Before the season started if you looked at the Week 13 game between the Atlanta Falcons and Buffalo Bills and thought that one of them was fighting for draft positioning, it would certainly be the Bills. Instead it's the Falcons that are currently tied for the worst record in the league, a far cry from their near Super Bowl appearance this past January.
Falcons vs. Bills 2013 picks and predictions: Atlanta’s surprising fall likely to continue, say experts
One of them is fighting for a playoff berth, the other for the top pick in the draft. Just not the ones we would have expected.
And it’s Buffalo that’s fighting for a playoff berth.
Atlanta is currently slated for a top three pick in the 2014 NFL Draft and they might jump at any opportunity to take South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. He could immediately upgrade a pass rush that lacks any big names outside of the 32-year-old Osi Umenyiora and a defense that is 28th in points allowed.
For the Bills, they're coming off their first win in nearly a month, a 37-14 beating of the New York Jets that improves them to 4-7 and just one game out of an AFC wild card spot. Their next three games are against teams with three wins or fewer (Falcons, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jacksonville Jaguars) and if they play well enough, they could find themselves back at .500 with two games to go.
Do the experts see that starting with a win over Atlanta on Sunday? Mostly.
Here at SB Nation, five of six panelists are going with the Bills to beat the Falcons, with only Joel Thorman going against the grain. Over at CBS Sports, it’s six of eight that like Buffalo to win.
It’s no different at ESPN, where the Bills are again the heavy favorites over Atlanta in Week 13.
That’s not something we could have ever expected three months ago.
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