Your “Ain’t No Battle Like An NFC South Battle” Thursday Night Football Open Thread

Man, it’s already Week 9? Where did the time go? [looks at several empty bottles of scotch on the mantle] Oh, right. TO THE GAME!

Atl/TB-The Bucs D was on the field for a leg muscle-sapping 94 plays last week against a high-powered Raiders team-now they get the Falcons and their 30+ points per game O. This might not turn out well. But at least they can depend on the running game? Hah! The starting guy-no matter who he is-is a fourth stringer. I’m hoping it’s Antone Smith, the guy I picked up in my deep fantasy league when I was forced to drop Mr. Jamaal Charles. The “Glass Half Full Report” tells me that the fella has 4.3 forty speed and if qb Winston is forced to check down because the entire Falcons secondary is hanging around with wr Evans, then maybe something good might happen. The other secondary, especially cb Grimes, is hoping that wr Julio is limping and won’t take them down to the schoolyard. Look for a few longer shots from qb Ryan though. Pro Football Focus rates him as the best deep passer in the league and of his 721 yards on passes over 20 yards Julio has 39% of them. Hey Matty, as you learned last week, wr Sanu just might be open.

There it is. Oh, one other thing. Be sure to check out Free Ballin’ Football’s latest podcast here. Did Bill’s rash finally clear up? Did Nick really hit on his girlfriend’s mother at the Halloween party? Has Josh’s anti anti-deodorant protest alienated even more co-workers? Will Tim’s step-uncle finally sit him down for “the birds and the bees” talk? For the answer to these questions and some salient jibber-jabber about NFL football give ‘er a listen with the old ear holes.

LET’S DO THIS!