Falcons vs. Eagles

Last weekend, the Rams and Viking proved how it's dangerous to predict how well team will play based on their last games. Against the Seahawks, the Rams looked like a legitimate team, and against the Packers, the Vikings looked dangerous. Alas, many forgot to factor in their opponents inaptitude. It's now pretty clear that the Vikings and Rams were not that strong; they were just fortunate to play a week opponent. Now to this week. The Eagles and Falcons both looked good last week, but how much of their success was based on the quality of their opponents?

The Eagles offense still looks bad, even when they played the Vikings weak defense. The big story for the Eagles however was their defense. If the Eagles go to the Super Bowl, I see them making it in a similar fashion to the Ravens -- with dominate defense and an offense that doesn't screw it up.

Michael Vick looked incredible last week, but will he be able to do the same against a good defense, a defense that actually knows how to tackle? Also, how will a dome team play in the snow conditions of Philly?

The snow could be the big story of the game. On paper, the Falcons look like a team better built for bad conditions. While the Eagles don't run much, the Falcons can pound away with Duckett and Dunn. Also, many snow games come down to the one big play, and Michael Vick has the best potential to make that play.

I seem to be changing my mind as I'm writing this. I just wrote how the Falcons may be successful because of their running game, but now I'm thinking of Brady's performance against the Raiders in the snow game. A snow storm does not always stop the passing game.

Now for a prediction: I'm going with the team with the better defense. The Eagles defense looked so good last week, it's forcing me to ignore their offense. Eagles 13, Falcons 7