Football betting handicappers will have one of the oldest rivalries in the sport to look over as the Green Bay Packers host the Detroit Lions on Sunday. Sbg global.com opened with the homestanding Packers as 14.5 point favorites and with an over/under of 46. FOX will telecast the matchup.
Motor City Kitties
Detroit is yet to dig out of the Matt Millen error and has a NFL football betting record of 0-3 straight up but 2-1 against the spread. As those 2 payouts indicate the Lions are playing more competitive football and suffered a cruel loss at Chicago on opening day when what looked to be the winning touchdown pass at the gun was overturned on an obscure call. After another close call against Philadelphia they Lions were handled at Minnesota last week 24-10 as 13 point dogs. Quarterback Matt Stafford was injured on opening day at Chicago and will miss significant amounts of playing time for the 2nd straight year. He is due back in mid-October and Shaun Hill has taken his place. Detroit ranks 30th for total defense and dead last in defending the run while ranking 22nd for total offense. A combination of bad luck and a large hole left by Millen have made it difficult for the Lions to dig out to respectability.
Self Destruction
Green Bay literally gave a game away last week in Chicago in front of an ESPN Monday Night audience as they lost to the Bears 19-14 thanks in large part to a whopping 18 penalties. The Packers now have a football betting record of 2-1 straight up and 2-1 against the spread.
Un-Special Teams
Green Bay has had poor special teams since the very day that Mike McCarthy took over as coach and they were bitten again by the kicking team bug as kicker Mason Crosby had a field goal blocked by the Bears and Chicago’s Devin Hester ran back a punt 62 yards for a touchdown. Green Bay can forget about a Super Bowl run without improvement in this area.
Defensive Capers
While the Packers defense improved last year it was lit up in the playoffs by Arizona. So far so good this year as defensive coordinator Dom Capers’ unit ranks 2nd in total defense and 7th for points allowed.
Head to Head
The favorite has covered 6 out of the last 7 NFL football betting matchups in this series and Green Bay has paid out in 7 out of their last 8 against Detroit.