You’d think a 6-4 team would be favored over a 3-7 team. Though you’d probably think that line would be somewhat significant one. Not the case for the Raiders who are favored by just three points in Atlanta over the Falcons.
On one hand, the Falcons have won all three of their games in their last five games since Raheem Morris took over as head coach. On the other hand, the Raiders have won six games despite playing one of the toughest schedules in the NFL over the first 11 weeks of the season.
If you take the Falcons record since Morris took over as their pace right now, they too would be 6-4. And the game is in Atlanta. That usually tends to give the home team a couple points in their favor. Then again, the Raiders are better on the road this season (4-1) than they are at home (2-3). And three of their four road wins were at 1pm Eastern (10am Pacific), so they’ve overcome the dreaded early start time that tends to plague West Coast teams.
That may have something to do with there being mostly no crowds and even in the instances there are fans present, it’s something like Kansas City where the stadium was at 22% capacity. Hardly a hostile environment.
I think what it comes down to in this one is, while the Falcons may be better than their 3-7 record suggests, so too is the Raiders with regard to their 6-4 record. Take that for what it’s worth.