FALCONS (5-3) at BUCCANEERS (3-4)
Line: ATL by 4.
Cote's pick: ATL 30-17.
TV: 8:25 p.m. EDT, Thursday, NFLN.
Tampa Bay won in Atlanta, 31-24, on Kickoff Weekend for a third consecutive Bucs victory in this NFC South series. So, go ahead and be tempted by the home 'dogs here in this Week 9 start-up. But resist that temptation! Atlanta is percolating as NFL's best offense in 2016; Matt Ryan has sprayed TD passes to 10 different receivers. And now he's facing a T-Bay defense that last week was strafed for 626 yards _ more than 500 of them in the air _ by Oakland. Buccaneers are injury-wracked on offense, too, especially at running back, so Jameis Winstson won't have a lot of help. The NFL has been plagued this season by lots of Thursday/Sunday/Monday prime-time games that were some combination of uninteresting matchups or change-the-channel blowouts, and this could be another of them.
