Week 4 of the NFL season wraps up with another Monday Night Football doubleheader. In this piece, we'll preview the Seahawks vs. Lions matchup, which starts at 8:15 Eastern on ABC.
Can Seattle stay undefeated? Or will Detroit's home-field advantage prove to be too much? We'll answer those questions and more below. Enjoy the action and best of luck with your bets!
Online sportsbooks opened this game Detroit -4 last week on the look-ahead line. Some action has come in on Seattle that has pushed the line down to its current number of Detroit -3.5. ESPN Bet is even giving reduced juice on the Lions at -105.
Oddsmakers are expecting a moderate amount of scoring in this contest, as the game total is currently sitting between 46 and 46.5 points. All three of Detroit's games have stayed under the total so far this season.
While a lot of folks questioned the Mike Macdonald hire, he's done a remarkable job for the Seahawks. Seattle is 3-0 in the young season despite an injury to running back Kenneth Walker. The former Michigan State star is currently listed as questionable to play on Monday night.
As you might expect, Seattle has struggled to run the ball without Walker in the lineup. They're only averaging 3.9 yards per carry, which ranks 26th out of 32 NFL teams. The Hawks could have a tough time generating much push against a Detroit defense that's only allowing 76.7 rushing yards per game.
The key to Seattle's success has been Geno Smith and his fabulous trio of receivers. DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, and Jaxson Smith-Njigba are all highly talented wideouts that make life miserable for opposing secondaries. Metcalf currently leads the team with 262 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns.
Goff has thrown for a ton of yards so far in 2024 (723), but he's also already thrown 4 picks. He'll have to be more careful with the ball against an opportunistic Seattle secondary. The Seahawks lead the NFL in yards per pass allowed (3.9), but they've yet to see an offense with this many weapons.
Detroit has an embarrassment of riches at the running back position, as David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs continue to form one of the best 1-2 punches in the game. However, the Lions could be without starting center Frank Ragnow, who suffered a partially torn pec last week.
If Detroit's line has trouble run blocking, they'll have to rely on Jameson Williams and Amon-Ra St. Brown to stretch the Seattle defense. Both already have over 200 receiving yards and a touchdown this season.
I took advantage of a nice odds boost promo at Fanatics, which allowed me to get this line at -3 with -114 odds. If you don't have that option, I'm totally fine with you paying -130 odds for the -3 or even laying the -3.5 at reduced juice. I think this is a great price on Detroit for a variety of reasons.
I've been impressed with Seattle's 3-0 start, but this is a huge step up in class for them. They beat Denver with a rookie QB and needed overtime to knock off a bad Patriots team on the road. Sure, they blew out Miami, but that was with Skylar Thompson at QB.
Detroit did have the one hiccup against Tampa Bay a couple of weeks ago, but they dominated that game on the stat sheet. I know the injuries to Brian Branch and Sam LaPorta are scary, but I made this line closer to Detroit -6. Let's lay the points!
Prediction: Lions 27 - Seahawks 20