It’s time for week 1 free pick NFL winner for Sunday is on the Falcons. This comes from Matt Rivers of the top football handicapper’s web site OffshoreInsiders.com
It’s definitely not the easiest thing to lay anything on the road against Troy Polamalu and what is still a quality Steeler defense but I do believe that the Falcons will win 10 or 11 games and in order to do so this is a big step towards that. Mike Smith and Thomas Dimitroff turned the culture around for this franchise after the whole Mike Vick/Bobby Petrino debacles and this is the third year of that plan.
Matt Ryan is a talented guy with a head on his shoulders and in this, his third year as well, should be able to really start blowing up. Throw in a healthy Michael Turner along with a future Hall of Famer in Tony Gonzalez and a borderline great wide receiver named Roddy White and this offense is going to be just fine, even in Heinz Field. Meanwhile the defense which was much maligned at times last season for being very vanilla and soft should be much improved with Dunta Robinson in the fold, Peria Jeri back from injury, Sean Weatherspoon wreaking havoc and the unit as a whole being far more athletic and stouter.
It’s not my strongest of NFL spread picks week 1 but I do think that Mike Tomlin’s Steelers have the potential to rebound from a poor 2009 but without Ben Roethlisberger things are just not going to come easy. Dennis Dixon can be a bit of a matchup problem with his blazing speed but he is still a third stringer for a reason and in what should be a hard fought rough game I think the Birds are going to be the team able to prevail. Atlanta’s run defense should be extremely tough to move the ball on and Rashard Mendenhall is in for it a bit.
I do respect the champions from a few seasons back with Polamalu, Harrison, Ward and a few others but there’s no Big Ben, Willie Parker or Santonio Holmes and in the end the Falcons are the better team and should show it on the field.
The pick: Atlanta
For more information: Matt Rivers says: I certainly proved my worth once again yesterday as the 400,000* on South Carolina, 200,000* on Michigan outright and the 100,000* on the Braves turned the trick. Now I turn my attention to the NFL where you can bet the entire square population, including many handicappers, will be backing the Packers today in Philadelphia because it seems easy. Not me, I have real games to give out including another 400,000* from the Meadowlands between the Panthers and Giants plus a 200,000* Colts and Texans and a 100,000* on the diamond involving the Yankees and Rangers. Click now to purchase