With the 2015-16 NFL Regular Season underway we will preview the game between the Lions of Detroit playing at the Chargers of San Diego on Sunday the 13th of September with kick-off scheduled for 4:10 PM ET with the game being played at the Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California.
If you are one to Bet on NFL football at SBG Global then you should know that the opening odds at SBG have the Chargers of San Diego as the early favorites at -3 -105 with the Over/under at 45 ½ and -155 on the ML, with the underdog Lions of Detroit at +3 -115 and +135 on ML.
With the offseason losses to the Lions defensive roster, now Detroit will have to step up their offensive potential featuring QB M. Stafford and receiver C. Johnson and RB J. Bell for this game.
While the Chargers and their QB P. Rivers seeks to show his value for his new contract guarantee he signed in the offseason. We wonder if the Lions upset the Chargers at home, or will the Chargers beat the struggling Lions defense in this 1st game of their season?
For the fans of the Lions of Detroit, your team in 2014 had the potential, but then it turns out they ranked 19th and had averaged only 340 yards each game, and in the offseason they planned to change that by a offensive scheme that will make their offense more productive in 2015. Last season their line on offense allowed penetrators to sack their QB on some 45 occasions, and that affected their running game which ranked 28th as they rushed for a mere 88 yards each game. So if the offseason the Lions used their 1st round pick to secure OL L. Tomlinson to play with L. Warford and R. Reiff in order to produce better protection for QB Stafford, plus give their RB’s more room to run against the Chargers.
The defense this season for the Lions is another question as they lost 2 of their star defensive players in N. Suh and N. Fairley, so the Lions replace Suh with 5 time Pro Bowl player B. Ngata. Imagine last season defensively the Lions were 1st against opponents running game at allowing just 69 yards each game, and then 13th against the passing game with allowing just 231 yards per game for the season. In the Lions ultimate 10 away games they went under 9-1.
So Chargers of San Diego fans, let’s hope your QB Rivers with his new contract for some $84 million and at 33 years old, still has what it takes to take his team to the playoffs this season. In 2014 QB Rivers had some 31 TD’s from his passing, while he passed for 4,290yards.
This 2015 season his receiving corps return with A. Gates, M. Floyd, K. Allen and S. Johnson. Then there’s TE L. Green who caught some 19 of 23 for 230 yards without a TD. This season they expect more action for Allen who in 2014 had 4 TD’s and 784 yards receiving, while Floyd who led the team with 6 TD’s on 858 reception yards.
If the Chargers want QB Rivers to be successful in his passing game the offensive line must step up, as if you remember last season in their game with the Chiefs, their QB Rivers was sacked some 7 times and they lost the game 19-7 to Kansas City. In the offseason the Chargers added M. Gordon a rookie drafted in the 1st round to give new life to the backfield, which in 2015 was ranked 30th with just 85 yards per game.
The task in this game for the Chargers defense is to attempt to stop the Lions exceptional WR in Johnson and Tate, so they pass the task to B. Flowers who had 3 interceptions in 2014, and J. Verrett who has just 1 interception to cover the receivers of Detroit.
The prediction by an expert for this game is that the Lions will cover their spread and defeat the Chargers with a final score of Detroit 27 and San Diego 21.