Getty Lions fans cheer the team during a Jaguars game in 2020.
The Detroit Lions get back to action this week as they welcome the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars into Ford Field and interestingly, the favorite for the game isn’t who might be expected.
Despite the fact that the Lions have turned around their season, the team is a slight underdog in this upcoming game. Jacksonville is seen as a one-point favorite to beat the Lions this week, and many are pushing back against that notion.
At NFL.com, writer Nick Shook took a look at picking some of the potential upsets in the making this week. He revealed that he is going against the grain and picking the Lions to win the game, because the Lions “don’t feel like an underdog” to him.
“Perhaps the oddsmakers see Detroit as the ideal opponent for the Jaguars to face as they attempt to push their arrow upward. I see it differently, though, because had the Lions held on in the final 30 seconds against the Bills, they would be in the midst of a four-game winning streak, with two of the wins coming on the road,” Shook wrote.
Shook’s prediction is confident, and as he says, he is not predicting the Lions to be beaten in another home game.
“A second straight home game isn’t going to produce a second straight loss for these Lions. I’m certain of it. Detroit is explosive offensively and has struggled mightily on defense, though it’s been better on that side of the ball lately. Sometimes you have to trust your gut, and that’s what I’m doing with this pick. Pass the leftovers, please,” he said.
The Lions are getting going in a big way this season, and want to keep the momentum up. A win as described would help the team do just that.
Dan Campbell Praises ‘Good’ Jaguars Team
Even though the Lions might be getting the short end of the respect stick for this matchup, don’t tell Detroit coach Dan Campbell about that being the case.
Speaking this week on Monday, November 28, Campbell gave the Jaguars some credit for being a solid team this season and having a rise on the field.
“I know this is a good team. I know that they’ve got a lot of talent and they’re starting to put things together and I know they did that the other day. So this will be a big task for us. They’re hungry, they’re young, they got a good coach, good coaching staff and they are loaded with talent,” Campbell said.
To that end, the Jaguars might be a bit of a mirror image of the Lions in some ways. The teams are both underrated, have solid rosters, good coaching staffs and have lost a ton of close games.
As Campbell knows, that should make for a fantastic game in Week 13, and a challenge that his team is going to have to be up for.
Analyst: Lions’ ‘Home Disrespect’ Deserves Pushback
The Lions will remain at home for the second time in as many weeks, and considering where both teams are at, it’s more than a bit surprising to even more folks that the team would be an underdog.
NFL.com writer Gregg Rosenthal wrote that he believes in an average matchup, more respect should be given to the Lions given they are the home team that is a little bit more advanced in terms of their team build.
As a result, Rosenthal is picking the Lions to win the game and defend their home turf again this year.
“Both teams have improved to average, and Detroit’s rebuild is a bit further along than Jacksonville’s. It’s a toss-up, but the Lions being a home underdog is disrespectful enough for me to push back,” he wrote in the piece.
Add it up and it’s clear the NFL.com guys have had a bit of enough in terms of the disrespect the Lions are generating this week. That’s especially true given they have won three of four and were very competitive in the lone defeat to Buffalo.
While the Jaguars might be good, they might not be good enough to convince some top experts to pick them this week. Instead, they’re going with the Lions in an “upset” performance.