The Atlanta Falcons are flying high. They are now on a two-game win streak as they just took down the Cleveland Browns at home on Sunday, 23-20. Prior to that, the Falcons won the battle of the birds against the Seattle Seahawks on the road in Week 3, 27-23. With momentum on their side, the Falcons will look to make it three in a row when they visit Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Buccaneers, meanwhile, are on a two-game slump. After losing to the Green Bay Packers in Week 3 (14-12) and to the Kansas City Chiefs (41-31) both at home, the Buccaneers will try to snap their skid as they play another game at Raymond James Stadium Sunday, this time versus Atlanta. Check out our preview of this Falcons vs Buccaneers game in Week 5 of the 2022 NFL regular season.
The Falcons are going to live and die with their rushing attack. Against the Browns, Atlanta racked up 202 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 35 carries. Marcus Mariota only had 139 passing yards on 7/19 completions (0 TD, 1 INT), which was disappointing given that the Falcons have Drake London and Kyle Pitts, but the team will just have to go with the hot hand which is in its ground game. And it’s probably a good idea to keep pounding the rock to Cordarrelle Patterson and company against Tampa Bay, which had just allowed nearly 200 rushing yards to the Chiefs.
The Falcons have not figured in a blowout contest so far with all their games ending in one-score affairs. They are 4-0 against the spread in their last four games.
It’s probably not the time yet to press the panic button for the skidding Buccaneers, who are 4-1 against the spread in their last five games after failing to cover the spread in the previous contest. Their two losses so far this season were against legitimate Super Bowl contenders who are levels above the quality of Atlanta. In other words, a loss to the Falcons should be where it becomes seriously alarming for the Buccaneers, though, they should be able to take care of business Sunday. The fact that Atlanta allowed the New Orleans Saints to score 27 points in Week 1 and the Los Angeles Rams 31 in Week bodes well for Tom Brady and the Bucs in Week 5.
The Buccaneers are 4-1 against the spread in their last five games against division rivals.
