NFL: Lions vs Raiders - Odds, Prediction & Picks

The Lions host the Raiders on Monday Night Football, looking for their first win on Monday night since 2014. Detroit is coming off its worst loss in two years, a 38-6 beatdown by the Ravens, but should get a boost from the crowd at Ford Field. Las Vegas has major quarterback issues. Starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo has a bad back, and if he can’t go the Raiders don’t have many great options behind him. 

Odds provided by DraftKings.

Lions 

Detroit was humbled by Baltimore, giving up 146 yards on the ground, the most it has allowed all season. Detroit’s run defense still ranks No. 2 in the NFL in yards allowed. Looking for a bright spot from the Ravens loss? Rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs had his first career touchdown. He will remain the featured back with David Montgomery nursing a rib injury. 

Injury Report: The Lions have eight players on injured reserve. Coming into Monday night, here was the mid-week injury report: RB David Montgomery, OL Jonah Jackson, DB Jerry Jacobs, WR, Kalif Raymond, LB Malcolm Rodriguez.

Raiders

The Raiders are 3-4, three games back of the Chiefs in the AFC West and there are concerns that coach Josh McDaniels has lost the locker room. Las Vegas got steamrolled by a Bears team starting its own back-up quarterback last week. The offense has struggled. Star running back Josh Jacobs has just 347 yards and if Garoppolo can’t play, then it’s either career back-up Brian Hoyer or Purdue product Aidan O’Connell, a rookie.

Injury Report: Las Vegas has seven players on injured reserve and four players on the injury report – CB Nate Hobbs, QB Jimmy Garoppolo, DB Jakorian Bennett, LB Divine Deablo. 

Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown has 10 100-yard games in his first three seasons with the team.

Hoyer has played for eight, count them, eight different NFL teams, spending most of his time with the Patriots. He’s started 41 games and is 16-25 as a starter.

The Lions are 5-2 against the spread this season. The Raiders are 3-3-1. The Raiders have won three Super Bowl titles, the Lions still have zero.

If Lions coach Dan Campbell wanted a wake-up call for his team he got it in a big way against Baltimore. Old issues of stopping the run resurfaced and the Ravens jumped out to a big lead and never looked back.

The NFL is so wild. There is almost no such thing as momentum from week to week. It just goes to show how good every team is.

Las Vegas lost quarterback Derek Carr to free agency and brought in Garoppolo from the Niners. When he’s played, he’s only been OK. The book on the Raiders is stop Jacobs and the running game and you’ll have no problem beating them. 

That should fit right in to what the Lions want to do. They’ll be focused in on stopping the run and if Garoppolo can’t go, don’t expect the Raiders to be able to move the ball through the air. 

My bigger concern about the Lions at this stage is the offense got locked up pretty good by the Ravens defense. Detroit had done a great job hiding some weaknesses (because of injury) up front, but the Ravens attacked and Jared Goff couldn’t get anything going.
Still, the Lions are just better than the Raiders right now. 

As much as I love the Lions to cover the 8.5-point spread, I like the under even more. Can the Raiders score more than one touchdown? I think not. So even if the Lions score 31 points or so, I still don’t think this game goes over 46.5. Under has been the smartest bet in the NFL this season and it makes sense here too.

Under 46.5 (-112) | DraftKings