Free Pick: Atlanta –5.5

This is another pick where I’m betting against the underdog because of anticipation of poor play. Kansas City is starting Tyler Thigpen, its third quarterback in its third week and I have very little confidence in neither him nor the rest of their offense. Thigpen replaced Huard last week and was quite unimpressive. He completed 14/33 passes (42.4%) for 151 yards, and had a rating of 54.0. He threw a touchdown and an interception and was sacked 3 times. This was at home against the Oakland Raiders. Now I don’t think that the Falcons are much better than the Raiders but I’m quite confident that they definitely won’t be any worse. The last time Atlanta played at home was in week 1 where they faced the Lions, who are also winless. Atlanta defeated them 34-21. However, unlike the Chiefs, Detroit has a quarterback that can move the ball downfield in John Kitna. Defensively Kansas City is currently the second worst team at stopping the run. The Falcons currently rank third in yards gained on the ground. Expect Kansas City to do very little offensively and Michael Turner, Jerious Norwood and Matt Ryan to rebound from their poor performances in Tampa and go back to playing the way they did in week 1.