The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-2) will host the Atlanta Falcons (2-2) on Sunday in an NFC South matchup. Last season the Bucs beat the Falcons 48-25 in Tampa Bay on September 19 and 30-17 in Atlanta on December 5.
The Atlanta Falcons got their second consecutive straight-up win last Sunday taking down the Cleveland Browns 23-20, which also improved them 4-0 against the spread this season. Prior to beating Cleveland, the Falcons opened the season with a 27-26 loss to the Saints as a six-point home dog, lost to the defending Super Bowl champion Rams 31-27 as a 10.5-point road dog, and beat Seattle 27-23 as a one-point road dog.
“We want to win. We want to be a great defense. I feel like Grady is spearheading that effort, that drive, while at the same time putting a great product on the field.”https://t.co/iqw3vESl90
— Scott Bair (@ScottBairNFL) October 6, 2022
On the season, the Falcons are 15th in total offense, 29th with 181 passing yards, and fourth with 168 rushing yards. Quarterback Marcus Mariota has completed 58.2% of his passes with three touchdowns and four interceptions this year and is coming off a rough game, despite the victory. Last week against Cleveland, Mariota went 7 of 19 for 139 yards with a touchdown. Running back Patterson is fourth in the NFL with 340 rushing yards and averaging 5.9 yards per attempt, but he will not play Sunday due to a knee injury. Tyler Allgeier, a rookie out of BYU, racked up 84 yards on 10 attempts against the Browns, and Caleb Huntley added 56 yards on 10 attempts. Both could be key factors to the Falcons' upset hopes.
On defense, Atlanta is 25th allowing 386.3 yards per game. Their run defense is 2s1st, giving up 126.3 yards per game, and they are 25th allowing 260 passing yards.