Back the Lions in Battle Against Commanders

Commanders at Lions, 1 ET

Two teams that you probably might not have much hope for this season square off. I think the Commanders looked solid in their opening week performance, and the Lions showed the same never quit spirit that made me encouraged by them last season. Let's take a look and see what play we should make in this one.

The Commanders were able to keep a win at home against Jacksonville in the opening week. If you look at the score, you'll see it was a one-score game (28-22). Honestly, this feels like a game that the Jaguars probably could've and should've taken. There were multiple trips to the red zone that resulted in just field goals instead of touchdowns. With Carson Wentz under center, there clearly has been an upgrade at the position. Still, we saw him throw two interceptions to go with his four touchdown passes. He spread the ball around nicely on offense when their running game really never got much traction. Defenisvely, the Commanders showed some promise, specifically holding Jacksonville to 3-12 on third down. They did allow almost 400 yards of offense to the Jaguars though.

In Detroit's opening game, it looked bleak for a while. After scoring on their opening drive, they never had the lead again. We can already see this is a team that is going to focus on pounding the rock as much as possible with their two-headed monster in the backfield of D'Andre Swift and Jamaal Williams. The Eagles are a good team and they've got one of the best offensive lines in football, so the four rushing touchdowns, but four different players, isn't all that surprising. If you take away the scrambling ability of Jalen Hurts (something Wentz doesn't have) I think the Lions defense responds better. I think Philadelphia's defense is better than Washington's and the Lions didn't really struggle to score points.

Anything can happen in any given game, of course, but I think the edge here is on the Lions. We have already seen the money come in on them. They opened as the dog and have since moved to a favorite, or pick'em depending where you're shopping. I'm not always going to follow the money, but I'm taking the Lions at -125 on the moneyline. I think at home they are the better squad.

I'll be playing Swift to score the first touchdown in this one at +750. I wouldn't be surprised to see Terry McLaurin score the first one for the Commanders though.

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