Falcons - Eagles: Final score predictions from our staff

We have our final score guesses, and we’re pretty split on how this will go.

Falcons 35 - Eagles 32

Call me an eternal optimist, but I truly believe the Falcons bounce back this week - at least on offense. Matt Ryan has a great history of rebounding from bad games and he has the benefit of doing it at home this week. The Vikings were a really rough first match up, especially for an offensive line that has never played together. The Eagles secondary doesn’t compare to the Vikings and Case Keenum going for over 300 yards last week is all the proof I need that Ryan can do the same. I think this will be a shoot-out, though, so be ready for a nail-biter. - David Walker

Falcons 31 - Eagles 30

The Falcons laid an egg against the Vikings in Week 1, and they’ll need the opposite performance to get a win against the Eagles on Sunday Night Football. Fortunately for Atlanta, they seem to match up favorably against Philadelphia—particularly on the offensive side of the ball. Case Keenum and Washington’s lackluster array of weapons absolutely eviscerated the Eagles’ secondary during Week 1. There isn’t a single spot on offense where the Falcons aren’t better than Washington: QB, WRs, RBs, TEs, offensive line—everything. Expect a nail-biter, but I think the Falcons do just enough to eke out a win in Week 2—and get the season back on track at 1-1. — Kevin Knight

Falcons 27 - Eagles 31

I would love to believe the Falcons will win this one, and it’s certainly not impossible that they will, given Philadelphia’s apparent weaknesses and how well they align with what the Falcons are supposed to do well. But I’ve had this penciled in as a loss for a while now, and after last week, I’d be hard-pressed to change that.

The Eagles are just a good football team, full stop, able to hurt you in all sorts of ways. The Falcons will probably right the ship in the near future and i think they’ll play the Eagles pretty well, but a win seems like a lot to ask for a team that was so sloppy and disorganized a week ago. Hope to be wrong. — Dave Choate

Falcons 20 - Eagles 24

I can’t tell you how much I’d love to be wrong here, but I’m siding with my head over my heart. The Falcons just got throttled in Minnesota, and the Eagles are a team that showcase a lot of similar attributes to that Vikings team that just gave Atlanta a hard time. Namely, the strong front seven which gave up the seventh-fewest rushing yards in the league last season (and the second-fewest in Week 1).

I’m not saying that the Falcons will look as bad as they did in Minnesota (if they do, then we’ll be asking some very uncomfortable questions afterward), but I don’t think they’ll be good enough to win the battle in the trenches on either side of the ball this Sunday. I expect this game will come down to the wire, with the Falcons coming up just short like in the previous two meetings. — Adnan Ikic

Falcons 31 - Eagles 34

I expected the Falcons to have some trouble putting together all the new coaching and starting players who rarely practiced throughout camp. Do they improve? Definitely. However, I’m not sure it is enough to defeat the stacked Eagles. Watch this one be closer with a lot of offense. — Matt Chambers