NFL Betting Free Picks: Atlanta Falcons at Miami Dolphins

Added on Aug 26, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

NFL

Week Three of the NFL preseason continues on Friday night with four games, and we’ll take a look at the Atlanta Falcons as they head to South Florida to take on the Miami Dolphins. Falcons are 1-1 SU and ATS in the preseason, though their offense has been stagnant. The Dolphins are 2-0 SU and 1-1 ATS.

Atlanta Falcons at Miami Dolphins
August 27 4:00 PM Pacific

It couldn’t have gone any worse for the Atlanta Falcons last week at the Georgia Dome. Their offense was once again ‘missing in action’ and the defense was pushed around by the New England Patriots en route to a lopsided 28-10 loss. We look for a much better effort this week against a Miami Dolphins team that should be fairly satisfied with where they’re at so far in the exhibition campaign. After a lackluster opening performance against Tampa Bay in a monsoon like storm, Chad Henne and the Dolphins offense vowed to improve in their second outing. They did just that, and they won outright at Jacksonville as an underdog. The result is that this game is more important for Atlanta than Miami. The Falcons need to get their offense in sync before the regular season begins, so look for Matt Ryan and the first team unit to see a lot of playing time. Backup Chris Redman will also get some action after not playing against the Patriots. Just the fact that John Parker Wilson won’t be in charge of the offense for much of the game will be a marked improvement.

The Falcons’ defense will also be better—and healthier than they have been all preseason. Their past coverage should show marked improvement with the return of cornerbacks Dunta Robinson and Brian Williams, and defensive tackle Peria Jerry could return as well. Despite the lackluster preseason, there’s a lot of optimism in Atlanta this year—and with good reason. The team has done an impressive job of rebuilding following the Michael Vick fiasco and could have the most balance of any Falcons team in years. Nevertheless, this game will be an important ‘dress rehearsal’ for the regular season on both sides of the ball.

Miami has historically been a good preseason underdog (27-14 ATS since 1990) but a substandard favorite (17-25). The Falcons, on the other hand, have been a solid preseason choice in both roles—25-17 ATS as a favorite and 24-17 ATS as a dog since 1990. Falcons have an extra day to prepare, and with Redman in the game will have better offensive depth after the starters leave. Miami scored 24 of their 27 points at Jacksonville in the first half, so their backups aren’t anything that the Falcons’ defense can’t handle.

Bet Atlanta +1 over Miami