From the outside looking in, the Falcons being favored to defeat the Saints on Sunday seems only natural as New Orleans sits at 2-7 overall, 1-3 in the NFC South and have now loss seven games in a row and recently fired Dennis Allen as their head coach.
Yet, with what appears to be a downward spiral of a season for the Saints, the Falcons are only favored to be victorious by a thin margin, leading Steak Shapiro and Sandra Golden to a discussion on why a loss by the Falcons should not be viewed as an upset.
“We’re not 15 point favorites, we’re not a touchdown favorite, we’re not even four point favorites. In the spectrum of the NFL, if New Orleans beat Atlanta, it wouldn’t even be a ripple in terms of an upset,” Shapiro said on Friday as he explained why he believes the -3.5 spread in favor of the Falcons gives enough reason to understand despite the struggles of the Saints, they are still good enough to beat Atlanta.
“It doesn’t mean that playing at home with the healthy bodies that they have, and they are banged up, that they’re not capable of first of all, running the football against Atlanta, who’s been notoriously off this year stopping the run,” Shapiro continued as well as noting how well Saints quarterback Derek Carr played earlier in the season prior to being sidelined due to injury.
“My only point is, get off your high horse in trying to say that if the Falcons can’t win this game then that’s exactly who they are, a team that can never be trusted. I think better would be if they go down there and they win convincingly, we know exactly who they are. They’re a great football team in this league,” Shapiro said.
