NFC North divisional battle to start the season for both of these clubs with different sets of expectations based on last year\u2019s performance. <\/p>\n
Minnesota Vikings (0-0) vs Detroit Lions (0-0)
\nSunday September 8
\nFord Field – Detroit, MI
\n1:00PM
\nMoneyline: Detroit -235, Minnesota +195
\nSpread: Detroit -5
\nO\/U: 47<\/strong>
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After sneaking into the playoffs last season most think the Minnesota Vikings are due for a fall as Adrian Peterson was absolutely awesome last year and they still barely made it in, what if he can\u2019t repeat? (unlikely)<\/p>\n
From the other side Detroit was horrible last year on defense and won just 4 games despite having the most lethal passing combination in the league – QB Matthew Stafford to WR Calvin Johnson.<\/p>\n
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All those players can have great seasons again but it seems more likely that things will even out this year in terms of wins and losses. We will begin to find out starting on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Minnesota<\/h3>\n
All everything RB Adrian Peterson is a big reason the Vikings swept the Lions last year so you know they are going to give him as much attention as possible (it still might not matter). That means that QB Christian Ponder is going to have to make plays for this team to win this year. I have never been a fan of his and I don\u2019t think adding receivers Greg Jennings and Cordarelle Patterson all of a sudden makes him a good QB.<\/p>\n
In both games last year Minnesota won the turnover battle and that is not something I think they can depend on again this season. [soliloquy id=”82219″]<\/p>\n
Peterson yes, turnovers no and that will be the primary difference in what should be a very energetic Ford Field on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Detroit<\/h3>\n
Since QB Matthew Stafford established himself the Lions have always been able to put up big numbers in the passing game but I still love the addition of Reggie Bush as I think it will enable him to not force the action as much (i.e. interceptions) and still make big plays.<\/p>\n
Calvin Johnson is still the ultimate mismatch in the league and he could be even better if Bush draws just a little attention away.<\/p>\n
The key for the Lions in this game and this season is going to be the defense. Up front they should be good as Ndamokung Suh and Nick Fairley are a bulky and very talented tackle tandem but they went heavy on defense in the draft selecting 3 players in the first 4 rounds for a reason.<\/p>\n
The need their rookies on the line and in the secondary to be players a in a hurry because all the players they brought back, save the ones I mentioned, haven\u2019t been getting it done. I predict a high scoring Detroit win to kick off the season.<\/p>\n
Enjoy the action!<\/p>\n
Spread Pick: Detroit -5<\/strong>
\n O\/U Pick: Over<\/strong>
\n Score Prediction: Detroit 38 – Minnesota 28<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Minnesota vs. Detroit NFL Football Spread\/Handicapping NFC North divisional battle to start the season for both of these clubs with different sets of expectations based on last year\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":65886,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[1701,470,1549,5747,17493,4898,2220,834,856,5746,1323,1333],"class_list":["post-65861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl","tag-detroit-lions","tag-free-pick","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-minnesota-vikings-vs-detroit-lions","tag-minnesota-vs-detroit","tag-nfl-football-odds","tag-nfl-football-picks","tag-nfl-lines","tag-nfl-predictions","tag-vikings-vs-lions","tag-week-1","tag-week-1-odds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65861"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65895,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65861\/revisions\/65895"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}