Falcons vs. Dolphins Week 7 game preview and predictions

The Falcons are an evolving team. The offense looks to be getting on track while the defense is beginning to see more contributions from younger players. The results have clearly been mixed through the first five games, but this team is generally trending upwards.

The Dolphins are not. They are in the bottom five for scoring on offense and in points allowed on defense. They’re dealing with key injuries and just lost to a Jaguars team that hadn’t won a game in their past 20 attempts. This is why the Atlanta Falcons (-2.5) are favored to win on the road against the Miami Dolphins (+2.5).

This game is going to be about the quarterbacks. Matt Ryan is playing some of his best football recently, while Tua Tagovailoa is surrounded by issues. The Dolphins offensive line may give the Atlanta defensive front some good opportunities to add to their sad sack total on the year. Tua also isn’t getting much help from the Dolphins rushing attack.

On the flip side, the Falcons are coming off a bye week and are getting back several key players that missed the last game. Calvin Ridley and Russell Gage are the two most notable as they’ll rejoin an offense that saw Kyle Pitts and Cordarrelle Patterson dominate against the Jets in London. This is on top of the offensive line allowing no sacks against a Jets defense that had ranked third in the league.

The Falcons defense could ultimately keep this closer than we’d like, and the special teams gaffes have contributed to erasing leads in the second half over the last two games. Atlanta will need to clean all of that up and keep the offense humming if they’re going to pull off the road win.

The Falcons should win this game according to DraftKings Sportbook, though it could still be a close one if Atlanta can’t completely get its act together.

Our predictions

Score prediction: Falcons 28, Dolphins 20

Bold prediction: Kyle Pitts and Calvin Ridley both get two receiving touchdowns.

Your predictions

Vote in our poll and leave your score predictions in the comments.

Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.