Cardinals at Falcons Line

Written by Steve Janus

This Sunday the Atlanta Falcons will try to even up their record at 1-1 when they host the Arizona Cardinals in week 2 of NFL action. The Falcons loss a tough one against the Steelers in week 1, as they lost in overtime 15-9. The Cardinals started the 2010 season off with a win over the Rams, but didn’t look anything like the team that has won the division the past two seasons. Looking at the NFL odds for the game this weekend, the oddsmakers currently have the Falcons favored by 7-points over the Cardinals at home.

The Cardinals needed a fourth quarter touchdown to beat the Rams in the first week of the season. Wide out Larry Fitzgerald was held in check for pretty much the entire game as he had just two catches for 22 yards going into the final period of play. Fitzgerlad however came through with a big time 21-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Derek Anderson with just over six minutes to go to give the Cardinals the lead for good.

It was Anderson’s only touchdown toss of the game, as he finished with 297 yards on 22 of 41 passing. The Cardinals were without running back Beanie Wells in the season opener, and Tim Hightower was asked to take over the majority of the carries, and ended up having a pretty decent day running for 54 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. Wells is expected to be back in action this week, and should share the load with Hightower.

It was a rough first game for the Falcon’s offense as they could get nothing going against the Steelers strong defense. The Falcons only managed three field goals the entire game, and star running back Michael Turner was held to just 42 yards on 19 carries. Expect a much better performance from Turner this weekend, as the Falcons go up against a much weaker defense.

Quarterback Matt Ryan completed 27 of 44 passes for 252 yards in the opening week loss, but ended the game with no touchdowns and one interception. It looks as though Ryan is only looking for wide out Roddy White, as White was targeted on nearly half the pass plays, as he finished the game with 13 receptions for 111 yards. Ryan will need to get more of the other players involved if they want to take that next step into becoming one of the elite teams in the NFC.

Looking at the Odds: I am all over the Falcons to cover the 7-point spread in this game, as they are going to have a much easier time on both sides of the football against the Cardinals. The defense played pretty well against the Steelers in week 1, and should be even better against the Cardinals, as they will be able to feed off the home field crowd. Look out for Turner in this weeks game, as I think he is going to put up some big numbers against Arizona’s defense. My final score prediction is Atlanta 24, Arizona 13.

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