The 6-9 Atlanta Falcons are taking on the 11-4 Los Angeles Rams in their Week 17 showdown on Monday Night Football. Ahead of the game, the Falcons are off a 26-19 victory against the Arizona Cardinals, and are currently third in the NFC South behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Rams suffered a game-changing, 38-37 overtime loss to the Seattle Seahawks and now find themselves in third place in the NFC West, behind the San Francisco 49ers.
Season Overview For Falcons and Rams
The Falcons have had quite a season, which included losing multiple games by a touchdown or less, as well as injuries. Starting quarterback Michael Penix Jr. went down with a knee injury in their Week 11, 27-30 overtime loss to the Carolina Panthers. It later turned out to be a torn ACL, which ended his season.
Kirk Cousins has been the starter since then and has won a few games, like in Week 15 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where they won 29-28, with Cousins leading a game-winning drive.
The Rams were looking like one of the best teams in the NFL, if not the best, for the latter part of the year. Quarterback Matthew Stafford has been playing at an MVP level with 4,179 passing yards and 40 touchdowns to five interceptions. Their momentum has been at a standstill since their loss to the Seahawks last week, but they can regain that with a win vs. Atlanta.
Falcons Will Win IF:
The Falcons will win if they can contain Rams superstar wide receiver Puka Nacua. Nacua isn’t a receiver who necessarily gets stopped regularly, per se, but he can be contained.
Nacua has been having a tremendous year so far with 114 catches for 1,592 yards and eight touchdowns. They can do so by bracketing Nacua and having a safety over the top, but they move him around throughout the formation, so whoever is in the slot guarding him needs to be ready.
The Falcons Will Lose IF:
The Falcons will lose if the offense can’t score more than 20 points. The Rams have an explosive offense, and Atlanta will need to match it.
Running back Bijan Robinson is the driving force of the offense, and they’ll need to rely on the Pro Bowler heavily to get them going. Cousins will have to get the ball to tight end Kyle Pitts Sr. Pitts has done well the last few weeks and has picked up the slack while Drake London was absent with injury.
The Los Angeles Rams will defeat the Atlanta Falcons 34-21.
