Week 5 NFL Spreads: Falcons vs. 49ers

NFL Week 5 – Atlanta Falcons vs. San Francisco 49ers

Time: Sunday 4:05 ET
Venue: Candlestick Park, San Francisco, CA
MoneyLine: 49ers -140 (-110) / Bengals +120 (-105)
Spread: 49ers -2.5
Over/Under: 41

LOOKING FOR THE BEST NFL CAPPERS ON THE INTERNET? CLICK HERE —–>

Since the Michael Vick debacle a few years back, the Atlanta Falcons have become the feel-good story of the NFL. They rode a rookie quarterback to the playoffs last season and appear to have enough weapons in place to challenge on-fire New Orleans for the NFC South title. At the very least, another playoff spot seems in the offing. There are just too many weapons for this team to fade away.

But the 2-1 Falcons, who travel to San Francisco (3-1) in one of the top matches on Sunday’s card, have one potential stumbling block – an insane schedule which by Thanksgiving will have forced them to play six of eight games on the road. The Bataan Death March started a few weeks ago in a loss at New England. There will also be trips to Dallas, New Orleans, Carolina and New York (Giants) before a December top-heavy with home games.

Atlanta used their bye week to make a few adjustments, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Put simply, the Falcons have tons of offensive weapons but are simply not yet a good defensive team. They reside in the lower echelon of the league in just about every statistical category, and things are so bad on the defensive line (zero sacks through three games) that the coaching staff worked out several out-of-work veterans this week in an obvious effort to light a fire under the starters.

The Falcons also have to be a little concerned about the offense, which was shut down in New England after lighting it up against Miami and Carolina. Tony Gonzalez was a non-factor in Foxboro after totaling 16 catches for 144 yards and two TDs in the first two games.

San Francisco may not be the optimum place to jump-start the offense. These Niners bear little resemblance to the Niners of the recent past who put 6 straight losing seasons on the board. Mimicking coach Mike Singletary, they hit as hard as any team in the NFC (with the possible exception of the Giants), and if Atlanta RB Michael Turner doesn’t know it yet, he will soon find out that SF can flat-out stop the run. The Niners were no doubt paying attention to film that showed the Falcons’ offense sputtering when New England’s defense overplayed Gonzalez and took him out of the game, so the Falcons might be forced to look more to their wideouts. San Francisco’s 3-4 defense is built around talented linebacker Patrick Willis, who is already drawing comparisons to Ray Lewis.

The Niners rank 6th defensively in the league, even though their rating might be a bit inflated by last Sunday’s 35-0 pasting of the punchless Rams.

On the other side of the ball, SF does what it needs to do. Frank Gore is an elite runner, although he might miss the Falcons game due to an injured ankle, and QB Shaun Hill has proved that he can pilot the ship well enough.

San Francisco is one defensive lapse (Minnesota) from being 4-0, but even at 3-1 they have a solid lock on an NFC West that appears uninterested in challenging the Niners this season.

Comment on this game below, hit us with your pregame NFL picks and predictions…

Grab yourself a 50% SIGN UP BONUS today at Sportsbook.com Sportsbook! (Plus you grab yourself a $25 Free Bet!!!) – CLICK HERE NOW!

Lawrence Paul is a regular contributor to the Cappers Picks Blog, and is a free-lance gambling and travel writer from Massachusetts.