Kansas City Chiefs vs Detroit Lions
Ford Field – Detroit, MI
Sunday September 18 – 1:00PM
Moneyline: Detroit -357, KC +275
Spread (ATS): Detroit -9
Over/Under: 45
Odds courtesy of 5Dimes
Kansas City
Well those pundits who thought the Chiefs record was inflated last year certainly got what they were looking for in week 1 as the Chiefs were pounded by the Buffalo Bills 41-7. It was a sloppy game by Kansas City that felt pretty much over by halftime. The Chiefs did little in the second half to respond which is part of the reason the line on on this one has jumped since it opened. It kind of looked like they were just going through the motions.
There was some concern that QB Matt Cassell might not play last week but he started, he just didn’t have a very good game. He completed 22 passes for a shockingly low 119 yards. You have to move the ball deeper down the field with your passing game, especially if you want to give your running game a chance. Fortunately when the running backs did tote the ball they were pretty effective…the game against Buffalo got out of hand so fast they just couldn’t stick with it.
If you include pre-season the Chiefs have now lost 7 games in row and few are giving them a chance to bounce back this weekend at Detroit. These teams haven’t met since 2007 when their makeup was much different, more importantly they appear to be going in different directions right now and Kansas City’s is not a good one. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Detroit
It was a great win for the Lions at Tampa. With expectations building over the offseason it was important to their pysche that they play well with the win the icing on the cake. With the Chiefs coming to town this weekend they have a great opportunity to show that they are a real threat in the NFC. I hope they won’t regress now that they are actually in the conversation. With a win on Sunday they could easily be 3-0 after next weekend.
Everything went pretty much according to plan for Detroit. Stafford was solid with 300+ yards passing, Calvin Johnson hauled in a couple of TDs and Jahvid Best didn’t get hurt (canned laughter). To get to that next level they need Best to become more of a threat – his longest run was just 9 yards. On defense they did a great job shutting down the Bucs power running game which bodes really well for playing the Chiefs who want to gash opponents on the ground.
The line on this one has really run up throughout the week. It was Detroit – 3.5 to start and now it is as high as -9 in some places. At anything under -7 I was definitely behind the Lions but now it is a little too rich for my blood. The Lions are likely to get steam until they lose a game, then you should be able to get some serious value on them. Right now you might just want to enjoy as a fan.
ATS Pick: KC +9
Over/Under Pick:
Score Prediction: Detroit 31 – Kansas City 24
