No rest. The Atlanta Falcons may not have time to get banged-up birds like Troy Andersen and Kaleb McGary healthy, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers may be down a staggering number of crucial players. The NFL wants that sweet Thursday night cash, and the football almost always suffers as a result, even when it’s a battle between two division rivals that have enjoyed tight, close games in three of their last four meetings.
While nobody is overly thrilled about Thursday night games, this remains a crucial one. A Falcons win evens the top of the NFC South at 3-2 and puts Atlanta on top by virtue of a divisional tiebreaker, as they’ll be a sterling 2-0 with a long layoff before facing the Panthers.