The Detroit Lions continue their road trip, this time heading to Atlanta to face the Falcons in Week 7. The last time these two teams met, the Falcons got the better of the Lions with a 30-26 victory and introduced us to the 10-second runoff.
The Lions had a convincing win over the Jaguars last week, but the experts are not convinced the Lions have turned it around enough to beat the Falcons. According to NFL Pickwatch, 65% of the experts at the time of this writing favor Atlanta to hand the Lions their fourth loss of the season.
Last week, the experts were riding high with the Lions to beat the Jaguars, but this week, they have flipped the script. There is no arguing the Falcons are better than the Jaguars, but this is a Falcons team that just secured their first victory last week against a Minnesota Vikings team who looks to be packing it in already this season. Which begs the question: are the Falcons that good or were the Vikings were just that bad.
The Falcons have a high powered offense that possesses many weapons and ever since Julio Jones returned from injury, Matt Ryan has looked like the playmaker we are used to seeing. Fortunately for the Lions, the Falcons defense is vulnerable, especially in the air where they are 31st in the league in pass yards allowed and last in passing touchdowns allowed.
It is hard to tell if the Lions’ victory last week was a fluke due to an extra week of preparation or if there are actually figuring everything out. The defensive performance was eye-catching after allowing only 44 yards rushing. While, the offense had their best rushing game of the season, mustering 180 yards on the ground. There were some hiccups along the way, but there was plenty to work with heading into this matchup.
The Lions will have their hands full with the Falcons, but this is a game the Lions could win. If they can repeat their performance from last week, and follow the key concepts in this week’s Honolulu Blueprint, they can make their way to .500 on the season and stay in the hunt.