Kansas City Chiefs
vs.
Atlanta Falcons
By Jason Green
12/4/16
The Chiefs are only 1 Game back of the Oakland Raiders in the AFC West and they are coming off a HUGE OT win over the Denver Broncos in their last Game. They don’t have dynamic offense, but they have a solid D that ranks 8th in the league in points allowed. They have a good pass rush as well and that will be key in this Game facing Atlanta QB Matt Ryan.
Atlanta is in first place in the NFC South and they are only a Game up on Tampa Bay. They have won 3 of 4 Games and while they have had their issues on defense this season Ryan ranks 3rd in the league in passing yards and lead WR Julio Jones ranks 1st in receiving yards. The Falcons’ offensive line has a tall task in this Game facing a KC pass rush that had 6 sacks in their win over the Broncos.
The Chiefs took down the Broncos in Denver in their last Game 30-27 in OT where they covered the spread as a 3.5-point underdog.
The Falcons are coming off a 38-19 home win over the Arizona Cardinals covering as a 4-point favorite.
The Chiefs don’t have a dynamic offense, but they have a solid QB in Alex Smith, who manages Games well and avoids the mistakes. In their win over the Broncos he played well making some key plays, but overall in the Game KC had only 273 total yards while Denver had 464. SpeNCer Ware averaged less than 4 yards per carry in the Game and he has to run the ball well to take some pressure off Smith and the defense.
Atlanta’s weakness this season has been their D, especially their pass defense, which ranks 3rd to last in the league. However, their run defense ranks a respectable 9th.
Ryan is a legit MVP candidate on the season and he had 269 passing yards with 2 TD and 1 INT in the win over the Cardinals. Jones is not the only solid WR the Falcons have, as he only had 35 yards in the win over Arizona. Devonta Freeman is the lead back in Atlanta and he has to take advantage of chances and he will get them since the main focus of the KC defense will be from keeping Ryan from having a huge Game through the air.
The Chiefs defense only ranks 19th against the pass and 29th against the run and while those rankings are not that solid they have been solid at keeping teams out of the end zone. In fact, when ranking defenses using yards per point, the Chiefs rank #3 in the NFL.
KC is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 road Games and in their last 7 Games the posted total has gone Under 6 times.
Atlanta is 7-3 ATS in their last 10 Games overall, but only 3-8 ATS in their last 11 Games at home.
Bettorsworld Pick – Chiefs +3.5