The Atlanta Falcons are coming off yet another heart-breaking loss on Sunday as they lost to the Detroit Lions, now they have to get that out of their minds quickly as they are coming off a short week in order to play divisional opponent Carolina. The Falcons now sit at 1-6 on the season and any playoff hopes are slowly fading away, their only shot is if they go on a crazy win streak. They are hoping that win streak will start this Thursday, but they are going against a Panthers team, that even without star RB Christian McCaffrey, have managed to win more than they’ve lost.
McCaffrey only played in two games this season for Carolina and both of those games were losses, since then the Panthers have gone 3-2. That sounds good, but over the last two games they are 0-2. Their latest game came against the Saints and they lost 27-24 on a fourth quarter field goal which gave the Saints a lead they never looked back on. They are now trying to get back in the win category against a team in the Falcons in which they already defeated this season on the road, now they are attempting to get the season sweep on Atlanta.
Both of these teams had expectations of making the playoffs this season (every team does no matter how unrealistic), but the seasons have been trending in opposite directions. It is entirely possible that both teams do not end up in the playoffs this season, but this is a much larger disappointment for one of these teams specifically.
Most people did not expect the Panthers to be a playoff team this season, in fact, the fact they have a chance to be a .500 team after eight games is a surprise for some people. The Falcons on the other hand maybe were not expected to be a division winner, but they easily could have been a fringe wild card team. It is kind of odd to remember that only four years ago the Falcons were so close to winning the Super Bowl—sure, the Panthers were there a year before in 2015 but they fizzled out—and now they are in contention to possibly get a top five draft pick, but that’s the nature of the game.
This game is more about just another win though, this is a game that will either give the Panthers bragging rights for the next year while setting them up better for a playoff push before McCaffrey sees the field again, or one that will let the football world know that the Falcons can close out games.
Whatever happens though, both of these teams will give it their all because there is so much at stake for each team. The first matchup was a one score game and there is no reason to expect this one to be any different. Last week’s Thursday night matchup between the Giants and Eagles may not have been highly received by the public because it pitted two lackluster teams against each other, but it was a competitive battle all game long, this game could be exactly the same thing.
Thursday Night Football: Atlanta at Carolina
Kickoff: Thursday, Oct. 29 at 8:20 p.m. ET
TV: FOX/NFL Network
Spread: Panthers -2.5
Atlanta Offense vs Carolina Defense
When the Falcons are on the road, they’ve been pretty good (unlike their home record), they are 5-2 in their last seven road games dating back to last season, including their only win this season. While that may not be anything to be proud about, it is definitely something that can increase their hopes during this rough stretch of a season. There really isn’t much this season that Atlanta has going for them, so let’s start with the only part of the team where there is some good, the offense.
When we discuss this offense, or any offense for that matter, we have to start at the quarterback position. Looking at the Falcons quarterback they have a former MVP winner in Matt Ryan who it’s fair to say is not playing anywhere near an MVP level. Okay, it’s not fair to say that he is nowhere near MVP level, in fact, he is doing really well this season with over 2,000 yards, 66 completion %, 12 touchdowns, and three interceptions. While he has some good stats it just never seems like he can ice the game when it is needed and that’s where a problem occurs. Sure, the defense isn’t good, but that means that Ryan has to lead the offense into scoring enough points to win a game.
Only two times this season have the Falcons scored more than 30 points, that wouldn’t be a huge issue except the talent on this offense makes it that if you don’t score 30 it’s a bit of a waste of talent. Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley, Russell Gage, Hayden Hurst, and Todd Gurley for weapons and the offense has only scored 30 or more twice, that won’t cut it. They are great at getting yards ranking sixth in the league, but only rank 13th in points per game. The pass game for obvious reasons rank third in the league, but this week they go against a very good pass defense ranking 10th in the league.
Ryan is going to get his yards in through the air no matter what, it will be even better if he has his full array of weapons, but they need to score points if they have a chance to win. Utilizing the run will be big this game as the Panthers rank 18th in the run game, but the Falcons don’t rank much better offensively ranking 20th in the league. Todd Gurley is not the back he once was, but part of the problem is they are relying on him too much. They don’t have a backup that can carry some load so that means Gurley needs to have a great game.
If the Falcons can get the run game going and find the endzone they have a great chance of winning, but Carolina’s defense held its own in the first matchup, let’s see if they can do it again and force Atlanta’s defense to win the game.
Panthers Offense vs Falcons Defense
Adding Teddy Bridgewater at quarterback was supposed to give this offense a whole new dimension and it has, kind of. Bridgewater was supposed to compliment the run game of Christian McCaffrey as well as any QB-RB duo in the league in an effort to make the playoffs. With having no preseason to get accustomed to each other, the playbook, and the in-game feel, it was pretty clear that there were going to be some problems starting off the season. That is exactly what we saw in the first couple weeks. It’s not that the offense was bad, but the offense had some issues gelling together like they should have. Then McCaffrey went down and the offense seemed to find itself.
It’s a little unfair to say the offense wasn’t there with McCaffrey since the scored over 30 points week one, it was more a problem with the defense early in the season. Even though that was the big problem, the offense has been good enough to go 3-2 without McCaffrey, imagine what they will be with him back. Well, we’ll have to wait another week to see that, but for now we get to see Bridgewater and his connections to Robby Anderson and D.J. Moore.
Bridgewater on the season has led this offense to be the number 11 pass offense and even though there are struggles finding the endzone, the yards are there. Bridgewater nearly has 2,000 yards with a 72.2 completion %, eight touchdowns, and five interceptions. His favorite targets this season have been new addition Anderson with 640 yards and one touchdown and Moore with 567 yards and three touchdowns.
While those two have been great, one problem that is still there is that they are the bulk of the offense and scoring. Those two have over half of the receiving yards on the team and half of the receiving touchdowns on the team. The issue is that other players are not getting involved therefore when it is time to score, they have trouble.
Luckily, they get to go against the 26th ranked defense in points per game allowed as well as the 31st ranked pass defense. If there is one upside on the defensive side, they rank sixth in the run game, so that means Mike Davis could be a small factor this game. While the Falcons are good defending the run that does not mean eliminate it immediately, try it and if Davis can help it will only make the offense better.
Even if Davis gets stopped, the pass game will be there and unless Atlanta has a huge change then the pass defense will be similar to what it has been all season. This means that Carolina could involve more than just the two receivers and if more are involved it could be a blowout in favor of Carolina.
Final Analysis
The Panthers are clearly the more well-rounded team than the Falcons. While the offense may not be as good (or just not have the names) as Atlanta, the defense is miles better than the Atlanta’s. This is the key of this game just like many of Atlanta’s games have been, if their defense is good enough to slow down, not even stop the Panthers then their offense should battle and find a win. If the defense is not good like expected than the offense will need to ball out in order to win, they are very capable of doing that, but will it happen.
Atlanta is a team that their offense seems so good that it should make up for their defensive struggles, that is not the case though. There are so many issues on this Atlanta team that it is tough to see them going into Carolina to win, but with their record on the road recently I have to go with Atlanta in this game in a close high scoring game.
Score: Falcons 32, Panthers 28