Falcons at Chargers Odds
Both the Falcons and the Chargers still have playoff hopes for this season, though the Chargers’ chances are fading fast. Atlanta has a little more wiggle-room after they defeated the Panthers last week. The Chargers, on the other hand, have a long way to go if they want back into the playoff hunt. As long as they aren’t mathematically eliminated, though, the Chargers have plenty of talent if they can just figure out how to make it work for them. The Chargers are 4 point favorites over the Falcons and the total is set at 49 points.
Much of Atlanta’s success can be attributed to their offense this year. They’ve been excellent in both the running and passing game to this point in the season. They are putting up 25 points per game, running for over 150 yards and passing for 213 yards per game on 7.5 yards per attempt. That means they’ve controlled the clock through the running game, then opened things up when they’ve needed to through the air. Rookie QB, Matt Ryan seems to have made an easy adjustment to the pro game and it looks like the Falcons have found their quarterback of the future already.
Atlanta’s defense has been good enough to not hurt them too much, but it’s not the strength of the team. They give up 20.5 points per game and 351 yards of total offense. The rushing defense is concerning, not because of the 120 yards per game they allow, but because they allow nearly 5 yards per carry to opposing running backs. That may be a weakness the Chargers can exploit this week with Ladanian Tomlinson in the back field.
The Chargers are just 4-7 on the season, but it doesn’t seem like the offense is to blame. They put up a solid 25 points per game on over 340 yards of total offense, including nearly 8.3 yards per pass attempt, one of the best marks in the league. You can tell that Tomlinson’s injuries have hurt the team’s running game, though, as the Chargers gain only 96 rushing yards per game. Luckily, Philip Rivers and a some talented young receivers have helped ease the pain by posing nearly 250 yards per game. San Diego is facing an Atlanta defense that has a tendency to give up a lot on the ground, so that’s something that Tomlinson may be able to take advantage of.
On defense the Chargers have some major gaps. They are giving up 22.9 points per game and nearly 370 yards of total offense. They are allowing teams far too much time with the football at nearly 32 minutes per game to the Chargers’ holding on to the ball just 28 minutes per game. It might not seem like that much, but those extra four minutes could have been the difference in a lot of the Chargers’ close games this season.
Atlanta has been far more consistent than the Chargers, but you could definitely argue that San Diego is the more talented team overall. The Falcons have really struggled on the road this season and the trip to California is a long one. Look for Tomlinson to break out of the mini-slump he’s in, but expect a hard fought battle from both sidelines.
