The Falcons made the only kicking change in this matchup, but the national pickers still aren’t buying Atlanta.
Ahead of Sunday’s game in Atlanta, the Falcons moved on from Nick Folk and signed Jake Moody off the Ravens’ practice squad. Chiefs fans know Moody’s name from Super Bowl LVIII, when he drilled a 55-yard field goal for the 49ers before Harrison Butker answered with a 57-yarder in the next quarter. That kick still stands as the longest field goal in Super Bowl history.
So yes, special teams could matter. But when 67 national experts weighed in on the Chiefs-Falcons matchup, the overwhelming lean was toward Kansas City.
The game kicks off at noon and will be shown on KCTV (Ch. 5). These picks were made before Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker was ruled out.
A few writers see a tighter game than others, but the Chiefs are the clear favorite in most of the major outlets. Bill Bender of Sporting News went with Kansas City 28-21, pointing to Atlanta’s recent slide and the Chiefs’ road numbers. Rob Maaddi of the Associated Press also picked the Chiefs, 26-17, while noting Patrick Mahomes has a new receiver after the Chiefs acquired Josh Downs and that Bijan Robinson leads the NFL with 880 rushing yards in one more game played than Walker.
Mike Florio of NBC Sports called it 27-17 Chiefs, writing: “The Falcons are capable of winning every game. It’s just impossible to know when that version of the team is going to make an appearance.”
Jeremy Cluff of the Arizona Republic had Kansas City 27-20, and Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times was even more decisive with a 26-10 Chiefs win. Farmer wrote: “The Falcons pulled off a stunner against San Francisco three weeks ago but that was their Super Bowl.”
NFL.com’s panel leaned heavily toward Kansas City as well, with four of five writers taking the Chiefs. Brooke Cersosimo picked 26-23, Gennaro Filice had 31-19, Bobby Kownack went 28-21 and Dan Parr chose 26-21.
Jeremy Bergman was the lone Atlanta pick, taking the Falcons 24-20. Parr pointed to Atlanta’s recent run defense issues, writing: “In the last three weeks, Atlanta has allowed the most rushing yards per game (a whopping 190) and the most rushing yards over expected (182).
Of course, a huge chunk of that production came courtesy of the Buccaneers’ 324(!) rushing yards in a wet Week 8 tilt, but the Falcons allowed the previously dormant Bengals running game to churn out a season-high 123 yards last week (5.1 per carry) in Madrid.”
CBS Sports was unanimous for Kansas City, with Pete Prisco, Jared Dubin, Ryan Wilson, Dave Richard, John Breech, Tyler Sullivan and Jamey Eisenberg all taking the Chiefs. Prisco’s score was 23-17.
He wrote: “The Chiefs snapped a two-game losing streak last week in beating the Jets, while the Falcons were blown out in Madrid by the Bengals. The defense had some major issues in that game.
That will be the same here after the trade of safety Jessie Bates.”
USA Today’s six writers all picked the Chiefs too, with projected scores ranging from 25-23 to 33-23. ESPN was nearly the same story, with 10 of 11 experts siding with Kansas City and only Seth Wickersham taking Atlanta. Sports Illustrated’s eight staff members all chose the Chiefs, as did all 10 Dallas Morning News experts and all six Athletic writers.
The final tally from the national panel leaves little doubt about where the consensus sits: the Chiefs are the pick, and by a wide margin.
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