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Week 10 of the NFL season sees the return of the Thursday night game a moment dreaded by football widows everywhere. Still for those of us who love the game more than our spouses, we have a cracker to look forward to when the Baltimore Ravens take on the Atlanta Falcons. With both franchises currently top of their respective divisions and expecting great things this season both sides will be up for it and on paper they match up pretty well.
The Falcons success this season has been built on running the football and stopping the run. This has allowed them to scrape wins in most of their games and looking at their record its possibly not as impressive as it looks and they have came up short when facing the stronger teams having lost to the Eagles and a Roethlisberger less Pittsburgh. Of their 6 wins four have been against struggling teams and they were lucky to beat New Orleans in OT in their most impressive win to date. We are not saying they are in a false position, only that we are not convinced they are genuine Super Bowl contenders.
The Ravens were our preseason Super Bowl tip and although they are top of a tough AFC North they too have displayed some weaknesses. Still their win record also at 6-2 has looked a little more impressive with wins over the Jets, Miami & Pittsburgh. They also look more balanced, thanks to Joe Flacco now having more options out wide.
Their secondary is strong this year meaning the Falcons will have to beat them on the ground, no mean feat against their defensive line and given this we think the Ravens can pull this one off so consolidating their position as one of the favourites for the AFC Crown. Both should make the playoffs however on the night Baltimore should win a close game by 3-7 points.
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