The hopeless Atlanta Falcons welcome the Carolina Panthers this week. The Falcons, as of writing this, have yet to fire Dan Quinn despite as rough a start to a season as possible. The Panthers are sitting at a steady 2-2 after continuing to learn what life is like without Christian McCaffrey.
In their fourth straight loss to open the season, the Falcons let Aaron Rodgers have a field day. Despite missing players on the offensive side of the football, the Packers offense was incredible. Rodgers threw for 327 yards on 27 completions out of 33 attempts and four touchdowns. The Falcons defense was torn apart, and if they want to give their decrepit offense a shot, they’re going to need to keep Teddy Bridgwater in check.
The Panthers are coming off a lovely win over the Arizona Cardinals. There’s much to happy about if you’re a Panthers fan. The offense looked great with Teddy Bridgewater appearing more comfortable in the pocket and on the run. Mike Davis had another nice game in lieu of Christian McCaffrey, rushing for 84 yards and a touchdown.
TV Info
Date: Sunday, Oct. 11
Time: 1:00 p.m. ET
Channel: FOX
Broadcast map
Notable Statistical rankings (Football Outsiders)
Panthers: #19 Overall — #14 offense, #28 defense, #19 special teams
Falcons: #27 Overall — #21 offense, #25 defense, #28 special teams
DraftKings Sportsbook odds
Panthers: +3, +120
Falcons: -3, -148
Total: 53.5
Injury report
Panthers
OUT: CB Eli Apple (hamstring)
Falcons
OUT: S Jaylinn Hawkins (concussion)
QUESTIONABLE: WR Julio Jones (hamstring)
Fantasy football start/sit advice
Panthers
Teddy Bridgewater, QB, $5,900
You should start pretty much any quarterback when they go against the Falcons defense. Teddy has been impressive in almost all of his outings thus far. The lone exception being his performance against the Bucs. This Falcons defense isn’t the Bucs defense, give Teddy a shot.
Mike Davis, RB, $6,400
Davis has continued to solidify himself as a solid option with the absence of McCaffrey. The do-it-all abilities of Davis make him such a fun watch. To add onto his solid rushing performance against the Cards, he also racked up five catches for 27 yards. Davis averaged 5.3 yards per carry, showing he really is a nice play at running back.
Falcons
Matt Ryan, QB, $6,100
The last two weeks for Matt Ryan fans has gotta be depressing. The Falcons QB has looked a shell of himself. Culminating in a depressing of a performance against the Packers as we’ve seen. The receiving core isn’t all that healthy, and until Ryan shows flashes of competence, you should bench him.
Falcons, D/ST, $3,000
Just run away. So far this year, the Falcons defense has given up 34 points per game, given up the second most yards in the NFL, and been the second worst passing and rushing defense. If for some reason you’re forced to work with the Falcons defense, you’re better off with an empty slot.