Atlanta Falcons at Jacksonville Jaguars
Friday, 8/19/11, 8:00 PM EST, TV: FOX
Opening Point Spread: Jacksonville -3
Current Betting Line: Jacksonville -3
Opening Total: 36
Current Total: 36
Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker
Atlanta dropped a 28-23 home contest to the Miami Dolphins last week in its preseason opener despite having its first-team offense score 17 points. “I thought Matt played well,” stated Falcons head coach Mike Smith about quarterback Matt Ryan’s performance. “He executed the offense. We got the work that we needed to get done with that group.” Ryan finished with 90 yards and a touchdown by completing 6-of-10 pass attempts. The former Boston College product is likely to have yet another strong game when facing a pass defense that ranked 28th last season. Atlanta is 3-1 ATS in its last four exhibition contests on the road.
The Falcons will be playing the Jaguars for the second consecutive year during the preseason, dropping a 13-9 game at EverBank Field. That contest took place in the final week of the 2010 preseason and didn’t have many of Atlanta’s starters on the field, including Ryan. Defensively, the squad has a long way to go in terms of pass defense, after ranking 22nd in the league a year ago. Atlanta’s second-team secondary allowed touchdown passes of 44 and 28 yards last week.
Jacksonville was humiliated by the New England Patriots in a 47-12 loss in its preseason opener last week. The Jaguars were interested in evaluating their players more than the results, but head coach Jack Del Rio was still unhappy with the team’s effort. “We aren’t going to play our back-end people that much again in the preseason,” Del Rio stated. “So, that is more of a relief than a concern because that was pretty ugly out there at the end.” The game was also the debut of rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert, who completed 9-of-16 passes for 85 yards. Jacksonville is 5-1 ATS against non-conference opponents in preseason action.
The Jaguars quarterback situation has turned into a competition between Gabbert and veteran David Garrard. It’s quite possible that the next two weeks will decide who starts under center for the season opener against Tennessee. Garrard hasn’t taken an in-game hit since December and will see his first action of the year tonight, as he’s been suffering through a sore back. Defensively, the focus has been placed on creating turnovers, as the coaching staff was impressed with the unit’s physicality early on last week. Jacksonville’s first unit created one turnover and had a four other opportunities to take the ball away from New England.
Bettors will likely back the Jaguars due to their competitive quarterback situation, while the Falcons are looking ahead to next week’s contest in Pittsburgh.
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