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The Atlanta Falcons are dealing with a tough schedule and shaky fan and analyst faith after their second half swoon in 2015, so it's understandable that they wouldn't be the favorites all that often heading into 2016.
This is just a little more grim than I would have anticipated.
#Falcons favored in just 3 games this season. Gaming analytics firm CG Technology has spreads for every NFL game. https://t.co/prAs8Cgzdx
— D. Orlando Ledbetter (@DOrlandoAJC) June 6, 2016
The team is widely expected to finish somewhere between 6-10 and 10-6, so this isn't the final or definitive word from oddsmakers, but I do feel like it's worth bringing up. The Falcons have a long way to go to overcome the perception that they're simply going to be an overmatched team against a rough slate, and they legitimately have a little more roster-building to do before they're going to be favorites in many games (hopefully in 2017!). They can start by shaking things up in preseason, but that skepticism is likely to linger.
In case you wondered, they're favored against the Buccaneers (just once), Chargers, and the 49ers, who are somewhat hilariously not favored in any of their 2016 games. What do you think of this?