The NFC South heats up for the Carolina Panthers vs Atlanta Falcons go head to head at 4:15 EST today. Atlanta Quarterback Joey Harrington hasn’t made anyone forget Mike Vick yet and this week he gets the unkind task of facing a stern Carolina Panthers defense. While the Atlanta Falcons offense has only scored 10 points in their first two games the Falcons defense hasn’t been half bad. Reduced juice sportsbook BetOnline.com has the Atlanta Falcons as 3 point home favorites with -105 juice.
The Panthers were anointed as potential Superbowl contenders after their opening day victory against the St. Louis Rams but Carolina was brought down to reality and knocked off their high horse by the Houston Texans 21-34 as -6.5 favorites. The Falcons were able to keep their game close last week by losing to the Jacksonville Jaguars as +10 underdogs 7-13.
This week the key for the Falcons to beat the Panthers at home will be the ability to stop the Jake Delhomme to Steve Smith connection that has Delhomme sporting a blazing 111.6 passer rating. Bad news for Atlanta is shutdown cornerback DeAngelo Hall will have to cover Smith with a gimpy ankle. Atlanta’s own passing game could have some success in this game against a mediocre Carolina pass-rush that hasn’t produced a sack yet. BetOnline.com has the total in this game set at 37.5 points.
If the Falcons running game can produce more than the 3.4 YPC that they are producing it could open up the passing game for Harrington. With the recent signing of QB Byron Leftwich Harrington is looking over his back and will be looking to hold on to his starting job.
Can he Joey make the most of his opportunity? Carolina is 21-9-2 ATS in their last 32 road games but in the soft NFC it has come down to which team is hungrier that wins games. Which team is hungrier? The Einstein Picks staff has the inside track as to which one of these teams is hungrier for victory and it plans on cashing in with a winning pick.
