The Atlanta Falcons' Week 7 opponent will be none other than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It will be the Falcons' second NFC South divisional game of the season, where they will travel to Raymond-James Stadium for their third road game of the season.
Until last season, the Falcons had lost five straight to the Buccaneers and six out of their last eight. Their win last year against Tampa Bay came in the very last game of the season. It was Desmond Ridder's fourth career start.
Speaking of Ridder, he's been the talk of the Falcons this season thus far, but not always for good reasons. Ridder started the season with question marks and now has only added more as the season keeps progressing. He and head coach Arthur Smith may have had their worst game together last Sunday when Ridder had another three-interception game, his second in three weeks.
But Smith has his own blame for the loss to the Washington Commanders, which consisted of procedural issues and bad play calling, that included going for two with over 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter, leaving the Falcons down 24-16, the final score.
As Ridder and Smith continue to try to find their groove as a successful offensive unit, each game is pivotal to the progression of this team and where it's going in the future. This is a winnable NFC South division this season, but the Falcons will be facing the leaders of it on Sunday in the Buccaneers. This may not be a must-win game of the year yet for Atlanta, but a loss will give them their first losing record of the season. So, let's get into some Falcons Week 7 predictions.
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The Falcons defense hold Baker Mayfield to 210 yards or less
The Falcons are allowing an average of 179 yards passing per game, per Team Rankings. Against stiffer defenses like the Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions, who are the Buccaneers' only losses, Baker Mayfield was held to 146 yards and 206 yards. He's only had one 300-yard game this season, which was against the defensively-challenged Chicago Bears.
Mayfield has looked much more comfortable and a bit improved as a Buccaneer, but he's not throwing for a ton of yards yet. Expect the Falcons to keep him at around 210 yards or less.
Younghoe Koo scores 12 points
These are two solid defenses that will be facing one another on Sunday, where points could become scarce. With the challenges that the offense has been facing as of late and not being able to score in the red zone, Koo will most likely be relied upon. Look for him to account for most of the Falcons' points scored against Tampa Bay.
The Falcons won't rush for more than 75 yards against the Buccaneers
The Falcons haven't had a 100-yard rusher in the last two weeks and have just surpassed the 100-yard mark as a whole on the ground in one of those games (Commanders). Teams are figuring out how Smith wants to utilize his offense with his talented backs in Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier. As awe-inspiring as Robinson has been as a runner and receiver, teams are making the Falcons attempt to throw the ball with Ridder. That makes this a bad matchup for the Falcons.
Tampa Bay's defense is allowing just 83.8 rushing yards per game, which is seventh-best in the league. This may be a tough day on the ground for the Falcons.
The Falcons win by a late field goal
This is not a prediction I feel comfortable with, but hey, that's part of the job. Watching last week's game where the Falcons offense was completely out of sync at times and where Smith made some overly analyzed calls, it made it seem like he ultimately didn't trust his offense to deliver. It seems like there's some obvious dissension between him and Ridder. Whether that's actually true or not is uncertain.
But what is true is that this is an opponent for the Falcons that they don't match up well with at all. The Buccaneers stop the run and are holding opponents to an average of 17 points per game. The Falcons are averaging just 16.5 per game, ranked fourth-worst in the league. As mentioned, look for Koo to be a vital part of this game, where three of his 12 points will be a game-winner.
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