ATLANTA (6-7) at SAN FRANCISCO (7-6)
Sunday, 4:05 p.m. EST, Fox
BETTING LINE: 49ers by 9 1/2, according to FanDuel SportsBook.
AGAINST THE SPREAD: Atlanta 6-7; San Francisco 6-7.
SERIES RECORD: 49ers lead 47-32-1.
LAST MEETING: Falcons beat 49ers 29-22, Dec. 15, 2019 at Santa Clara, California.
LAST WEEK: Falcons beat Panthers 29-21; 49ers beat Bengals 26-23, OT.
FALCONS OFFENSE: OVERALL (24), RUSH (27), PASS (17), SCORING (26).
FALCONS DEFENSE: OVERALL (25), RUSH (23), PASS (21), SCORING (28).
49ERS OFFENSE: OVERALL (12), RUSH (8), PASS (14), SCORING (13).
49ERS DEFENSE: OVERALL (8), RUSH (18), PASS (6), SCORING (20).
TURNOVER DIFFERENTIAL: Falcons plus-6; 49ers minus-2.
FALCONS PLAYER TO WATCH: RB Cordarrelle Patterson ran for his fifth TD of the season last week and became the first player in franchise history to have at least five TD catches and five TD runs in the same season. Patterson has 547 yards rushing and 519 yards receiving, joining Austin Ekeler of the Chargers as the only players to top 500 in both categories.
49ERS PLAYER TO WATCH: TE George Kittle had 13 catches for 151 yards and a TD last week, becoming the first tight end in NFL history with back-to-back games with at least 150 yards receiving and a TD. The last 49ers player at any position to do that was receiver Terrell Owens in 2002. Kittle had his third game in his career with at least 13 catches and fourth with at least 150 yards.
KEY MATCHUP: Red zone. This game features the NFL’s top red-zone offense against one of the worst defenses in the red zone. San Francisco has scored an NFL-best 5.7 points per trip inside the 20 with TDs on a league-leading 73% of those drives. Atlanta has struggled to stop teams near the end zone, ranking 29th in points allowed per red-zone drive (5.58) and 28th in TDs allowed (68.8%).
KEY INJURIES: Atlanta S Erik Harris (chest) will miss the rest of the season. … Falcons DE Dante Fowler (calf) is questionable. … San Francisco will be without CB Emmanuel Moseley (ankle) but expects LB Fred Warner to play despite hurting his ankle last week. … RB Elijah Mitchell (knee, concussion) could miss another game.
SERIES NOTES: The Falcons have won six of the last nine in the series, including an upset of the Super Bowl-bound Niners late in the 2019 season. That’s the only meeting between the teams since Kyle Shanahan left as OC in Atlanta following the 2016 season to take over as head coach in San Francisco. … Falcons QB Matt Ryan has averaged 306.4 yards passing in seven career starts against the 49ers in the regular season and playoffs. That’s the second most for any QB with at least five starts vs. San Francisco.
STATS AND STUFF: Atlanta is 5-2 on the road and seeks its first season with six road wins since 2016, when it went to the Super Bowl. … Ryan needs three TD passes to surpass Eli Manning (366) for ninth all time. … Atlanta’s Kyle Pitts has 54 catches for 770 yards, becoming the fifth rookie TE with at least 50 catches and 750 yards receiving. … Falcons CB A.J. Terrell tied a career high with three passes defensed last week and also had his third career INT. He has at least one pass defensed in four straight games. … Atlanta has a league-low 16 sacks. … The Falcons ran for 129 yards last week and have three straight 100-yard games for the first time since 2018. … Atlanta had three takeaways against Carolina, including a pick-6 by Mykal Walker. Marlon Davidson had one the previous week, giving the Falcons interception returns for TDs in consecutive games for the first time since Weeks 3-4 in 2016. … San Francisco has won four of five games. … Niners QB Jimmy Garoppolo has had a passer rating of at least 90 in seven straight games for the longest active streak in the NFL. … San Francisco WR Deebo Samuel ran for his sixth TD of the season last week and joins Patterson and Ekeler as the only players with at least five TD catches and runs. … Niners DE Nick Bosa has sacks in five straight games and 14 overall this season. … San Francisco has forced 90 plays by the opposition for negative yardage, third most in the league. … The Niners are second in the NFL with 6.31 yards per play on first down.
FANTASY TIP: After being targeted sparingly early in the season, Niners second-year receiver Brandon Aiyuk has played a big role in recent weeks. He has at least 55 yards receiving in five of the past six games and has caught three TD passes in that span.
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