Falcons-Bucs could be another Thursday-night channel-changer

FALCONS (5-3) at BUCCANEERS (3-4)

Line: ATL by 4.

Cote’s pick: ATL 30-17.

TV: 8:25 p.m. Thursday, NFLN (airing in South Florida).

Tampa Bay won in Atlanta 31-24 on Kickoff Weekend for a third consecutive Bucs victory in this NFC South series. So, go ahead and be tempted by the home ’dogs here in this Week 9 start-up. But resist that temptation! Atlanta is percolating as NFL’s best offense in 2016; Matt Ryan has sprayed TD passes to 10 different receivers. And now he’s facing a T-Bay defense that last week was strafed for 626 yards — more than 500 of them in the air — by Oakland. Buccaneers are injury-wracked on offense, too, especially at running back, so Jameis Winstson won’t have a lot of help. The NFL has been plagued this season by lots of Thursday/Sunday/Monday prime-time games that were some combination of uninteresting matchups or change-the-channel blowouts, and this could be another of them.