NFL Straight Up Picks: Fade the Falcons After Cooper Rush Confirmation

By · Updated 3 days ago
  • Atlanta Falcons confirm Cooper Rush as starting QB vs. Steelers
  • Tua Tagovailoa was ruled out due to injury
  • Falcons’ odds drift from +145 to +215 following the announcement

The 2026/2027 NFL season already looked like it could be a testing one for Atlanta Falcons fans, but few expected them to deliver one of the easiest straight-up NFL picks of week 1.

Despite an underwhelming pre-season, it appeared that Tua Tagovailoa was set to start against the Pittsburgh Steelers in week 1, with Michael Penix Jr. also struggling with injury problems of his own.

On the road to a good Steelers team, Atlanta were already three-point underdogs; however, this announcement has caused their odds to drift significantly:

With the public money now flocking to the Steelers, they could drift even further, but at the time of writing, the NFL Vegas odds show them as 6-point underdogs, and their moneyline has also drifted from +145 to +220.

TeamMoneylineSpreadTotals
Falcons+215+641.5
Steelers-260-641.5

Interestingly, the totals line hasn’t moved at all, but our NFL Lock of week 1 is now undoubtedly the Steelers, either via the spread or just as a straight-up moneyline option.

How to Bet On the Steelers vs Falcons Game

Step 1: Choose from any of the sportsbooks below:

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Step 2: Click on the link to your chosen sportsbook.
Step 3: Sign up for a new account, and fund the account with your chosen wager amount
Step 4: Navigate to “NFL” in the sportsbook, and find the Steelers vs. Falcons matchup
Step 5: Click on the odds you want to bet on. This will add it to your betting slip
Step 6: Enter your chosen wager amount, hit “place bet,” and check back after the game!

Tom McNeil
Contributor Tom has a deep passion for soccer and has worked as a coach and a first-team scout alongside covering everything from the Champions League to Croatian non-league stories. He also loves the NFL and sees nothing wrong with staying up til 5am on a regular basis to watch it in the UK