Falcons travel to Motor City to meet Lions
ATLANTA (2–0) at Detroit (1–1), 1 p.m. on FOX. Atlanta makes its first road trip of the 2023 season as the undefeated Falcons take on Detriot in the Motor City. Both clubs played close contests at home, with the Falcons taking a win over Green Bay, while Detroit looks to recover from an overtime loss at Ford Field to Seattle.
Atlanta trailed Green Bay by 2 with 57 seconds left in the contest when the home team went on a 12-play, 66-yard drive that used 5:10 of clock for Falcons K Younghoe Koo to connect on a 25-yard field for their 25–24 win over the Packers at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The Falcons trailed 10–9 at the intermission in the Big Peach and trailed by 12 points at the end of the third quarter before mounting their comback as Falcons QB Desmond Ridder would take matters into his own feet, scoring on a 6-yard TD run early in the final 30 minutes of play. Atlanta got the ball back with 6:07 and burned as much clock as they could, forcing the Packers to burn their timeouts for Koo’s game-winning kick, then held off a late Green Bay rally to take the win.
Atlanta rookie RB Bijan Robinson led all rushers with 124 yards as the Falcons outrushed Green Bay 211–84; Ridder (sack, interception) threw for 237 yards and a TD to WR Drake London (who led all recievers with 67 yards, while Green Bay’s Jordan Love (sack) threw for 151 yards and three TDs (two of them to Jayden Reed). Both teams had issues on third down tries (Green Bay was 3 of 9, Atlanta 6 of 15) but Atlanta, who ruled the clock and kept the ball for 36:15, went 3 of 4 on fourth down, while the Packers, who held on to the pigskin for 23:45, went 0 of 1 on fourth down.
Detroit watched Seattle and Geno Smith chip away at a 14–7 lead at the break, trailed by as much as 10 with 8:04 left in regulation, then scored twice, using a 4-yard TD toss from Jared Goff to Craig Reynolds and a 38-yard field goal by Riley Patterson as time expired, only to watch Smith and Tyler Lockett connect on a 6-yard TD pass in overtime to fall 37–31 in the Motor City last Sunday. Detroit used a 10-play, 75-yard drive for the Reynolds TD and 6-play, 30-yard drive for the Patterson field goal to even things up before Seattle, who won the toss to start the overtime, used a 9-play, 75-yard drive that used 4:19 of clock to take the road win.
Detroit outrushed Seattle 102–82 with Montgomery leading the way with 67 yards; Goff (two sacks, interception) threw for 323 yards with three TDs (two of them to Reynolds), while Smith, sacked once, threw for 328 yards and two TDs (both to Lockett), Detroit’s Amon-Ra St. Brown led all recievers with 102 yards. Detroit on third down went 6 for 11 (they were 1 of 3 on fourth down) and kept the ball for 30:48, while Seattle, ruling the clock for 33:31, went 5 for 11 on third down, 1 of 1 on fourth down.
Detroit leads the series 25–14 and the Lions have outscored Atlanta 868–816. Their last meeting took place in 2021 in the Big Peach and Atlanta prevailed, taking a 20–16 win at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, while the Lions’ last win cam in 2020 in Atlanta by a final of 23–22. Detroit is favored by 3 1/2 in the Motor City with the over/under at 46. This one might well be worth your time watching and it’ll be closer than the 3 1/2 but Atlanta stays unbeaten and takes the win in the Motor City.
Referee — Carl Cheffers
Injury Report
ATLANTA
QUESTIONABLE: CB Jeff Okudah (foot), RB Cordarrelle Patterson (thigh)
Detroit
OUT: T Taylor Decker (ankle), S Kerby Joseph (hip), CB Emmanuel Moseley (knee, hamstring), G Halapoulivaati Vaitai (knee)
DOUBTFUL: RB David Montgomery (thigh)
QUESTIONABLE: WR Josh Reynolds (groin), WR Amon-Ra St. Brown (toe)
Weather — Game indoors
Broadcast information, officials and injury report courtesy the National Football League, odds courtesy Don Best, weather information courtesy The Weather Channel
