Thursday Night Football: Falcons Host the Saints in NFC South Action

Falcons Open Brutal Stretch to end Season With rival Saints

The New Orleans Saints and the Atlanta Falcons clash at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Thursday in a battle of division rivals. This Thursday Night Football matchup of bitter division rivals will be televised by NBC and the NFL Network. Kickoff is set for 8:25 pm EST.

Tonight is the first of two games against Atlanta in three weeks.

Oddsmakers opened the Falcons as -1.5-point favorites, while the game's total opened at 55. The line now shows the Falcons as 2.5-point favorites and the total has dropped down to 51.5.

Falcons Have to Come out Aggressive on Offense

In their last action, Atlanta was a 14-9 loser at home against the Minnesota Vikings. They failed to cover the -2-point spread as favorites, while the combined score (23) was profitable news for UNDER bettors.

The loss to the Vikings snapped the Falcons' three-game winning streak. The Falcons averaged 27 points in the three wins. They were held to three field goals by the Vikings' stout defense.

Atlanta cornerback Desmond Trufant has been cleared from his concussion symptoms and will play against the Saints. Starting left guard Andy Levitre has a partially torn triceps and may not play.

The Falcons converted only 1-of-10 third downs against Minnesota. Many of them were long-yardage situations, and that can't happen if the Falcons hope to beat the Saints tonight.

Saints Look to Establish the Run Against the Falcons

New Orleans won its last outing 31-21 against the Carolina Panthers on December 03. The Saints covered in that game as a -5.5-point favorite, while the 52 combined points took the game OVER the total.

The Saints have made the commitment to pound the run to control the clock. This is also allowing Drew Brees to throw when he wants to rather than when he has to.

The backfield duo of Mark Ingram II and Alvin Kamara has been unstoppable this year. The backs accounted for 248 yards from scrimmage against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Ingram did not practice Tuesday because of a toe injury. He is expected to play against the Falcons.

Ingram has gained 922 yards and scored nine touchdowns on 180 carries so far this season. Ingram and Kamara are simply doing what they are paid to do.  They give the Saints a much needed balance so that every game does not fall on Brees' right shoulder.

Kamara has scored in six consecutive games. He ranks third in the NFL among running backs with 59 catches. Kamara has 1,220 total yards and 11 touchdowns this season and is averaging 8.4 yards per touch.

The Saints also may get rookie cornerback Marshon Lattimore back from a sprained ankle. This would help the Saints secondary corral a potent Falcons passing attack.

Recent Form

Name	Record	ATS	Offense	Defense	Diff	ATS Home	ATS Away	OU Record	OU Home	OU Away
New Orleans	9-3	7-5	29.27	20.18	9.09	3-3	4-2	7-5	4-2	3-3
Atlanta	7-5	5-7	24.09	20.91	3.18	3-3	2-4	5-7	2-4	3-3

Power Stats

Yards Per Point

Name	Offense	Defense	Differential
NO	13.99	16.59	-2.6
ATL	15.51	15.39	0.12

Yards Per Pass

Name	Offense	Defense	Differential
NO	11.01	10.70	0.31
ATL	11.52	9.18	2.34

Yards Per Rush

Name	Offense	Defense	Differential
NO	4.95	4.60	0.35
ATL	4.44	4.43	0.01

Team Records

New Orleans Saints

Name	Record	Home	Away	ATS	ATS Home	ATS Away	Offense	Defense	Diff
Overall	9-3	5-1	4-2	7-5	3-3	4-2	29.42	20.25	9.17
vs Conf	7-2	5-0	2-2	5-4	3-2	2-2	29.56	21.89	7.67
vs Div	1-0	0-0	1-0	1-0	0-0	1-0	34.00	13.00	21.00
Last 3	2-1	2-0	0-1	1-2	1-1	0-1	28.33	26.00	2.33

Atlanta Falcons

Name	Record	Home	Away	ATS	ATS Home	ATS Away	Offense	Defense	Diff
Overall	7-5	3-3	4-2	5-7	3-3	2-4	22.83	20.33	2.50
vs Conf	6-2	3-1	3-1	5-3	3-1	2-2	26.00	19.75	6.25
vs Div	0-1	0-0	0-1	0-1	0-0	0-1	17.00	20.00	-3.00
Last 3	2-1	1-1	1-0	2-1	1-1	1-0	25.67	21.67	4.00

Supergrid

Title	Stat	Rank	Stat	Rank
Away Team Overall Scoring vs Home Team Overall Defense	29.42	3	20.33	13
Away Team Road Passing vs Home Team Home Passing Defense	248.17	8	205.83	9
Away Team Road Rushing vs Home Team Home Rushing Defense	146.17	2	103.33	13
Home Team Overall Scoring vs Away Team Overall Defense	22.83	14	20.25	12
Home Team Home Passing vs Away Team Road Passing Defense	241.50	15	193.33	3
Home Team Home Rushing vs Away Team Road Rushing Defense	128.67	10	109.50	11

Head To Head Summary

Name	Record	ATS	OU	Score	Rush	YPR	PA	CP	PY	TY	TO +/-
New Orleans	5-5	5-5	4-5-1	24.70	102.10	4.05	42.50	66.82	317.00	419.10	1.70
Atlanta	5-5	5-5	4-5-1	26.80	115.40	5.15	39.10	68.80	301.50	416.90	1.10

Head To Head Detail

Date	Away	Home	Score	Line	Total	OU Result	ARY	APY	ATY	ATT	HRY	HPY	HTY	HTT	Away Team Attempts	Home Team Attempts	Away Team Completions	Home Team Completions
Jan 1, 2017	NO	ATL	32-38	132	341	473	1	142	323	465	0
Sep 26, 2016	ATL	NO	45-32	217	225	442	0	115	359	474	2
Jan 3, 2016	NO	ATL	20-17	67	323	390	1	92	327	419	2
Oct 15, 2015	ATL	NO	21-31	150	263	413	3	81	304	385	0
Dec 21, 2014	ATL	NO	30-14	81	322	403	0	57	271	328	4
Sep 7, 2014	NO	ATL	34-37	139	333	472	2	123	445	568	1
Nov 21, 2013	NO	ATL	17-13	103	271	374	0	91	264	355	1
Sep 8, 2013	ATL	NO	17-23	88	279	367	2	78	341	419	1
Nov 29, 2012	NO	ATL	13-23	101	335	436	5	124	159	283	1
Nov 11, 2012	ATL	NO	27-31	46	408	454	1	148	292	440	1

NFL Betting Trends

New Orleans Saints
New Orleans is 7-3 ATS in its last 10 games
New Orleans is 9-1 SU in its last 10 games
The total has gone OVER in 10 of New Orleans's last 15 games
New Orleans is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games on the road
New Orleans is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games on the road
New Orleans is 15-7 SU in its last 22 games when playing Atlanta
New Orleans is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games when playing Atlanta
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of New Orleans's last 8 games when playing on the road against Atlanta

Atlanta Falcons
Atlanta is 3-6 ATS in its last 9 games
Atlanta is 13-6 SU in its last 19 games
The total has gone OVER in 17 of Atlanta's last 25 games
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Atlanta's last 9 games
The total has gone OVER in 13 of Atlanta's last 17 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Atlanta's last 5 games at home
Atlanta is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games when playing New Orleans
Atlanta is 7-15 SU in its last 22 games when playing New Orleans
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Atlanta's last 8 games when playing at home against New Orleans

Team Last 5 Games

New Orleans Saints

Date	Opponent	score	Result	line	ATS Result	offensive rush yards	offensive passing yards	offensive total yards	defensive rush yards	defensive passing yards	defensive total yards	turnovers	Location
Dec 3, 2017	CAR	31-21	W	-5.5/47.5	W/O	148	252	400	112	167	279	0	H
Nov 26, 2017	LAR	20-26	L	2.5/54	L/U	123	223	346	88	327	415	-1	A
Nov 19, 2017	WAS	34-31	W	-9.5/52.5	L/O	160	375	535	156	300	456	1	H
Nov 12, 2017	BUF	47-10	W	-2/48	W/O	298	184	482	69	129	198	0	A
Nov 5, 2017	TB	30-10	W	-7/54	W/U	151	256	407	87	113	200	1	H

Atlanta Falcons

Date	Opponent	score	Result	line	ATS Result	offensive rush yards	offensive passing yards	offensive total yards	defensive rush yards	defensive passing yards	defensive total yards	turnovers	Location
Dec 3, 2017	MIN	9-14	L	-2/48.5	L/U	102	173	275	105	207	312	0	H
Nov 26, 2017	TB	34-20	W	-10/47	W/O	148	368	516	94	279	373	1	H
Nov 20, 2017	SEA	34-31	W	-0/46	W/O	89	190	279	136	224	360	-1	A
Nov 12, 2017	DAL	27-7	W	-3.5/49	W/U	132	204	336	107	126	233	-1	H
Nov 5, 2017	CAR	17-20	L	-3/42	L/U	53	302	355	201	129	330	-1	A

Weather in
Atlanta - United States

 49°F

Cloudy
Humidity is 55%
Wind is Northwest 4 mph
Visibility is 10.004077 mi
Pressure is N/A inHg

Forecast for Atlanta

Next up:
New Orleans home to New York Sunday, December 17
Atlanta at Tampa Bay Monday, December 18

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