It’s an NFL catfight for draft position. The Detroit Lions travel South to face the Jacksonville Jaguars. Is there a type of bet you can make at the sportsbook to fade both teams? A $100 bettor blindly backing spreads from these two would be down about $327 this season. Why would someone do such a thing? And who would they take in Sunday’s contest?
| Game: Detroit Lions (1-3) at Jacksonville Jaguars (1-4) Location: TIAA Bank Stadium Time: 1 p.m. ET Television: FOX |
Betting Lines
| Team | Point Spread | Moneyline | Over/Under | Team Total |
| Lions | -3½ | -190 | 54½ | 28½ |
| Jaguars | +3½ | +165 | 54½ | 24½ |
Head-to-Head
Between being interconference opponents and Jacksonville an expansion team, these two have played six times. In those games, the teams were coached by 10 — 10! — different people. There is no continuity here.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford won both games against the Jaguars in his career, completing 46 passes, none of them for touchdowns.
Visiting Team
Betting Record
| Team | Record | ATS | ATS Home | ATS Away | ATS Fave | ATS Dog |
O/U |
| Lions | 1-3 | 1-3 | 0-2 | 1-1 | 0-1 | 1-2 | 3-1 |
Next game: at Atlanta Falcons
Last Game
Sharp bettors have had an entire week to forget about how they gleefully took all the Detroit +4 and +3½ the books would offer against the Saints. And how they bet the total down from 54 to 52. And how the Lions showed up and played like the Lions* and lost 29-35.
(*Taking an opening 14-0 lead and then giving up five straight touchdowns.)
Detroit spent last week enjoying its bye which, to their benefit, went as scheduled. (Unlike the Chargers, for instance, who had their bye week bumped up a month to this week to accommodate league rescheduling.)
Roster Report
Even though they had time off, several Lions are rehabilitating from injury. TE Hunter Bryant hasn’t played but on the most recent injury report, he’s listed with a concussion (and not the hamstring, which he was previously noted). He didn’t practice on Wednesday, nor did CB Desmond Trufant, still unable to go with a hamstring problem.
Better news for the Lions is the return of LG Joe Dahl from Injured Reserve. He returned to full practice on Wednesday, off injury designation, and is considered possible to help shore up an O-line with which Detroit has struggled since he was injured after the season opener.
Home Team
Betting Record
| Team | Record | ATS | ATS Home | ATS Away | ATS Fave | ATS Dog |
O/U |
| Jaguars | 1-4 | 2-3 | 1-1 | 1-2 | 0-1 | 2-2 | 3-2 |
Next game: at Los Angeles Chargers
Last Game
Marketplace support came last week for the Jacksonville Jaguars who rewarded their backers with questionable coaching decisions and circus-like execution. (More clown than acrobatic.) Jags +6½ and +6 were promising numbers before kickoff. Down only six in the third quarter at their opponent’s 8-yard line, Doug Marrone called for a direct snap play to James Robinson, which got stripped and turned over.
A case can be made to support Jacksonville’s effort in the game, and the final score exaggerates the beating put on them by the Houston Texans. Besides the single play where they twice failed to recover a double fumble, they missed two field goals and failed to convert either turnover into points. (Houston converted both of theirs to touchdowns.)
Roster Report
Apparently, after being a healthy scratch on Tuesday night’s game, Tennessee Titans’ LB Kamalei Correa demanded a release or a trade from the team. The Jaguars agreed to swap places in the sixth and seventh round of next year’s draft with the Titans in return for Correa and the most recent copy of his playbook. This kind of move doesn’t bode well for LB Dakota Allen (foot), who didn’t practice Wednesday.
Some good news for the linebackers is the return of Myles Jack to practice, though limited he might return to the active lineup as early as this week. Two other defensive starters were limited to open the week, CB C.J. Henderson (shoulder) and NT Arby Jones (ankle).
The Jags cut kicker Stephen Hauschka and will replace him with Jon Brown.
Betting on the Game
Point Spread
The line on this game opened -3 juiced to the favorite, nudged to +3½ juiced to the dog, and is now back to -3 -120. Considering the opening practice reports, it wouldn’t be surprising to see it climb to -3½ flat. Neither star wide receiver for the Jags, Laviska Shenault nor D.J. Chark, practiced on Wednesday, and neither did TE Tyler Eifert.
Moneyline
The moneyline on the Lions is -175, with a takeback of +155. Considering our guess that the Lions line is going up, the -175 is a relative value.
Over/Under
On paper, this shapes up to be a high-scoring affair, reflected in the total which opened 53 and since jacked to 54½. We’d have leaned to the over even at that number, but can’t recommend it until the Jags produce another practice report that clarifies if they’ll be without their two main receiving weapons on Sunday.
