NFL Thursday Night Football Betting
An early season battle for supremacy in the NFC North gets the betting week started when the Detroit Lions visit the Green Bay Packers in the Week 4 edition of Thursday Night Football. Both teams bounced back from a tough Week 2 loss with wins improving to 2-1 on the season. This rivalry is one of the longest in the NFL with the teams playing each other every year since 1933 while being housed in the same conference/division in that span. It doesn’t get as much notoriety as other long-standing rivalries since the Lions have been awful for the past few decades, but Detroit has a chance on Thursday to match their longest winning streak in the series since winning 11 straight in the 1950s.
Detroit had one of the worst defenses in the NFL last season allowing the most yards and third-most points. In order to reach the postseason for the first time since the 2016 campaign, improvement on that side of the ball is needed. After getting scorched for nearly 400 yards and 37 points in a Week 2 loss to Seattle, the Lions held Atlanta to 183 yards and no touchdowns in last week’s 20-6 win. Meanwhile, the Packers scored 18 fourth quarter points to stun New Orleans in their home opener. The teams last met in the final weekend of the 2022 season with Detroit knocking Green Bay out of the playoffs with a 20-16 victory.
NFL Thursday Night Football Betting Odds
Detroit Lions -1.5
Green Bay Packers +1.5
Total 45.5
Money Line: Lions -125, Packers +105
It looks like the whole Aaron Rodgers deal turned out pretty good for the Packers, at least so far. With their former QB going down for the season after four snaps with his new team, Jordan Love showed he has what it takes to engineer a fourth quarter comeback, something his predecessor did quite often.
For the first three quarters of their home opener the Packers showed little life trailing the Saints 17-0. It’s a good thing games consist of four quarters, which was enough time for Love and Green Bay to rally for a stunning 18-17 victory. Closing as a 1-point dog, the Packers won outright for the second time this season improving to 3-0 against the NFL betting line, leaving them tied with Miami and Arizona as the most profitable teams.
Making up for a shaky three quarters, Love ran for a touchdown and converted the 2-point PAT to get the Packers within 17-11. With the defense forcing a three-and-out, the Packers got the ball back with over five minutes on the clock. Love completed four passes for 54 yards and scrambled for 24 yards on the drive with his 8-yard strike to Romeo Doubs tying the game. Anders Carlson made the PAT giving the Packers the lead.
Green Bay also benefitted from a strong defensive effort and had a little luck. The Pack limited New Orleans to 252 yards and stopped the Saints on 10 of 14 third down attempts. The luck came in the form of a missed 46-yards field goal with a little over a minute to play that would have given the Saints the lead. There hasn’t been much luck recently against the Lions. The Packers are 0-3 SU and ATs in the last three meetings and they have just two payouts in the last 10 meetings.
What we saw from the Lions on Sunday is what coach Dan Campbell expects ever week from his guys. And it was a nice rebound after a disappointing home opener that saw the Lions lose, 37-31, in Week 2. Favored to win the NFC North in the futures market, the Lions have the weapons to score points. They need to stop the other team, however, and they did a marvelous job of slowing down the previously unbeaten Falcons.
Aidan Hutchinson had two of Detroit’s seven sacks and the defense held Atlanta to 183 total yards and no touchdowns in the 20-6 victory. It was the first time the Lions held an opponent to fewer than 10 points since beating the Packers 15-9 in Week 9 of last season. “We looked like a hungry, violent defense,” Campbell said.
Jared Goff has quarterbacked the Lions to three straight wins over Green Bay is 4-1 in his career with nine touchdown passes and over 1,100 passing yards in those games. The Lions opened as a 2-point road favorite. If the line holds it’ll be the first time since 2017 Detroit was giving points at Lambeau Field.
Thursday Night Football Schedule
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