Monday Night Football Betting: New York Jets at Atlanta Falcons
Monday Night Football concludes the NFL Week 5 schedule as the New York Jets travel to the Georgia Dome to take on the Atlanta Falcons. Few, if anyone, thought that the Jets would have a better record than the Falcons at this point but that’s exactly what has transpired. The Jets are 2-2 SU while the Falcons are 1-3. New York has plenty of liabilities on offense but they’ve put up a better effort game in and game out than the Falcons and certainly have a better defense.
The Atlanta Falcons finished in a tie for the best regular season record in the NFL last year (13-3) but once again suffered an early playoff exit as they were eliminated by San Francisco in the NFC Championship Game. After suffering through a winless preseason–explained away by the fact that head coach Mike Smith never prioritizes preseason games–there’s now concern that Atlanta may regress this season. They are playing against the weight of history–no team has ever won back to back NFC South titles. The Falcons’ defense was a liability last year and hasn’t looked especially sharp this season. On offense,they added running back Steven Jackson on offense but the former Ram is now injured and will miss this game. That leaves the Falcons back where they were last year on offense–a one dimensional, pass oriented attack built around quarterback Matt Ryan.
Jets’ quarterback Geno Smith is definitely a ‘work in progress’ but there’s nothing to fault about the effort the Jets have put up this season. They enter this contest with a 3-1 ATS record but this is a tough scheduling spot for them. This game is the Jets’ only appearance on Monday Night Football and their only dome game. Smith’s receiver corps has been depleted by injury meaning that he’ll be asked to do more himself and he’s not really dependable in that role yet. Atlanta has been a very good home team under Mike Smith but we’d rather back the road team getting a decent amount of points. The Jets’ defense will be the best unit in this game and they should be able to keep their team within this generous number.
BET NEW YORK JETS +10 OVER ATLANTA FALCONS
