The Detroit Lions will travel to the Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday afternoon to take on the Atlanta Falcons in an NFC matchup.
The Lions are last in the NFC North with a 2-11-1 record and are coming off a 30-12 home win over the Arizona Cardinals. Jared Goff went 21-of-26 for 216 yards with three touchdowns.
The Falcons are third in the NFC South with a 6-8 record and are coming off a 31-13 road loss against the San Francisco 49ers. Matt Ryan was 19-of-32 for 236 yards with a touchdown.
Lions at Falcons Betting Analysis
On the Detroit Lions side
Wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown has been playing well for the Detroit Lions as he has 65 receptions on 87 targets for 601 yards (9.2 yards per reception) with two receiving touchdowns and two rushing attempts for seven yards (3.5 yards per carry).
In his last game against Arizona, St. Brown finished with eight receptions on 11 targets for 90 yards (11.3 yards per catch) with a receiving touchdown as well as a five-yard rushing attempt.
The Detroit Lions have been stagnant on the defensive side of the field this season as they are giving up 26.1 points per game. In their previous game against the Arizona Cardinals, Detroit allowed 12 points on 398 total yards of offense (293 passing, 105 rushing).
The Cardinals ran the ball well as they averaged five yards per carry, but the Lions forced them to go 0-of-4 inside of the red zone.
On the Atlanta Falcons side
Running back Cordarrelle Patterson has been dominating for the Atlanta Falcons as he has 133 rushing attempts for 565 yards (4.2 yards per carry) with five rushing touchdowns as well as 48 receptions for 524 yards (10.9 yards per catch) with five receiving touchdowns.
In their last game against San Francisco, Patterson finished with 11 carries for 18 yards (1.6 yards per rushing attempt) and two catches for five yards (2.5 yards per reception).
The Atlanta Falcons need to have some improvement on the defensive side of the football field as they are allowing 27.4 points per game this season. In their previous game against the San Francisco 49ers, Atlanta gave up 31 points on 397 total yards of offense (235 passing, 162 rushing). The 49ers went 6-of-11 on third down attempts and ran the ball well as they averaged 5.1 yards per rushing attempt.
Lions at Falcons Prediction
As of this writing, the top sportsbooks are listing this game as the Atlanta Falcons as a 5.5 home favorite. The Lions are going to be without starting quarterback Jared Goff (COVID), and that is a huge blow to a team that is going to struggle to move the ball and now has to do so with their backup quarterback.
Neither team is going to be scoring many points as they are both scoring under 19 points per game this season.
All in all, go with the Atlanta Falcons to cover the spread in this game.