With the 2015-16 NFL Regular Season moving into Week 13 we have an interesting match-up on Thursday (TNF) the 3rd of December 2015 as 2 NFC North rivals with the 7-4 Packers of Green Bay playing at the 4-7 Lions of Detroit with the game being played at the Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan with the kick-off scheduled for 8:35 PM ET.
For those that Bet on NFL Football the early Vegas odds have the Packers of Green Bay the favorites at -3 -120 with the Over/under at 47 and -175 on the Money Line, while the underdog Lions of Detroit are at +3 EV and +155 on ML.
It seems the Packers still are facing problems after a loss at home again to a rival and now they are 1 game behind the Viking of Minnesota in the NFC North. Now with another NFC rival game with the Lions this coming Sunday, who are a team that beat the Packer back on the 15th of November 18-16.
For those fans of the 7-4 Packers of Green Bay your team broke a losing streak with a win over the Vikings and then in their next game had an embarrassing home loss to the Bears of Chicago. Now in their ultimate 5 games, the Pack are only with 1 win and 4 losses, and they blame their struggling on offensive problems that have only been able to accumulate a total of 17 points in those 4 losing games. The Packers QB Rodgers against the Bears only completed 22 of his 43 passing attempts and 201 yards with 1 TD and 1 interception.
So considering his WR’s dropping passes and struggling to get open, QB Rodgers had a decent game. A bright sport for the Packers has been the comeback of their running game that in the 1st of the season struggled, but now RB E. Lacy for the 2nd consecutive week ran for 100 plus yards, plus had a TD on a reception in the game with the Bears. But on the other side Lacy in their ultimate 5 games has fumbled the ball on 4 occasions. Also in that game the Packers rushed for 177 yards and proved they could step up their offensive efforts.
For the Packers to beat the Lions this time around they need their offense to show up, as their defense has been playing well then they could win this game on Thursday night.
The 4-7 Lions of Detroit and their fans are happy to see the team changing direction after starting the season at 1-7, but since their bye Week 9 they are 3-0 straight up and against the spread and that includes their route of the Eagles on Thanksgiving Day 2015. Before that game the Lions only managed to score 20 points on 2 occasions on season before the Week 12 win. But their offense came alive when they faced the struggling defense of the Eagles.
QB Stafford for the Lions passed for TD’s of which 3 were to WR C. Johnson and their running game rushed for over 100 yards and that now for 2 straight games. They say the credit for the offensive turnaround belongs to new offensive coordinator J.B. Cooter who created easy tasks for their QB and OL and thus far as had very positive results. With this new plan in hand the Lions are expected to score more than their previous 18 points against the Packers this Thursday, especially on their home field.
Now again the defense for Detroit is playing a dominant role in the team’s latest success, as with their ultimate 3 opponents they have allowed them just 14.2 points each game and 2.4 yards per carry in rushing to date. Thus the Lions defense thinks they can hold the Packer struggling offense to have another low scoring outing in this game.
The sportsbook prediction on this game is that the Lions new offensive approach is still improving and their defense will hold Packers QB Rodgers to another poor outing, and Detroit will win this Thursday Night game 28-24