Delhomme’s turnovers led to 24 Eagles points last week, and he was mercifully yanked after back-to-back picks in the third quarter. Apparently there is no QB controversy, although Carolina did sign former Eagle A.J. Feeley after backup Josh McCown was lost to a season-ending injury in last week’s game.

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The Panthers were the NFL’s only 8-0 team in the regular season last year but have been crushed in their two home games since then. So maybe it’s good they go on the road, and maybe it’s good this week’s visit is to Atlanta, which is a 6-point NFL betting favorite on Bodog.

Last year, Delhomme threw for 589 yards and three touchdowns in two games with no interceptions against the Falcons as the teams split – he had a QB rating of 124.8 in a 24-9 Panthers victory in Charlotte and 96.9 in a 45-28 Falcons victory in Atlanta.

Falcons coach Mike Smith says he anticipates Delhomme’s “A game.”

Delhomme was far from the only problem last week. The Panthers rushed for only 86 yards and allowed the Eagles to rush for 185. That discrepancy on the ground can’t happen this week against the Falcons and Michael Turner. In that Atlanta win against Carolina last November, Turner had 117 yards rushing and four touchdowns. In the first game against Carolina, he was held to just 56 yards and didn’t reach the end zone, so it’s little wonder the Panthers won that one.

Atlanta’s defense looked stellar in last week’s 19-7 win against the Dolphins. John Abraham had two sacks and the defense forced four turnovers and held Miami to 259 total yards.

On offense, the Falcons made immediate use of new tight end Tony Gonzalez. He caught five passes for 73 yards and a touchdown – last season, Atlanta's tight ends had an NFL-low 19 receptions and only two touchdowns.

These teams have split the past 10 meetings.

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Matt Ryan, Michael Turner, and Roddy White were all injury-free, and the defense stayed relatively intact. There's no guarantee the team can stay so healthy this season though.

The Dolphins struggled early in the 2008 season on the road vs. good offenses. They gave up 31 points to Arizona and 29 to Houston when the team opened losing four of its first six games. If the Falcons put multiple touchdowns on the board will the Dolphins be able to keep up?

The Dolphins, who are 4-point underdogs, have a couple of capable backs in Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams, who should help the Fish control the ball.

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The Chargers and Falcons have played just five times in the preseason, with the Chargers winning four of the five. They last met in 2000 with the Bolts winning 28-14 at the Georgia Dome. Atlanta’s lone win in the preseason was played at a neutral site, 21-17, in the 1994 Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio. In the regular season, the Falcons hold a 7-1 series edge over the Chargers.

The Falcons are listed as 3-point home favorites in this one.

Atlanta has been dominant over the past five years in their Week 3 preseason game, going a perfect 5-0 straight up. Can they make it 6-0 on Saturday?

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For the second straight week, the Falcons will be facing a team with a rookie head coach. This week it's Steve Spagnuolo, most recently the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants.

This will be the second time the two teams have met in the preseason. They also met in the final game of the regular season last year, with Atlanta winning a close contest 31-27.

The Falcons hope to rebound from a sloppy second-half showing by the second- and third-teamers in last Saturday night's 27-26 loss.

Coach Mike Smith said he’ll play the starters for the first quarter in St. Louis, give or take a few snaps.

For the Rams, the script will stay largely the same as last week, with a handful of adjustments.

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When it comes to who will finish the season with the most rushing yards, Adrian Peterson is the heavy favorite at +200, but who else is a solid bet if Peterson falters?

Next in line is Michael Turner of the Atlanta Falcons, listed at +550.

Turner ranked second in the NFL with 376 carries for 1,699 yards last year and set a franchise record with 17 touchdowns rushing as the Falcons emerged as one of the league's most surprising teams. Atlanta went 11-5 and made the playoffs.

Despite all those carries, Turner insists he wasn't too beat up at the end of the season. The Falcons aren't likely to cut back much, if any, on his workload.

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The story of Lions training camp is clearly quarterback Matthew Stafford. The No. 1 pick in the NFL draft has lived up to his billing so far and is pushing veteran Daunte Culpepper for the starting job.

Detroit also has a rookie head coach in Jim Schwartz and he’ll want to get the NFL preseason started off on the right foot after the Lions went winless last year. There are a ton of positional battles and players looking to impress the new coach and that will likely lead to the Lions putting in a full effort to make up for their horrendous 2008 campaign.

Atlanta is a more defined team and won’t be playing as hard since many positions are set in stone.

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Matt Ryan had one of the great rookie seasons by a quarterback in NFL history, running back Michael Turner was arguably the best free-agent signing of last year and Roddy White became an elite receiver. All those pieces are back, and the Falcons added future Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez to help open the field even more — Atlanta tight ends combined for just 19 catches for 211 yards last season while Gonzalez had 96 catches for 1,058 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Here is the Falcons' 2009 schedule, and we'll break it down after:
Sept. 13 vs. Miami Dolphins, 1 p.m.
Sept. 20 vs. Carolina Panthers, 1 p.m.
Sept. 27 at New England Patriots, 1 p.m.
Week 4: Bye
Oct. 11 at San Francisco 49ers, 4:05 p.m.
Oct. 18 vs. Chicago Bears, 8:20 p.m.
Oct. 25 at Dallas Cowboys, 4:15 p.m.
Nov. 2 at New Orleans Saints, 8:30 p.m.
Nov. 8 vs. Washington Redskins, 1 p.m.
Nov. 15 at Carolina Panthers, 1 p.m.
Nov. 22 at New York Giants, 1 p.m.
Nov. 29 vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 1 p.m.
Dec. 6 vs. Philadelphia Eagles, 1 p.m.
Dec. 13 vs. New Orleans Saints, 1 p.m.
Dec. 20 at New York Jets, 1 p.m.
Dec. 27 vs. Buffalo Bills, 1 p.m.
Jan. 3 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 1 p.m.

Strength of schedule: 4th (opponents combined to go 150-105-1, .588, in 2008)
Projected record: 10-6
Projected Bodog over/under total: 9
Bodog odds to win NFC: 10/1
Bodog odds to win Super Bowl XLIV: 25/1

By all accounts, Ryan has been fabulous in offseason workouts, so there's really no reason Atlanta can win a playoff game or two this year. Although it probably will be tough to match last year's 11-5 record with that much tougher schedule this year. Of course, a big reason for the harder schedule in 2009 is that all four NFC South teams finished .500 or better last year. I fully expect Tampa Bay to finish well under .500 this season, so perhaps the Falcons' schedule is a tad misleading, although they do face the very deep NFC East.

With Gonzalez, the offense could be among the best in the league. The offensive line that allowed just 17 sacks of Ryan last year and helped Atlanta average 4.4 yards per carry is back intact. Look for Turner to not come close to 376 carries again and for the team to get Jerious Norwood more touches to keep Turner from breaking down. But this will continue to be a run-first offense, with offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey letting Gonzalez know he will be blocking more than he did in Kansas City.

I would expect the Falcons to head into their bye week at 2-1.

They will be favored to beat both Miami and Carolina in the first two weeks, and Atlanta did crush the Panthers at the Georgia Dome last year. It's probably not reasonable to expect them to win in New England unless Tom Brady gets hurt again.

Those three October games all will be tough challenges. Only Chicago played the Falcons last year, and the Bears should have won that game in Atlanta but somehow allowed an improbable long completion from Ryan in the final seconds that led to a game-winning field goal. I could see the Falcons losing all three, but let’s say they beat the Niners to enter November at 3-3.

I forecast three wins in November (both at home, for sure) to enter December at 6-5. That’s when the Falcons get rolling, winning four of their final five, including finishing off a sweep of the Bucs in the finale to win the NFC South. I also expect Atlanta to win a wild-card round playoff game this year and give them a decent chance to reach the NFC Championship Game depending on how the bracket falls – i.e. if they can avoid the Vikings, Bears, Eagles or Cowboys on the road in the conference semifinals. However, Ryan's sophomore year will end short of the Super Bowl. That still should be considered a success considering this franchise has never reached the playoffs in consecutive years.

Now is a GREAT time to get those Super Bowl odds. Bodog's got 'em all.

I'm not here to focus on whether it was the greatest rookie season by a quarterback, especially since Dan Marino and Ben Roethlisberger, among maybe a few others, would have pretty strong arguments. Nope, I'm here to wonder if there's any chance Ryan has a sophomore slump.

Certainly everything came together for Atlanta last year in the wake of the Michael Vick mess. A new general manager, new coach and a new starting running back in Michael Turner all were home runs. But Ryan, the first Falcons rookie to start opening day at quarterback since 1975, was the catalyst to all that success. He actually lived up to the unprecedented six-year, $72 million contract that he received as the No. 3 overall pick out of Boston College.

I would say sophomore slumps are a bit of a media creation. After all, Roethlisberger's numbers were basically the same in his second year, Peyton Manning was much better in Year 2, and Marino set all those records in his second season in the NFL. Even Vince Young was better in his second season than his first – although he apparently fell victim to the junior slump.

Ryan did slide a bit late last year, throwing six interceptions in the final four games (including the playoff loss to Arizona) and exceeding 200 yards passing just once in that stretch. Yet the Falcons went 3-1.

Remember, too, that Ryan didn't have much of a threat at tight end last year. Now the Falcons have future Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez to open up the middle, which can only help Ryan and the entire offense.

Ryan's teammates can't stop gushing about him.

"It's actually scary how much he's improved and it's only his second year. People thought he couldn't get much better than last year,” said Falcons fullback Ovie Mughelli to reporters.

If you believe in Ryan, you believe in the Falcons. And at 13/1 odds to win the NFC on Bodog, which is longer odds than eight other teams, that seems like great value if you are a believer. For what it's worth, I am one.

Now is the best time to get your football futures betting…at Bodog.

If not, here are 10 career moves that he should take a shot at . . .

10. QB coach at some local high school. Good PR move.

9. The next season of Dancing With The Stars.

8. Prison guard, now that he knows how it works on “the inside”.

7. One of the many analysts on NFL Prime Time. He can sit way off to the end.

6. Mayor of Atlanta. Okay maybe that one is not going to happen.

5. School bus driver, and tell the kids all of his football stories.

4. If he does want to play football still, the CFL is always there.

3. Form a rap duo with Ron Artest

2. Operator of a dog shelter or clinic.

1. Join the WWE.

Sunday's game will be key because the Vikings could lock up the NFC North with a victory or a Chicago loss next Monday night against Green Bay.

The Falcons need their run defense to be firm again against Minnesota and Adrian Peterson, the league’s top rusher.