Falcons At Lions: Week 16 Preview and Result

Atlanta Travels To Detroit Looking For Top Conference Seed

With a win at Ford Field on Saturday, the NFC South champion Falcons can secure home-field advantage throughout the post-season. Detroit is out of the playoff hunt and has little to do other than to be a spoiler. That will be a tough role for the Lions to play, as they’re on a six-game losing streak.

The hosts have to be hoping that history will haunt the Falcons. Atlanta has lost in Week 16 two years running, foreshadowing their first-round playoff exits, and in 2012 they’ve been on the wrong end in two of their last three road games. However, they got off to a quick start in the 34-0 pummeling they gave the New York Giants last week, so it would seem an easy task to put away a Lions team which lost 38-10 to the dreadful Arizona Cardinals the week before. But as has often been seen this NFL season — and sports in general — being beaten that badly by a worse team is a great motivator for a club to do better in its next game.

History plays against Detroit as well, though. Their last win came on Nov. 4 when they beat the Jaguars 31-14 in Jacksonville. Last week, quarterback Matthew Stafford threw three interceptions — two of which the Arizona defense returned for touchdowns. The last time the Lions saw the Falcons (Week 8 last season) Stafford hurt his right foot on the final offensive play in a 23-16 loss at home. His Atlanta counterpart, Matt Ryan, limped off the field in that game after a teammate fell on his leg, but he returned later to lead them to the victory.

Speaking of history: if Detroit plays well this week and in their season finale against Chicago, Calvin Johnson has a shot at an NFL record. “Megatron” needs 182 yards to surpass Hall of Fame receiver Jerry Rice’s mark (1,848).

Against the spread, the Falcons are 3-1-1 in their last five visits to Detroit and 5-2-1 ATS in their previous seven head-to-head contests with the Lions, but they’re only 2-5 ATS the last seven times they’ve faced a losing team. On the other side of the ball, Detroit is 1-4 ATS in their last five games against above-.500 clubs and 1-5 ATS in their last six overall. The Over generally favors both teams individually, but the Under is 5-0 the past five times these two teams have met at Ford Field and 4-1 overall.

On Monday the opening line favored Atlanta by 3.0 points but by Saturday morning it had moved to 4.5, one of the biggest upswings of any line. So as previously mentioned, Detroit has their work cut out for them.

Prediction: Falcons 20, Lions 10.

RESULT: Lions receiver Calvin “Megatron” Johnson totaled 225 yards and broke Jerry Rice’s NFL single-season record for reception yardage, but Atlanta is now the top seed in the NFC after beating Detroit 31-18 on Saturday night.