season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are currently 3-3 SU and 2-3 ATS.
The NFC South is a blood bath right now, and there is a chance three teams from the South could make the playoffs, but there is also a chance only one team will make it, so each game is a huge game for the contenders, and the one thing the Falcons can’t have is a loss in this game.
The Falcons come into this game playing good football having won four of the last five games, and the only loss came against the Minnesota Vikings. In their last game against the Saints, they were down in the fourth quarter, but used a strong finish to win the game 20-17.
For the Falcons things are really looking up. They were dealing with all kinds of injuries for the last few weeks, but they seem to be getting healthy again. One guy to watch going into this game is Tevin Coleman. He suffered a concussion in the last game, and is officially questionable for this game.
To win this game the defense is going to need to play good and Matt Ryan is going to need to have a big game and not turn the ball over. Against the Saints he threw for 221 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. He is playing with fire if he continues to turn the ball over.
On the other side of this match up is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who’s season has been a huge disappointment, and there will probably be some big changes made at the end of the season. They come into this game having lost three games in a row, and they also failed to cover the spread in all three of those games.
The offense hasn’t been terrible this year, and the defense hasn’t been either, it just seems like they both don’t play well in the same games. Jameis Winston has gotten a lot of heat for his play this year, and although he hasn’t fantastic, he hasn’t been terrible either.
Against the Lions in the last game though, he threw a couple of key turnovers and that led to the defeat. To win this game the offense is going to need to be good, and the defense is going to need to create turnovers. They need to try and get Ryan to turn the ball over a couple of times.
Writer’s Prediction
The Atlanta Falcons are the better team in this match up, and it will show on the field. I think Matt Ryan will have a huge game and that will lead to a victory and a cover of the spread. Pick: Atlanta Falcons (-6.0)
