The Raiders will visit Detroit next week for a Monday Night Football matchup that supporters have been anticipating for some time. The Lions just suffered a terrible defeat to the Ravens in which neither their offense nor defense contributed. Detroit will be attempting to recover and get a victory because this is the worst performance we have seen from them this year. Las Vegas also suffered a terrible defeat at the hands of the Justin Fields-less Bears. Jimmy Garoppolo, the Raiders’ starting quarterback, did not play. For Lions fans, this game should be quite intriguing and might provide a preview of how the rest of the season will go.
The Raiders just suffered a heartbreaking defeat against the Chicago Bears, when both their offensive and defensive units performed terribly. Even without starting quarterback Justin Fields and running back Khalil Herbert, the Bears and undrafted rookie quarterback Tyson Bagent were still able to score 30 points. Bagent was only hit three times by the defensive line, giving him plenty of time to throw. Run defense was also lacking, giving up RB D’Onta Foreman 5.6 YPC on 16 attempts and two endzone visits. With only 162 passing yards and 1 touchdown allowed, the pass defense performed a little better. Not only did their defense suffer, but so did their attack. Brian Hoyer started at quarterback for Vegas in Garoppolo’s absence, but he wasn’t very good. On 32 pass attempts, he managed just 129 passing yards with zero touchdowns to two picks. Eventually, Hoyer was benched, making way for rookie Aidan O’Connell. O’Connell performed somewhat better, completing 13 passes for 75 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. Josh Jacobs has struggled this season as well, and continued that this weekend averaging just 3.2 yards per carry on 11 attempts. Vegas will have a difficult time winning this away game against the formidable Lions squad.
Following maybe their poorest performance since Week 5 against New England in 2022, the Lions suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Ravens. Lamar Jackson had one of his greatest passing performances ever thanks to their defense. Hutchinson was able to provide some pressure, but the defensive line as a whole was not. Jackson had a lot of time to throw, even having ten seconds to throw on a TD pass. Hours before the game, Jerry Jacobs was declared ineligible, and it appeared that the loss was costly. There were plenty of targets available to Lamar since the secondary was being burned a lot. The offensive line in particular didn’t appear to be very skilled. The offensive line played its worst game since joining forces, giving up constant pressure and allowing five sacks. Not only were receivers dropping passes, but Goff was missing a lot of throws that he has made before. Jameson Williams had a number of huge drops that may have resulted in touchdowns if they had been caught. Early in the game, Detroit was harmed by a handful of drops from even Amon-Ra St. Brown. As the RB1, Gibbs looked well, and I anticipate that he will receive the majority of the carries this week. In the passing game, he was also quite active. Although I don’t anticipate him being as busy this week, he should still receive several targets. Detroit is playing a bounce-back game, and I predict they’ll win handily. Aim for Hutchinson to repeatedly get to Garoppolo and Goff to take shots down the field.
My Prediction: Lions 38 Raiders 17
