Wednesday, February 8th, 2012
The Washington Redskins are coming off a much needed bye week when they travel to face the Atlanta Falcons in an NFL game on Sunday afternoon. Kick off time in Atlanta is scheduled for 1PM Eastern Time with regional television coverage provided by CBS. The LVSC college football odds makers have set the opening point spread in this game and the Atlanta Falcons have opened as an 11 ½ point favorite with the total lined at 39 1/2. The early money from the NFL betting public has come in on the underdog Washington Redskins, as the Atlanta Falcons are currently a 10-point favorite. The over under has seen early betting action towards the over, as the total is currently lined at 41 ½ for the NFL bettors to play into. NFL money line gamblers can make a play on the favored Atlanta Falcons at –525 with the road underdog Washington Redskins returning +425 to win outright with no point spread a factor.
The Atlanta Falcons must make a quick turnaround after a physically hard hitting 35-27 loss to NFC South division rival the New Orleans Saints. Atlanta is losers of two straight games and is hemorrhaging in their secondary. The Falcons have given up 290 yards or more against the pass in their past 3 games. Dallas put up 37 on the Falcons two weeks ago and New Orleans 35 last week. Starting quarterback Matt Ryan has struggled with 7 interceptions thrown over his past 3 games and in that period has failed to complete 20 or more passes. Ryan gave up a big pick 6 to the Saints last week to swing the games momentum over to the Saints. Ryan has not been accurate of late and passing for 45% against the Saints will not produce winning results. Running back Michael Turner had a wake up game last week with 151 yards on 20 carries for 7.6 yards per carry average. Prior to that Turner couldn’t crack 2.8 yards a carry over his past two games. The Washington Redskins have been a much-maligned team as it has under performed with a 2-5 record against an easy schedule. The team cannot score with just 13.7 points per game. Starting quarterback Jason Campbell has no vertical game and has become very easy for opposing defenses to defend against. Campbell has not improved and cannot make the deep throws and opposing secondaries all know he is limited. A change is desperately needed at quarterback for the Redskins to improve because Campbell’s divisional rivals routinely defend him. Running back Clinton Portis has carried the ball 120 times for a 4.1 yards per carry average. Portis had one wake up game with 7.1 yards per carry average against Kansas City and could be no better than 4.2 yards per carry back in 6 other games. The Redskins play with pride on defense despite an inept offense. The team allows just 17.6 points per game and only 283 yards a game. The Redskins are half good and half bad.
For the Latest NFL Odds Please Visit our NFL Odds Page
NFL Trend: Atlanta Falcons are 3-0 ATS at home this season
The Wagerline consensus has 76.1% of the NFL bettors on Atlanta -10
The Wagerline consensus has 55.2% of the NFL bettors playing over 41 1/2
Tags: nfl betting odds, washington redskins versus atlanta falcons nfl betting odds pick preview
