🏈 Freewheeling Falcons Flying Surprisingly High

The Falcons find themselves unburdened by trouble and filled with momentum. [View in browser]( [FOX SPORTS INSIDER WITH MARTIN ROGERS] In today’s FOX Sports Insider with Martin Rogers: The Falcons are one of the best stories in the NFL this season … What exactly was the Bears' strategy at the deadline? … and more! It is Thursday, which means there is no longer any reasonable excuse or acceptable reason for choosing to look back at the most recent National Football League weekend, instead of gazing forward to the next one. The problem with that, however, is that we are talking about the Atlanta Falcons today, and what they did four days ago was so absurdly dramatic and uproariously enjoyable that it deserves our focus, even with a new slate of games approaching. The Falcons beat the Carolina Panthers, and it might have dipped beneath your line of vision, given that there were more accomplished teams and bigger names playing simultaneously and that this was a matchup between one of the worst teams in the league and another that was supposed to be awful. Instead, the Falcons are clawing their way to being something else. Forgive then, this lightning recap. The Falcons won 37-34 after three touchdowns were scored in the final 3:06, after Carolina’s "game-winning" TD was actually just "game-tying" because scorer D.J. Moore ripped off his helmet to celebrate, after an extra point and an overtime 32-yarder were both missed, and after Atlanta continued to reimagine everyone else's idea of how bad they are supposed to be. The Falcons, sorry, to use their correct new name – the NFC South-leading Atlanta Falcons – might be the most cheerful 4-4 team in NFL history. Confounding all the dire forecasts, despite an opening game heartbreaker and an 0-2 start, here they are, playing the best kind of scrappy football that a team low on talent - but big on eagerness - is capable of. "Our guys don’t blink," quarterback Marcus Mariota said. They don’t frown too much either. Going into Sunday’s home clash against the Los Angeles Chargers (1 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports App), the Falcons find themselves unburdened by trouble and filled with momentum. The downside of being written off by everyone from the Las Vegas oddsmakers, to the wider football public, to some of their own fans, to, er, me, is that such projections are made because your personnel list doesn’t seem to stack up. For the rest of the story, [click here.]( [STORY IMAGE 1] [IN OTHER WORDS] - The Bears traded away two defensive stars, but landed a young receiver. Peter Schrager explains GM Ryan Poles' [strategy at the deadline](. - Jerry Jones is going to regret not finding a way to get the one player who could have [put the Cowboys over the top]( Ralph Vacchiano writes. - [Baseball underestimated Cristian Javier]( for years. In Game 4 of the World Series, he threw six innings of a combined no-hitter. Pedro Moura has the story. - Can TCU stay unbeaten? [Will Tennessee topple Georgia]( RJ Young and Michael Cohen preview Week 10 of the college football season. For the latest news and updates, [click here.]( [VIEWER'S GUIDE] Denver Nuggets at Oklahoma City Thunder (NBATV, 8 p.m. ET) Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets head to Oklahoma City to battle Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder. Houston Astros at Philadelphia Phillies (FOX, 8:03 p.m. ET) Justin Verlander takes the hill for the Houston Astros, while Noah Syndergaard gets the start for the Phillies in Game 5 of the World Series. Philadelphia Eagles at Houston Texans (PRIME VIDEO, 8:15 p.m. ET) Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles travel to Houston hoping to keep their perfect record intact against Dameon Pierce and the Texans. For all of today's games and scores, [click here](. [BET OF THE DAY] Odds provided by [FOX Bet]( Philadelphia Eagles at Houston Texans: Dameon Pierce Over 63.5 rushing yards From FOX Sports Analyst Geoff Schwartz: Another glorious matchup for Thursday Night Football. The best team in the sport, the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles, travel to Houston to face a Texans squad that might be worse than their four-win team of 2021. They have been mostly uncompetitive outside of two games this season. They’ve only covered one of their last four games. It would be easy to pick the Eagles to cover this game even with a spread that’s two touchdowns, but I’m not laying 14 points on any road team, no matter how good they are. My play for the game will be a prop. I will take the Texans' rookie running back and offensive rookie player of the year leader, Dameon Pierce, to have over 63.5 rushing yards. He’s averaging 77 yards per game, and the Eagles rushing defense can be had. Most don’t try because they are behind by too much, and they start to throw. The Eagles have allowed over 124 rushing yards in four games this season, and the Texans would love to take advantage of this to keep the game closer. Also, Eagles rookie defensive tackle Jordan Davis is out of the lineup with an injury. He’s a massive human who’s able to clog up the middle rushing lanes, and without him in the lineup, I could see Pierce having more success For the latest betting odds, [click here](. 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