After losing at home Sunday night to the Baltimore Ravens, the Pittsburgh Steelers now enter Week 5 of the 2018 NFL regular season with a record of 1-2-1. The Steelers will next host the 1-3 Atlanta Falcons in Week 5 and surprisingly they opened Monday as a 4-point home consensus favorite, according to vegasinsider.com.
The Falcons, who lost at home 37-36 to the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday afternoon, got their lone win of the season in Week 2 against the Carolina Panthers. Their Week 4 loss to the Bengals included their defense giving up the go-ahead touchdown with 7 seconds left in the fourth quarter as Cincinnati quarterback Andy Dalton connected with wide receiver A.J. Green from 13 yards out.
The Falcons defense gave up 407 yards of total offense to the Bengals and Dalton completed 29 of his 41 total pass attempts in the contest for 337 yards and 3 touchdowns with just one interception.
The Falcons offense enters Week 5 with quarterback Matt Ryan having already thrown for 1,316 yards and 10 touchdowns with just 2 interceptions on his way to completing 68.3% of all pass attempts. Ryan, however, has been sacked 10 times already this season.
While wide receiver Julio Jones currently leads the Falcons in receiving with 29 catches for 502 yards, he’s yet to score a touchdown. Rookie wide receiver Calvin Ridley, however, has already registered 6 receiving touchdowns to start the season on just 15 total receptions that have resulted in 264 yards.
The Falcons enter week 5 with running back Tevin Coleman as their leading rusher as starter Devonta Freeman has missed Atlanta’s last three games with a knee injury. Coleman has rushed for 210 yards and a touchdown on his 54 total carries in addition to catching 10 passes from Ryan for another 84 yards and a score.
Atlanta’s defense enters Week 5 with linebacker Duke Riley leading the team in tackles with 28. Defensive end Takkarist McKinley leads the Falcons in sacks with 5 entering Week 5 and safety Robert Alford leads the unit in total passes defensed with 5. The Falcons have already lost their two starting safeties, Ricardo Allen and Keanu Neal, to season-ending injuries and the same goes for starting linebacker Deion Jones.
The Steelers and Falcons have previously played 16 times during the regular season dating back to 1966 and Pittsburgh has won 13 of those meetings while tying Atalanta once. The last time the two teams played was in 2015 in Atlanta and the Steelers won that game 27-20. The last time the Falcons played in Pittsburgh was in 2010 and the Steelers won that game in overtime 15-9. The Steelers last loss to the Falcons happened in 2006 and in Atalanta, 41-38.
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