Monday Night Football: Lions Host Jets in Early Affair

Jets Throwing Rookie Into Fire Against Lions

The New York Jets and the Detroit Lions will play the traditional early game on Monday Night Football. They will battle at Ford Field in Detroit. Kickoff is set for 7:10 pm EST and ESPN will have the coverage.

Oddsmakers opened the Lions as -6.5-point favorites versus the Jets, while the game's total opened at 43.5. Detroit is now 7-point favorites and the total is up to 44.5.

The New York Jets selected Sam Darnold with the No. 3 overall pick in this year's draft. It merely was a matter of when, not if, the team handed him the keys to their offense.

Tale of the Tape

Darnold impressed New York's coaches enough to win the starting job in the preseason. He will lead the Jets into Monday's season opener against the host Detroit Lions.

Darnold beat out Josh McCown and the since-traded Teddy Bridgewater for the job during the preseason. The kid will make history in his NFL debut. He will become the youngest Week 1 starting quarterback at 21 years, 97 days.

The Lions will be playing their first game under first-year coach Matt Patricia. He spent the past six seasons as the defensive coordinator for New England. Patricia inherits a team that has posted back-to-back nine-win seasons.

The Lions feature an experienced quarterback in Matt Stafford, but also one that hasn't won a playoff game since 1991.

Detroit Looking to Get Over the Hump

The Lions were 9-7 in 2017, which was 2nd in the NFC North. Stafford has thrown for at least 4,000 yards for seven consecutive years. He has to carry what has been a one-dimensional offense. The O has ranked last in rushing in two of the past three seasons.

Detroit drafted rookie running back Kerryon Johnson from Auburn in the second round and signed LeGarrette Blount. He who is one year removed from leading the league with 18 rushing touchdowns. They hope this helps shore up an abysmal ground game.

Marvin Jones led the Lions with 1,101 yards and nine touchdowns last season. He had 61 catches last season. Fellow wideout Golden Tate also surpassed 1,000 yards on 92 receptions.

Detroit has a pair of standouts on the other side of the ball. Defensive end Ziggy Ansah had 12 sacks. Cornerback Darius Slay had eight interceptions. Detroit needs to find another pass rusher for a unit that ranked 27th in 2017.

Stafford has recorded four scoring passes and zero interceptions in two career meetings with New York.

Lions RB Theo Riddick has registered 186 catches and 10 TD receptions over the last three seasons.

Can Darnold Produce Immediately?

The Jets were 5-11 in 2017, which was 4th in AFC East. Darnold was the second quarterback taken in the draft. He finished the preseason by completing 29-of-45 passes for 244 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.

He will look to a wide receiving corps led by Robby Anderson. He paced the team with 941 yards and seven touchdowns last season. Jermaine Kearse had a team-high 65 catches. Quincy Enunwa had 58 catches in 2016 and is back. Quarterback-turned-receiver Terrelle Pryor is in the mix also.

New York built up the running game by bringing in a power back in Isaiah Crowell. He appeared in all 16 games in each of his four seasons in Cleveland. Bilal Powell will provide some rest and serve as the third-down back.

Leonard Williams anchors the defensive line. The Jets have a solid secondary, but it must improve on a pass rush that ranked 28th a year ago. The unit only had 28 sacks.

Crowell is one of six active running backs with at least 600 yards rushing in each of the last four seasons.

Free Pick: Lions 23, Jets 20

Recent Form

Name	Record	ATS	Offense	Defense	Diff	ATS Home	ATS Away	OU Record	OU Home	OU Away
NY Jets	5-11	8-7-1	18.62	23.88	-5.26	6-2	2-5-1	8-8	5-3	3-5
Detroit	9-7	8-7-1	25.62	23.50	2.12	4-4	4-3-1	10-5-1	6-2	4-3-1

Power Stats

Yards Per Point

Name	Offense	Defense	Differential
NYJ	16.39	14.76	1.63
DET	13.18	15.14	-1.96

Yards Per Pass

Name	Offense	Defense	Differential
NYJ	9.82	11.41	-1.59
DET	11.18	10.61	0.57

Yards Per Rush

Name	Offense	Defense	Differential
NYJ	3.99	4.05	-0.06
DET	3.36	4.17	-0.81

Team Records

New York Jets

Name	Record	Home	Away	ATS	ATS Home	ATS Away	Offense	Defense	Diff
Overall	5-11	4-4	1-7	8-7-1	6-2	2-5-1	18.63	23.88	-5.25
vs Conf	5-7	4-2	1-5	6-5-1	5-1	1-4-1	18.50	23.00	-4.50
vs Div	2-4	2-1	0-3	3-2-1	3-0	0-2-1	19.50	21.50	-2.00
Last 3	0-3	0-1	0-2	1-2	0-1	1-1	10.67	23.67	-13.00

Detroit Lions

Name	Record	Home	Away	ATS	ATS Home	ATS Away	Offense	Defense	Diff
Overall	9-7	4-4	5-3	8-7-1	4-4	4-3-1	25.63	23.50	2.13
vs Conf	8-4	3-3	5-1	7-4-1	3-3	4-1-1	26.67	21.83	4.84
vs Div	6-4	3-2	3-2	5-4-1	3-2	2-2-1	23.90	21.30	2.60
Last 3	2-1	2-0	0-1	2-1	2-0	0-1	24.00	15.67	8.33

Supergrid

Title	Stat	Rank	Stat	Rank
Away Team Overall Scoring vs Home Team Overall Defense	18.63	23	23.50	21
Awy Team Road Passing vs Home Team Home Passing Defense	164.50	32	266.88	32
Away Team Road Rushing vs Home Team Home Rushing Defense	71.13	32	97.75	12
Home Team Overall Scoring vs Away Team Overall Defense	25.63	8	23.88	22
Hme Team Home Passing vs Away Team Road Passing Defense	265.63	5	233.63	18
Home Team Home Rushing vs Away Team Road Rushing Defense	71.63	32	126.88	26

Head To Head Summary

Name	Record	ATS	OU	Score	Rush	YPR	PA	CP	PY	TY	TO +/-
NY Jets	3-3	3-3	3-3	19.83	135.17	4.53	32.67	61.73	220.50	355.67	1.83
Detroit	3-3	3-3	3-3	17.50	135.83	4.74	30.50	56.83	184.17	320.00	0.67

Head To Head Detail

Date	Away	Home	Score	Line	Total	OU Result	ARY	APY	ATY	ATT	HRY	HPY	HTY	HTT	Away Team Attempts	Home Team Attempts	Away Team Completions	Home Team Completions
Sep 28, 2014	DET	NYJ	24-17	88	272	360	0	132	204	336	2
Nov 7, 2010	NYJ	DET	23-20	110	327	437	2	78	228	306	0
Oct 22, 2006	DET	NYJ	24-31	125	261	386	2	221	177	398	1
Nov 17, 2002	NYJ	DET	31-14	189	219	408	1	108	171	279	1
Dc 17, 2000	DET	NYJ	10-7	210	78	288	1	51	189	240	2
Dec 21, 1997	NYJ	DET	10-13	108	207	315	3	206	95	301	0
Dc 10, 1994	DET	NYJ	18-7				0				0
Dec 8, 1991	NYJ	DET	20-34				0				0
Sep 25, 1988	NYJ	DET	17-10				0				0
Nov 28, 1985	NYJ	DET	20-31				0				0

NFL Betting Odds and Trends

New York Jets
NY Jets is 2-5 ATS in its last 7 games
Jets are 1-6 SU in its last 7 games
NY Jets is 1-3-1 ATS in its last 5 games on the road
NY Jets is 0-5 SU in its last 5 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of NY Jets's last 10 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 4 of NY Jets's last 6 games when playing on the road against Detroit

Detroit Lions
Detroit is 6-3 SU in its last 9 games
The total has gone OVER in 6 of Detroit's last 9 games
Detroit is 10-5 SU in its last 15 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 7 of Detroit's last 9 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Detroit's last 6 games when playing at home against NY Jets

Team Last 5 Games

New York Jets

Date	Opponent	score	Result	line	ATS Result	offensive rush yards	offensive passing yards	offensive total yards	defensive rush yards	defensive passing yards	defensive total yards	turnovers	Location
Dec 31, 2017	NE	6-26	L	16.5/42.5	L/U	40	207	247	147	183	330	0	A
Dc 24, 2017	LAC	7-14	L	6.5/42.5	L/U	197	98	295	89	290	379	3	H
Dec 17, 2017	NO	19-31	L	16.5/46.5	W/O	124	170	294	131	285	416	-1	A
Dc 10, 2017	DEN	0-23	L	-1/40.5	L/U	59	41	100	84	189	273	2	A
Dec 3, 2017	KC	38-31	W	4/44.5	W/O	157	331	488	112	362	474	0	H

Detroit Lions

Date	Opponent	score	Result	line	ATS Result	offensive rush yards	offensive passing yards	offensive total yards	defensive rush yards	defensive passing yards	defensive total yards	turnovers	Location
Dec 31, 2017	GB	35-11	W	-7.5/44.5	W/O	51	305	356	103	153	256	-4	H
Dc 24, 2017	CIN	17-26	L	-3/43	L/P	87	189	276	142	222	364	0	A
Dec 16, 2017	CHI	20-10	W	-4.5/43.5	W/U	91	202	293	43	306	349	-2	H
Dc 10, 2017	TB	24-21	W	-0/47.5	W/U	53	381	434	133	267	400	-2	A
Dec 3, 2017	BAL	20-44	L	2.5/43	L/O	78	294	372	101	269	370	3	A

Next up:
New York home to Miami Sunday, September 16
Detroit at San Francisco Sunday, September 16

Get a 100% CASH Bonus up to $500 and a Free 1/2 Point on Two Teams at GTBets!!