{"id":24498,"date":"2012-08-24T12:02:08","date_gmt":"2012-08-24T17:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=24498"},"modified":"2012-08-24T12:02:08","modified_gmt":"2012-08-24T17:02:08","slug":"nfl-preseason-week-3-predictions-atlanta-falcons-vs-miami-dolphins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/nfl-preseason-week-3-predictions-atlanta-falcons-vs-miami-dolphins-24498\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Preseason Week 3 Predictions: Atlanta Falcons vs. Miami Dolphins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Atlanta Falcons at Miami Dolphins
\nFriday, 8\/24\/12, 7:30 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 N\/A
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Atlanta -2.5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Atlanta -3
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 39.5
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 41.5
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Atlanta Falcons have covered their first preseason road game the last three years<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Atlanta out-gained its first two preseason opponents, but it hasn\u2019t shown up in the victory column, suffering home defeats to the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals.\u00a0 The Falcons are definitely turning into a pass-first offense this year, which is a major difference in philosophy due to running back Michael Turner leading the NFL with 1,189 carries since the start of the 2008 campaign.<\/p>\n

The Falcons are a disappointing 7-9-2 against the spread (ATS) under the direction of head coach Mike Smith, while also producing a dismal 7-15 straight-up record.\u00a0 Total players will definitely notice that the squad has gone OVER the total in its first two exhibition affairs, as they\u2019ve taken to the air in out-gaining opponents by 233 combined yards in the passing game.\u00a0 Expect Turner to be used more in the passing game, as he set a career high with 17 catches for 168 yards last season.<\/p>\n

Miami has settled on rookie Ryan Tannehill as its starting quarterback, which will place a major spotlight on the former Texas A&M star, while also placing plenty of pressure on first-year head coach Joe Philbin.\u00a0 The Dolphins will need to do a better job of protecting their new offensive leader, as he was sacked three times and hit plenty more in last week\u2019s 23-17 loss to the Carolina Panthers as three-point road underdogs.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins stop unit appeared lethargic last week against the Panthers, which made things easy for last year\u2019s Offensive Rookie of the Year Cam Newton, who threw for 119 yards in three offensive series.\u00a0 Miami will need to create some type of pass rush in hopes of slowing down a potent offense in this particular matchup.\u00a0 \u201cWe certainly aren\u2019t pleased with the way we\u2019ve played in the first two preseason games,\u201d commented Dolphins defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle.<\/p>\n

Sports bettors will likely back the Falcons in this spot, as they\u2019ve won their first preseason road game the last three years.<\/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 Miami Dolphins Friday, 8\/24\/12, 7:30 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 N\/A Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Atlanta -2.5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Atlanta -3 Opening Total:\u00a0 39.5 Current Total:\u00a0 41.5 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker Atlanta out-gained its first two preseason opponents, but it hasn\u2019t shown up in the victory column, suffering home defeats to the Baltimore Ravens […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":17238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,132],"tags":[123,320,423,31,3711],"class_list":["post-24498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nfl-handicapping","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-miami-dolphins","tag-michael-turner","tag-nfl","tag-ryan-tannehill"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24498","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=24498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24499,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24498\/revisions\/24499"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}