Predict the final score of Falcons-Raiders in Week 2

When the Falcons and Raiders meet this Sunday, it’ll be be a battle between one of the more exciting young teams in the league and the Falcons, who are not being lauded in the same way for some reason.

That said, this is a winnable game for Atlanta, albeit not one with a large margin of error. The Raiders have an aggressive defense that can be burned, but their offense is good enough to pile up the points on Atlanta, meaning the offense can’t afford 2015’s turnover issues or last week’s frustrating red zone issues. They need to be crisp and effective across the board, and they need to muster some kind of pass rush against Derek Carr.

I’ve got the Falcons by a score of 31-28. A week ago I predicted a 28-24 Falcons win over the Buccaneers, which I still think was a reasonable one, and you have to expect a little more offense in this one. This is dependent on the offense showing well again and the defense not collapsing in hideous fashion in the third quarter, of course.

This and the upcoming Saints game are the last contests for a while where I’ll entertain the serious thought of the Falcons winning, so don’t get used to this. Share your score prediction with us, though.