After taking a beatdown last Sunday, a 43-21 loss at the Bills, the Washington Football Team heads to Atlanta to take on the Falcons (1 p.m. ET, Fox). The Falcons come off a last-second 17-14 win against the Giants, a team Washington also beat on a late field goal in Week 2, thanks to a fortuitous offsides penalty by New York.
The betting market expects a close game in this Week 4 contest at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, as BetRivers lists the WFT as -1.5 favorites, FanDuel offers -1.5 (-105), and DraftKings is even tighter at -1. Those odds are current as of Thursday morning.
Neither Washington (1-2 SU, 0-3 ATS) nor Atlanta (1-2 SU, 1-2 ATS) has managed to light up the scoreboard thus far, which could entice betters to bang Caesars‘ UNDER of 48. There are 47.5s available for OVER bettors.
Here are all gambling insights and information for the Washington Football Team at the Atlanta Falcons.
Highs And Lows
In professional sports, motivation goes a long way. For Washington, all the focus figures to be on Atlanta after last week’s trouncing in Buffalo. Head coach Ron Rivera expects a bounce back, saying (via ESPN), “You play long enough, you’re going to get beat this way. It just happens. What you do the next week, that’s really the indicator of what your character is and the true test of who you’re going to be.”
Last season’s Defensive Rookie of the Year Chase Young put the onus on some of his teammates. “We got to play together; we’re not doing that right now,” he said. “The D-line, we’re not the only people on the field. It’s the linebackers, it’s the DBs. We all have to play as one.”
Atlanta’s riding the high of notching its first win of the season and the first of rookie head coach Arthur Smith’s career. Quarterback Matt Ryan honored Smith with the game ball. “Hopefully that’s something he’ll always remember, this game up here,” Ryan said, per the AP. “That game ball is a nice little thing to have to remind you of that. He was fired up.”
Slugfest
Early in the season, points have been hard to come by for both squads. Combined, Atlanta and Washington are averaging just 38.3 points per game, roughly 10 fewer than this contest’s total. But their defenses have also failed to coalesce, surrendering a combined 62 points per game.
Washington has struggled to contain quarterbacks. The Chargers’ Justin Herbert went for 337 and a touchdown (and an INT); the Giants’ Daniel Jones put up 249 yards and a TD, in addition to 95 yards and a TD on the ground; Josh Allen passed for 358 yards and four touchdowns and ran for nine yards plus another score. In contrast to the dual threats the WFT has faced the last two weeks, at least this week they will know exactly where the anchored Matt Ryan will stand at all.
Look for Young to back up his tough talk by making Ryan miserable on Sunday. DraftKings set the Atlanta quarterback’s O/U number at 267.5 passing yards (-115 each way), 1.5 passing touchdowns (OV -130, UN +100), and 0.5 interceptions (OV -110, U -120).
Cordarrelle Patterson Props
This game profiles as a low-scoring affair. Nevertheless, we still expect Atlanta’s one relative bright spot, Cordarrelle Patterson, to continue shining. After bouncing around the league mostly as a kick return specialist, Patterson appears to have finally found his role with Atlanta. Through three games he’s averaged a combined 79 yards per game rushing and receiving.
He’s not the second coming of Marshall Faulk, but BetMGM’s rushing + receiving O/U prop for Patterson is set at only 58.5 (-115). Whether via screens or old fashion hand-offs, Patterson’s been getting consistent action for the Falcons. BetMGM also put his O/U rushing attempts at 6.5 (-150). That’s just under the seven attempts he’s had each game so far.
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