The Detroit Lions finished the 2015 season with a 7-9 record, third place in the NFC North, but their late surge which saw them go 6-2 for the final eight weeks leaves plenty of optimism for them this renewed campaign. However, Detroit’s 2016 plans were thrown a wrench when top wide receiver Calvin Johnson announced his retirement from the game.
While Megatron’s departure certainly hurts, having Matt Stafford (four-consecutive seasons of over 4,200 passing yards) under center puts the team’s offense in good hands once more. With a wealth of capable targets in Golden Tate, Eric Ebron and newly-acquired Marvin Jones, Stafford could very well breach the 4,000-yard plateau again, so much so that he’s also priced by the oddsmakers at a decent +2,000 to finish this season with the most passing yards in the NFL.
But as much as we can sing praises about the Lions’ passing game, their defense remains as iffy as ever. They allowed nearly 350 yards per contest to their opposition, which meant the offense had to constantly out-gun their opponents to pick up wins last season. Not a whole lot of improvements were made in the offseason on this side of the ball, so a lot of the dirty work will still have to come from standout players in key spots such as defensive end Ziggy Ansah upfront and cornerback Darius Slay in the backfield.
Detroit’s D certainly needs to step up big-time in Week 1, especially in this road game against the equally potent offense of the Colts, as the Lions have lost its their four games played Indy (1-3 ATS).
Similar to the Lions, the Indianapolis Colts would rather forget their 2015 campaign altogether. They entered last season with high Super Bowl hopes, but finished with a subpar 8-8 record after going 11-5 in the three previous seasons.
The main culprit behind Indianapolis’ woes was the ineffectiveness of main man Andrew Luck, who started the season out slow and played only a total of seven contests while battling through a shoulder injury to end up with less than 2,000 passing yards (1,881) and 20 TDs (15) for the first time in his four-year NFL career. But now with the Stanford product back in good health, many expect him to find his form once more as one of the league’s best quarterbacks with the help of his outstanding receivers T.Y. Hilton and Donte Moncrief.
Luck’s inclusion in the offense does indeed mean the world to his team, as Indy has been pegged as the +150 favorite to win AFC South this year. However, and again much like their Week 1 opponent, the Colts don’t have a defense that’ll instill fear into their opposition. They had the seventh-worst D in the league last season by giving up nearly 380 offensive yards per game, and they also didn’t do much to fix this glaring issue during the offseason.
Having said that, count on this Sunday afternoon’s clash with the Lions to be a complete shootout. Luck must prove early on that he’s back in prime shape, especially since the Colts don’t necessarily have home field advantage on their side, as they’ve gone just 6-4 (5-4-1 ATS) in their last 10 games held in Lucas Oil Stadium.
Writer’s Prediction
The Colts come away with the victory, but the Lions (+4) lose by just a field goal, 33-30, to cover the spread.
