Falcons Week 8 Favorites Over Panthers

Falcons

Getty Kyle Pitts #8 of the Atlanta Falcons.

The Atlanta Falcons broke a six-game streak of covering the spread last Sunday when they lost to the Cincinnati Bengals, 35-17.

However, the Vegas gods are not letting that game get in the way of favoring the Falcons in Week 8 over the Carolina Panthers by 4.5 points (at Fan Duel)––marking the first time that the Falcons have been favored this season.

Carolina, who has won just two games this season (2-5), traded away their top offensive weapon last week in running back Christian McCaffery. But shockingly, with the club’s third-string quarterback P.J. Walker and without McCaffrey, they were able to pull off a win over Tom Brady and the Bucs in Week 7.

That lucky performance is going to be hard to do against a Falcons team who has been dominant at home this season, beating the San Francisco 49ers and Cleveland Browns at the Benz.


Falcons’ Secondary Injuries Run Deep

The Panthers might catch a break against a banged-up Atlanta secondary that will be playing with mainly third-stringers again, which didn’t go so well against the Bengals, whose QB Joe Burrow posted a historic day.

Cornerback A.J. Terrell, who was ruled out in the first quarter with a hamstring injury and is considered week-to-week, will not be practicing on Wednesday, head coach Arthur Smith told reporters.

Terrell had also been dealing with a lingering thigh injury. 

Some good news for the Falcons, cornerback Dee Alford, who was ruled out last Sunday with a hamstring injury, will practice this week, though he is considered day-to-day.

As for safety Jaylinn Hawkins, he has already been ruled out against Carolina as he is in concussion protocol after suffering a head injury against Cincy. With Hawkins out for Week 8, Dean Marlowe will slide over into the starting role.


Will the Falcons Sign Secondary Help?

The Falcons have already signed some secondary help in former Kansas City corner BoPete Keyes on Tuesday, but other than that, it sounds like Smith has no plans to bring in anyone else, for now.

“We’ve tried to develop guys that have been in our program and it’s our job to find solutions,” Smith said Tuesday, October 25. “Everybody is dealing with something around the league and we got to find solutions. We got a big divisional game coming up here Sunday.”

That being said, the Falcons have one open spot on their 53-man roster.

“We just have to evaluate with the IR guys,” Smith added. “I don’t have an update on it right now but there’s IR, there’s somebody you bump up, or you never know if there’s somebody out there you may claim or whatever so we’ll see how the week goes.”

Depending on how the rest of the week goes, we could see Atlanta sign Keyes to the active roster.

The 24-year-old originally entered the league as a seventh-round draft pick by KC in 2020. He was waived by the Chiefs after his rookie year. Since then, he’s had stops at the Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots and Chicago Bears. Most recently, Keyes was with the Houston Texans.

Through 12 appearances and one NFL start, the former Tulane defensive back has logged nine tackles.

 

 

 

 

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