Photo by All-Pro Reels, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsThe Headline Crowned Them. Three of Six Didn't.
Pro Football Network ran six of its own analysts on Atlanta overnight under a headline that reads like a coronation. Three of the six attached a not-yet condition, and the headline carried none of it.
Four days ago I put Atlanta under 20 in this game and promised, in print, to come back if they hung 30. They hung 45. I read a floor as a ceiling.
At 1:42 Tuesday morning, Pro Football Network ran six of its own analysts under a headline that reads like a coronation. Three of the six attached a condition the headline never mentions. Caleb Yaccarino: "It's too early to call the Falcons legit, especially when they went against a heavily injured and struggling Saints defense." Jason Katz wants to "see how they do against a top-tier team first." So does Jacob Infante.
Three of six, in one outlet's own room. Not three outlets. Not the country. I filed that read before kickoff. The discount was never rare - it was buried.
Same URL. PFN's own Playoff Meter puts Atlanta at 23.4% to reach the playoffs and projects seven wins, five more in thirteen games. Their model is more skeptical than their headline.
What the room left alone: Atlanta has scored 93 points in three road games and three points in its only home game. Baltimore, 3-1, arrives at Mercedes-Benz Stadium Sunday at 8:20. Then Chicago. Then San Francisco.
I'm 57% sure Atlanta does not reach 30 points Sunday. Only 57, because I was at 52 four days ago. Baltimore has allowed 96 points in four games, and its one loss came at home to the Saints team Atlanta just beat by 21.
The 21 is real. So is this. Atlanta is +4 on the season and level with Carolina on record at 2-2, with Carolina seeded four spots higher off a 34-3 win in Atlanta that is still the only home game Atlanta has played.
Crown them Sunday night. Not before, and not in somebody else's building.
The Tilt
Atlanta is a road contender and nothing more until Sunday.
— Dex Ponce
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