{"id":18735,"date":"2011-10-20T09:31:36","date_gmt":"2011-10-20T14:31:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=18735"},"modified":"2011-10-20T09:31:36","modified_gmt":"2011-10-20T14:31:36","slug":"nfl-picks-week-7-atlanta-falcons-vs-detroit-lions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/nfl-picks-week-7-atlanta-falcons-vs-detroit-lions-18735\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Picks Week 7: Atlanta Falcons vs. Detroit Lions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Atlanta Falcons at Detroit Lions
\nSunday, 10\/23\/11, 1:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 FOX
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Detroit -4.5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Detroit -3
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 48.5
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 47.5
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Falcons<\/a>
Atlanta Falcons RB Michael Turner is likely to have a big game Sunday against the Detroit Lions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Atlanta has alternated wins and losses in its first six games this season, coming off a 31-17 win over the Carolina Panthers as 3.5-point home favorites.\u00a0 The Falcons have actually out-gained all three of their road opponents, while losing the statistical battle when playing inside the Georgia Dome.\u00a0 The last time these two franchises faced each other, Atlanta came away with a 34-21 win over the Detroit Lions as 3.5-point home underdogs.\u00a0 Over the last two-plus seasons, Atlanta is 11-8 ATS on the road and the \u2018over\u2019 is 12-7 in those contests.<\/p>\n

The Falcons will likely lean heavily on running back Michael Turner, who carried the ball for 139 yards on 27 carries last week.\u00a0 Atlanta got back to emphasizing the running attack, rushing the ball 35 times after averaging just 17.7 carries over the previous three contests.\u00a0 It could definitely slow down the Detroit Lions\u2019 defensive front, a unit that is allowing opponents to run for 129.5 yards per game, which is 26th in the NFL.\u00a0 Quarterback Matt Ryan has benefited from a more balanced approach, getting sacked just two times in the past three games.<\/p>\n

Detroit was unable to stop San Francisco\u2019s ground game in allowing 203 rushing yards and ultimately dropped its first game of the season.\u00a0 The Lions are still 4-1-1 ATS on the year, while the \u2018over\u2019 is 4-2, but the team has fallen short of the total the last two weeks.\u00a0 Most of the focus following the game was directed on head coach Jim Schwartz\u2019s post-game handshake with 49ers front man Jim Harbaugh, as the two nearly fought on the turf at Ford Field.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate,\u201d commented Schwartz this week.\u00a0 \u201cThe game\u2019s played by the players on the field.\u201d\u00a0 Detroit is 5-3 ATS as a favorite the last two-plus campaigns.<\/p>\n

The Lions will likely be without starting running back Jahvid Best, suffering his second concussion in three months.\u00a0 Detroit tried to make a bold trade sending Jerome Harrison to Philadelphia this week for Ronnie Brown, but it was ultimately voided on Wednesday.\u00a0 The team ranks 25th in the league in gaining just 90.8 yards on the ground.\u00a0 Quarterback Matthew Stafford and wide receiver Calvin Johnson will have to carry the load.\u00a0 None of it may matter with if Turner has another big game against the team\u2019s defense, gaining 428 combined rushing yards in the last two games in this series.<\/p>\n

Bettors will likely back the Falcons due to their 6-1 ATS mark on the road versus winning home teams, while the Lions are 2-2 ATS as a home favorite of a field goal or less.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss out on a winning season and let the NFL handicappers at Maddux Sports line your pockets with cash.\u00a0 Long term packages are available now!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Atlanta Falcons at Detroit Lions Sunday, 10\/23\/11, 1:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 FOX Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Detroit -4.5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Detroit -3 Opening Total:\u00a0 48.5 Current Total:\u00a0 47.5 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker Atlanta has alternated wins and losses in its first six games this season, coming off a 31-17 win over the Carolina Panthers as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":5439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,132],"tags":[123,2753,542,3333,423],"class_list":["post-18735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nfl-handicapping","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-calvin-johnson","tag-detroit-lions","tag-ford-field","tag-michael-turner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18735"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18736,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18735\/revisions\/18736"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}