At the beginning of the season this was one of those match ups that you circled, knowing you would have a good game late in the season. However, with a recent injury to QB Matt Schaub the Texans are reeling at the QB spot as a team poised to make a deep run in the playoffs is now limping towards the post-season for the first time.
Despite this being an NFC vs. AFC South match-up it's become a distinctly Carolina flavored affair with T.J. Yates, the rookie from North Carolina or newly signed former Carolina Panther Jake Delhomme set to take the majority of the snaps on Sunday.
Whether it winds up being Yates or Delhomme one thing is clear- the Falcons should be able to control this game. As it stands they're the team who is peaking right now and playing the best football of their season. With Roddy White finally finding his footing and Matt Ryan on a deadly hot streak it seems that not even the #1 ranked Texans defense will be able to derail the Atlanta offense.
The betting community are giving Houston as much as three points, but I still feel this is too generous to the Texans. Yes, I know they have Arian Foster who can break out at any second, however I think they'll need to pass the ball a lot in order to stay in this game and I don't have enough confidence that their quarterbacks will be able to get the ball to the receivers with regularity.
Despite the Texans' offense being poised to struggle, and the Falcons facing a nasty Houston defense the line on the game is still pretty high. Currently sitting at 38.5 pts I think I'm taking the under in this scenario even though I feel the Falcons will dominate. At best it will take another 2 games for the Texans' offense to gel with a new QB, and that alone will cause things to stall.
When it's all said and done I'm taking Atlanta minus the points and I'm taking the under. Best of luck
For more on the Falcons head over the The Falcoholic. To read more on the Texans see Battle Red Blog.