New England-Atlanta: Give Me a Minuteman To Explain Reasons To Tune In

The NFL preseason continues this Thursday when the New England Patriots take on the Atlanta Falcons. Although it's preseason, this game is important for these teams as they still have some unanswered questions.

Here are five reasons to tune into the game.

1. Crazy like a Fox

Fox will televise the game. If you know how to bet football then you know there is nothing better than betting on a televised game. NFL Odds makers at Bet Mania have pegged the Falcons as 2.5 point favorites over the Patriots.

This is the first chance to see how the guys at Fox Sports will cover NFL games this year. Will Terry and the gang be the best coverage on TV this year?

2. The Welker Watch

Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker has not played in a game since being injured in a meaningless game against Houston at the end of last year.

ESPN reports that Welker said the team’s approach remains to “take it slow,” so it would be surprising if he’s on the field Thursday against the Falcons in New England’s second preseason game.

Patriot fans seem to be happy with the progress of Julian Edleman, who is catching passes in place of Welker.  He played well in his absence last year and put up some solid numbers against the Saints in the preseason opener. If these numbers continue the Patriots may play it safe with the return of Welker.

3. A Young QB not named Tebow or Bradford

In the first preseason game against the Chiefs, it was quarterback John Parker Wilson that recorded the best performance out of all the Falcons quarterbacks completing 7 of 15 passes for 64 yards.

Wilson received the bulk of the plays against the Chiefs and it will be interesting to see how he handles the blitzes that the Patriots serve up.

Matt Ryan is the Falcons starting quarterback, and barring injury he will be for a long time, but Falcon fans should be excited about the depth at the position.

4. Patriots are Red, White, and Black and Blue

The Patriots are banged up and the injuries seem to be a cause for concern.

Tom Brady injured his finger in the Saints game when he accidentally hit an opposing player’s helmet. When Bill Belichick was asked about Brady’s taped fingers prior to the afternoon practice session, he expressed, with a smile, his concern with the “injury."

“I don’t think it’s life-threatening, no.”

That is good news for Patriot nation, but it may change the amount of paying time for Brady on Thursday.

It was announced that Ty Warren would be out for the season. Warren is a mainstay on the Patriots defensive line and replacing him will not be an easy task. Gerald Warren and Damione Lewis will get first crack at taking over on the line, but other players like Tully Banta-Cain will be asked to pick up some of his sack numbers.

Finally, Tory Holt was placed on the injured reserve list and his season and maybe his career, could be over. This game could be an audition for other wide receivers that can try and fill the void that was left by the injured Holt.

5. Can Falcons secondary “pass" the test?

In one of the combined practices with the Patriots, the Falcons secondary was exploited all day long by Tom Brady and Randy Moss.

However, it should be noted that the Falcons were missing the two top corners for the practice. Dunta Robinson has been out with a hamstring injury, and Brent Grimes did not practice because of a groin injury.

The Falcons finished 28th against the pass last year and they spent the offseason trying to improve the player personnel in the secondary. It will be fascinating to see if practice translates to game time and how the secondary will match up.

Just because it is the preseason in the NFL does not mean there is no reason to watch the games. This Thursday’s game should answer plenty of questions for both teams as they head towards the kickoff of the 2010 season.