Denver Broncos at Atlanta Falcons: 3 things to watch for in Week 9

The Atlanta Falcons will welcome the Denver Broncos to MBS this Sunday.

In a battle of two bad teams, the Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos will kick off this weekend for the first time in Mercedes Benz Stadium. Matter of fact, the Broncos have not been to Atlanta since 2012 when they lost 27-21 to the Falcons.

Coming into 2020 both teams were optimistic about their chances to return to the playoffs.

The Broncos added running back Melvin Gordon to Phillip Lindsey in hopes of helping quarterback Drew Lock build the Broncos offense into one of the better offenses in the league and they drafted elite Alabama receiver Jerry Jeudy to give them an elite pass catcher.

Defensively, they were hoping that the tandem of Von Miller and Bradley Chubb would be able to replicate their 2018 season when they combined for 26.5 sacks. Miller was placed on Injured Reserve back on September 15th and hopes to return in week 12 or 13.

The Broncos and Falcons have faced off just 15 times over the course of the franchise history and that includes Super Bowl XXXIII, which was the first time that the Atlanta Falcons had made the big game.

Since Super Bowl XXXIII, the two teams have met just five times – 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016; the Falcons have won three of those five matchups but the Broncos hold the overall head to head lead 9-6.

While both teams have underachieved and underperformed in 2020, there are still plenty of reasons to watch this game Sunday afternoon.