The Atlanta Falcons host the New York Giants in a Week 16 matchup that technically shouldn’t be a must-win sport, however it will actually damage Atlanta in the event that they misplaced the sport. The Falcons are 8.5-point favorites at FanDuel Sportsbook, however the line has come down because of large information.
Head coach Raheem Morris elected to bench starting quarterback Kirk Cousins and move rookie Michael Penix, Jr. into the starting lineup. The road got here down 1.5 factors after the information broke. The staff was coming off a win, however with their playoff probabilities slimming every week, Morris and the teaching employees determined they wanted to maneuver on from the struggling Cousins. Whether or not it is going to be sufficient to outlive and get to the playoffs stays to be seen.
Atlanta is 7-7 and sitting in second place within the NFC South, one sport again of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Falcons swept the head-to-head sequence with the Bucs, so they simply want to complete tied to win the division. They’re additionally two video games again of the Commanders within the wild card race and notably will face Washington in Week 17. Seattle sits between the 2 groups, so Atlanta will want some extra assist in the event that they’re to say a wild card berth.
Tiebreaker implications
This might affect the convention document and customary sport tiebreakers if the Falcons find yourself tied within the wild card race. It could don’t have any affect on the divisional race since they’ve the head-to-head tiebreaker.