Week four’s Sunday Night Football matchup pits the undefeated New England Patriots vs. the Atlanta Falcons in the Georgia Dome. Both the Falcons and the Patriots go into Sunday night’s game sputtering in their own ways. Despite the unblemished record the Pats offense has not impressed anyone thus far, while the Falcons defense can’t seem to stop anybody. In this battle of preseason Super Bowl picks each team’s strengths and weaknesses will provide for another gridlocked game for the Pats in the dirty south.
Once again the Patriots receiving core was the talk of the week in New England this week. The rookie wide receivers made progress last week and are trying to improve upon the solid showing against the Buccaneers. However, the rooks will once again be relied upon heavily on Sunday night as both Rob Gronkowski and Danny Amendola have been ruled out of action and did not even travel with the team to Atlanta. The receivers who did travel will have plenty of opportunities to take advantage of a depleted Atlanta secondary.
It looks like familiar face Asante Samuel will be in action Sunday night but he has been slowed by multiple injuries to start the season. That leaves the Falcons with two rookies of their own in the backfield to square up against Aaron Dobson, Kenbrell Thompkins and hopefully Josh Boyce for the Pats. With the Falcons defense giving up 25 points per game this week’s battle could provide the easiest challenge for the Patriots offense a quarter of the way through the season. Although the noise level in the Georgia Dome will certainly complicate communication between Tom Brady and his receivers, look for Tom to shoulder that challenge and take even more responsibility in properly communicating with his offense.
A great way to combat the noisy dome will be for the Patriots defense to continue its impressive start to the season. At the moment the Patriots have a top 10 defense but this will be their first test against arguably a top 10 offense even if the numbers may not be just there yet for the Falcons. Roddy White is hobbled on one side but Julio Jones is not. Julio has consistently put himself within the top 5 receivers in the league since his rookie year and his hot start this season is further cementing his status. As Stephen A. Smith would say, that dude can ball! With "Matty Ice" Ryan throwing to him and even Roddy, the Patriots will have their hands full all night. Yet after stepping up to the task last week against Tampa, the Patriots defense has a tremendous opportunity to stamp their arrival as a top unit.
If the Patriots can hold the Falcons offense to less than their average of 24ppg, Tom Brady and his group of merry men will have enough firepower to, yes, outscore and outgun the Atlanta Falcons. Although, the challenge of playing in a dome on the road against a very formidable opponent in the Falcons, who are 1-2 and probably need this win more than the Pats need it, is tough. A vulnerable team at home is a scary proposition, especially one with the offensive threats Atlanta has. At the end of the day the Georgia Dome isn’t CenturyLink Field and their defense is nowhere near the caliber of the Seahawks defense. With a regular prep week behind them the New England Patriots will continue to improve on offense and impress on defense leading to a 30-20 Patriots victory.
Frank Cypriano
@JulioFranko17