The day after the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV, odds-makers released their favorites to win the big game in Tampa, Fla., next February. The Cleveland Browns had better odds to win it all than the Atlanta Falcons.
The Falcons have finished 7-9 the past two seasons. In 2018, Atlanta sustained a five-game losing streak after starting 4-4 that ruined their season. Last year, the Falcons got off to a 1-7 start. The only other teams with one win or fewer by Week 8 were Miami (0-7), Cincinnati (0-8), and Washington (1-7) — in other words, tire-fire rebuilds that didn’t have Matt Ryan under center throwing to Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley, and Austin Hooper.
Week 1 is approaching and the Atlanta Falcons face the Seattle Seahawks, with current NFL spreads have the Atlanta Falcons at +1 -110. The Seahawks will be an incredibly tough matchup for the Falcons in the always unpredictable Week 1 but I would definitely take the Falcons +1.
Spending two years as the Seahawks’ defensive coordinator, Dan Quinn oversaw a defense which won the Super Bowl in 2013 and came one Malcolm Butler interception away from winning again in 2014.
The Falcons have played against Dan Quinn’s former team four times since he took over for Mike Smith in 2015, with some mixed results in the form of a 2-2 record.
It won’t be an easy start to the 2020 season for Atlanta. Seattle is coming off an 11-5 season in which the Seahawks reached the NFC Divisional round in the playoffs before losing a close 28-23 game against the Green Bay Packers.
Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll have been among the most successful quarterback-coach duos since joining forces in 2012, winning no fewer than nine games in any single season, making two Super Bowl appearances and winning the Lombardi Trophy after the 2013 season.
The Seahawks will be an incredibly tough matchup for the Falcons in the always unpredictable Week 1 but I would definitely take the Falcons +1.
