The Chargers will face a revamped Detroit Lions (-3
on Sunday afternoon in what is looking like yet another make or break game for Brandon Staley’s men in blue in Week 10. The Bolts have won two striaght games to return to .500 on the year but those have been against teams who are fighting to stay relevant and questions have to be rightly asked if the Chargers can beat an actual contender. The Lions are leading the NFC North with an impressive 7-2 record that sees them in the second seed spot if the playoffs started tomorrow. Their turnaround under Dan Campbell has been remarkable and they had their highlight moment when they bested the Chiefs in the opening game of the year. Needless to say that if our Chargers manage to get a win here, then the playoff race will certainly be on and some skeptical fans will start to believe in this team. That is a big if though as the Lions are returning to full health and their only losses have come to teams currently leading their divisions.
The Sunday matchups that I am most excited about are headlined by a defensive showdown when the Cleveland Browns (+6.5)
, two of the most impressive defenses in the league, clash in the early window. The Ravens look like the best team in the league right now playing complete football excelling in all three phases, they have won their last two home games by a combined 75-9 and they were against proper teams in the Lions and Seattle Seahawks (-6)
, who are both leading their divisions. Their defense has been lights out conceding only 13.8 points per game, by far the lowest total in the league, however they are going up against a Browns defense that is the only team allowing less yards per game than them. The Browns are not as balanced as their AFC North rivals though, their offense has woeful at times this season and they have been made to look better on the scoreboard by constantly getting good field position from their stout defense.
This is shown in their miserable 184 passing yards per game and going into a matchup which they lost 28-3 in the reverse fixture, that is not going to be enough to earn a win. I am excited by this game schematically because I am a defensive coach but I do not expect this to be close. Draftkings Sportsbook has the total as 38 and the under is -108, I’d feel comfortable taking that, the moneyline at -285 and the -6.5 spread for Baltimore. I just don’t see anyway the Browns can better their Week 4 efforts when the Ravens have improved every week since then.
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