POLL: As Of Monday Night Lions…

[AROS]

…Are listed as 4 point favorites.

 

[Maulbert]

I don't find that insulting. They went to the NFC Championship last season. 1 extra point isn't bad.

 

[hgwellz12]

Makes sense. And makes it that much sweeter when we win by 9

 

[Sprfunk]

This is a real test. I love it. We win by 1.

 

[knownone]

The spread makes sense for gambling. We haven't played a good quarterback yet, so favoring the Lions by four seems fair.

However, let us not forget about Dome Geno. I said it last year before we played the Lions. I'll say it again. Geno's splits in a dome are MVP-level. 17 TD / 2 INT / 2100 Yards / 73% cmp / 120 QB-Rating.

Given that Macdonald has the defense rolling and Dome Geno is inevitable, maybe we should be favored.

 

[Mick063]

The word is out on Bradford. They going to exploit his pass blocking. The only way to counter it is to get the ground game going early. That is the one thing that Bradford can do. With respect to pass blocking, Huff needs to teach that guy how to punch the DT's shoulder pads with both hands to momentarily stop the DT in his tracks. You have to be able to instantly judge the punch distance for a moving target. Punch too late and the DT is already on top of you for a swim or bullrush. Punch too soon and you are overextended and not in a low center of mass. Bradford just doesn't have the timing down and can't seem to judge target distance to get his punch timing right. To compensate he tends to grab. A holding call waiting to happen.

 

[pittpnthrs]

It's Vegas. They know what they're doing.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Seems about right. That team flat out gave away the NFC Championship game last year. They are at home. Fired up to finally beat the Hawks. Loud stadium etc. 4 seems about right.

 

[sutz]

Not a betting man, but I'll opine a bit. That spread says we're pretty evenly matched with the Lions. They get their 3 point home field edge plus a point extra. Not insulted at all.

 

[Aircrew]

Totally understandable and fair from a betting standpoint.

 

[olyfan63]

Why should any gambler care whether Vegas puts the line in a place that offends (self-described) overly sensitive Seahawks fans?
Any gambler that thinks he "knows" the Seahawks has his own line in his (or her) head, and is well-positioned to beat the spread based on their "superior" knowledge.

I'm not a gambler, but a couple of my housemates are. They were, of course happy when I told them the Seahawks would trounce Miami without Tua.
For the Lions game, I don't have any "obvious to Seahawk fans" sure-fire tips for them. The closest I have are these:

Offense:
* Geno goes off in dome games, historically.
* Geno has owned the Lions in Detroit, WITH Kenneth Walker.
* Walker seems possible for this game
* Geno has been playing well in Grubb's offense
* Other weapons seem healthy
* The Seattle O-Line is a team weakness right now, and vulnerable to a good pass rush

Defense
* Mike MacDonald's "Ravens West" defense is looking capable
* Seattle is no longer a pushover on the ground against strong running teams
* Seattle seems to have an above-average pass rush, now *including* up the middle
* Goff may get pushed off his spots by the Seattle pass rush, and could throw a couple errant pass picks
* MacDonald's actual Ravens defense shut down the Lions O last year, in a 38-6 blowout, so he knows what he's facing:

Recap: Detroit Lions gobsmacked by Ravens in humbling 38-6 blowout

The Detroit Lions will have to do some serious soul-searching after the Baltimore Ravens routed them in every phase of the game.

www.prideofdetroit.com

* Seattle's D hasn't yet played a good QB and good offense at full strength. Is their defense so far a "Blue Mirage"? (Rookie QB Bo Nix, Career backup Jacoby Brissett, and two different backup QBs for the Dolphins)

Opponent
* Detroit has lots of good weapons, a good QB, and a good O-Line
* The Detroit defense is better than last year
* After last year's humiliation, Detroit OC Ben Johnson will be eager to scheme up an attack that shows he can beat a MacDonald defense

Conclusion:
After all that, this is a coin-flip game. Whoever lady luck favors will win. Which team's DBs hold onto the turnover-worthy throws? Yeah, that team wins.
Overall, take the Seahawks and the points. Bet that the Seahawks DBs have better hands than the Lions DBs, LOL. Score guess, 30-27 Seahawks.

Commentary:
After all that, it's still a coin flip. I think it was the Fox network guys, out of all of them, Kurt Warner at 22-10 is the only one who is well above .500 on his picks. Former coach Steve Mariucci, among others, is within a game or two of .500, as are the 3 other guys. This just shows how hard it is to consistently pick winners in the NFL, even for supposedly knowledgeable NFL guys.

 

[Followthelegion]

its a little high for me. I think a 3pt spread is about right in favour of Detroit. So i think seattle +3.5 or +4 will look very attractive to the majority and the line may shift down towards 3.

 

[CalgaryFan05]

…Are listed as 4 point favorites.

I think it should be a straight up -3.

As stated in another post - I think this is a 50/50 jump ball game.

In any event - it's our yardstick game, and cap on the first 1/4 of the season - should be good!

Would be nice if K9 was back for it. I wanna see a run game established in the first half - and PA feeding off that. Another bomb to DK would be NICE!.

 

[CalgaryFan05]

The only way to counter it is to get the ground game going early.

K9...... come BAAAAAAACK!

Amen to that.

 

[pmedic920]

Why should any gambler care whether Vegas puts the line in a place that offends (self-described) overly sensitive Seahawks fans?
Any gambler that thinks he "knows" the Seahawks has his own line in his (or her) head, and is well-positioned to beat the spread based on their "superior" knowledge.

I'm not a gambler, but a couple of my housemates are. They were, of course happy when I told them the Seahawks would trounce Miami without Tua.
For the Lions game, I don't have any "obvious to Seahawk fans" sure-fire tips for them. The closest I have are these:

Offense:
* Geno goes off in dome games, historically.
* Geno has owned the Lions in Detroit, WITH Kenneth Walker.
* Walker seems possible for this game
* Geno has been playing well in Grubb's offense
* Other weapons seem healthy
* The Seattle O-Line is a team weakness right now, and vulnerable to a good pass rush

Defense
* Mike MacDonald's "Ravens West" defense is looking capable
* Seattle is no longer a pushover on the ground against strong running teams
* Seattle seems to have an above-average pass rush, now *including* up the middle
* Goff may get pushed off his spots by the Seattle pass rush, and could throw a couple errant pass picks
* MacDonald's actual Ravens defense shut down the Lions O last year, in a 38-6 blowout, so he knows what he's facing:

Recap: Detroit Lions gobsmacked by Ravens in humbling 38-6 blowout

The Detroit Lions will have to do some serious soul-searching after the Baltimore Ravens routed them in every phase of the game.

www.prideofdetroit.com

* Seattle's D hasn't yet played a good QB and good offense at full strength. Is their defense so far a "Blue Mirage"? (Rookie QB Bo Nix, Career backup Jacoby Brissett, and two different backup QBs for the Dolphins)

Opponent
* Detroit has lots of good weapons, a good QB, and a good O-Line
* The Detroit defense is better than last year
* After last year's humiliation, Detroit OC Ben Johnson will be eager to scheme up an attack that shows he can beat a MacDonald defense

Conclusion:
After all that, this is a coin-flip game. Whoever lady luck favors will win. Which team's DBs hold onto the turnover-worthy throws? Yeah, that team wins.
Overall, take the Seahawks and the points. Bet that the Seahawks DBs have better hands than the Lions DBs, LOL. Score guess, 30-27 Seahawks.

Commentary:
After all that, it's still a coin flip. I think it was the Fox network guys, out of all of them, Kurt Warner at 22-10 is the only one who is well above .500 on his picks. Former coach Steve Mariucci, among others, is within a game or two of .500, as are the 3 other guys. This just shows how hard it is to consistently pick winners in the NFL, even for supposedly knowledgeable NFL guys.

You say “Lady Luck” and I get it %.

Something , probably the only thing you failed to mention is the officiating. Aside from our weakness @Oline the officials are my biggest concern.

I don’t believe for one second that NFL games are fixed, rigged, or scripted but I do believe that officiating either intentionally or inadvertently plays a huge role in many games.
Seen it way too many times, and I can’t recall the last time (maybe due to homeriszm) that a game appeared to be steered in favor of the Seahawks.

 

[Atradees]

It's hard to predict a spread. Sports action in Oregon if you correctly pick 13 games you win 10,000 bucks. It's impossible. Game was squashed by the NFL. Given the headlines that we played cupcakes and Lions were in the playoffs and we were not.......it seems about right the spread. I think we are gonna win though .....

 

[GeekHawk]

It is to our advantage that there isn't a lot of tape out there allowing other teams to prepare for our new O. Everything (except poor o-line play) is new and surprising...

 

[keasley45]

Its a matter of health.

They have a top 3 Offensive line this year. We have a banged up DLine.

They have one of the best pass rushers in the league off the edge. We have a 3rd string LT.

They have injuries on their o-line. We could get one or both of Cat and SMurph back.

Key:

We've got Geno&Co. They have a suspect pass defense.

Geno has to put on another clinic, likely under pressure. Grubb has to design a scheme to help the right side in pass pro.

We do that, we win.