Thursday Night Football picks and prop bets: The streaking Patriots head to Atlanta

The Atlanta Falcons, for the most part, don’t beat good teams.

Sure, they handled a Jameis Winston-less Saints team in Week 9, but New Orleans is pretty much the apex of Falcons’ fandom the past three years. Take them out of the picture and Atlanta has exactly one win over a team with 10+ victories since its last playoff berth in 2017.

That’s a good sign for a surging New England Patriots team eager to prove last year’s losing record was an aberration and not the beginning of a post-Tom Brady descent. The Pats have turned a 1-3 start into a 6-4 record, pushing their way into the thick of the playoff hunt and only a half-game behind the Bills in the AFC East. Atlanta offers a chance to add a little extra power behind that momentum before massive showdowns with Tennessee and Buffalo in Weeks 12 and 13, respectively.

The Falcons have much more tenuous playoff hopes. They came into Week 10 as the seventh and final seed in the NFC, then got boat-raced by the Cowboys in a 43-3 bloodletting. A win over New England wouldn’t just provide hollow vindication after Super Bowl 51, it would also keep Atlanta’s playoff hopes alive in a conference that reasonably runs five deep with legitimate contenders.

Can Matt Ryan get back on track against a peaking Patriot defense? Or will New England’s mastery over Atlanta continue for at least another year?

Let’s talk about it. All odds via Tipico.