Sunday Night Football: Detroit Lions Host the New England Patriots

Detroit Lions' Patricia Faces Former Boss Tonight

The New England Patriots and the Detroit Lions meet on Sunday Night Football. They will meet at Ford Field. NBC Sports will have the television coverage and kickoff is set for 8:20 pm EST.

Oddsmakers opened the Patriots as -7-point favorites versus the Lions, while the game's total opened at 50. The line is now New England -6.5 and the total has flown up to 55.

Matt Patricia had one of the best coaching gigs in the NFL. He was serving as defensive coordination under Bill Belichick on the staff of the New England Patriots.

Patricia parlayed his success in that post into his first head coaching job with the Detroit Lions. He will have to beat Belichick and the visiting Patriots on Sunday night to earn his first career victory.

Aside from matching wits with his mentor Belichick, Patricia must find a way to slow three-time NFL MVP Tom Brady. He is coming off a rare clunker in a 31-20 loss at Jacksonville.

Sunday's game could mark the Patriots debut of wide receiver Josh Gordon. He has been a limited participant in practice since he was acquired from the Cleveland Browns earlier this week.

New England is 45-6 after a loss since the 2003 season, last dropping back-to-back regular-season games in 2015.

Patriots Still Trying to Find Itself

The Patriots are 1-1 to start the new season. New England's defense looks like it could use Patricia back in his previous role. They allowed Jacksonville's Blake Bortles to throw for 376 yards and four touchdowns in last week's romp.

Trey Flowers is the team's top defensive lineman. He was knocked out of last week's game with a concussion. Safety Patrick Chung also suffered a concussion. Both have yet to practice this week and their availability looks increasingly in question.

Brady did connect with wideout Chris Hogan for a pair of scoring passes. James White was the leading receiver with seven catches for 73 yards. Rookie running back Sony Michel rushed for a team-high 34 yards on 10 carries in his NFL debut.

TE Rob Gronkowski has 10 receptions for 143 in the last two matchups versus Detroit.

New England is 52-13 against the NFC since realignment in 2002, the NFL's best inter-conference record in that span.

The Lions are Still Looking for Identity as a Team

The Lions are  off to an 0-2 start under their new regime. They have looked ragged and inconsistent so far under Patricia.

Detroit was shredded by the New York Jets 48-17 in the season opener at home. They fell behind by 17 points in the fourth quarter before Matthew Stafford threw a pair of touchdown passes in the three-point defeat.

Stafford has attempted 99 passes as the revamped running game has sputtered. Rookie Kerryon Johnson managed a team-high 60 yards on 13 carries.

Golden Tate and running back Theo Riddick share the team lead with 14 catches. Kenny Golladay is emerging as a dangerous weapon for Stafford. He has 13 receptions for a club-high 203 yards and a score.

The Lions could be without one of their top defenders with cornerback Darius Slay unable to practice this week due to a concussion.

Stafford has thrown for 2,900 yards and 20 touchdowns in his last 10 home games.

PREDICTION: Patriots 30, Lions 23

Recent Form

Name	Record	ATS	Offense	Defense	Diff	ATS Home	ATS Away	OU Record	OU Home	OU Away
New England	1-1	1-1	23.50	25.50	-2	1-0	0-1	1-1	0-1	1-0
Detroit	0-2	1-1	22.00	39.00	-17	0-1	1-0	2-0	1-0	1-0

Power Stats

Yards Per Point

Name	Offense	Defense	Differential
NE	14.7	15.8	-1.1
DET	17.41	8.91	8.5

Yards Per Pass

Name	Offense	Defense	Differential
NE	9.74	11.63	-1.89
DET	9.98	9.88	0.1

Yards Per Rush

Name	Offense	Defense	Differential
NE	3.71	4.67	-0.96
DET	4.15	5.61	-1.46

Team Records

New England Patriots

Name	Record	Home	Away	ATS	ATS Home	ATS Away	Offense	Defense	Diff
Overall	1-1	1-0	0-1	1-1	1-0	0-1	23.50	25.50	-2.00
vs Conf	1-1	1-0	0-1	1-1	1-0	0-1	23.50	25.50	-2.00
vs Div	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0.00	0.00	0.00
Last 3	1-1	1-0	0-1	1-1	1-0	0-1	23.50	25.50	-2.00

Detroit Lions

Name	Record	Home	Away	ATS	ATS Home	ATS Away	Offense	Defense	Diff
Overall	0-2	0-1	0-1	1-1	0-1	1-0	22.00	39.00	-17.00
vs Conf	0-1	0-0	0-1	1-0	0-0	1-0	27.00	30.00	-3.00
vs Div	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0.00	0.00	0.00
Last 3	0-2	0-1	0-1	1-1	0-1	1-0	22.00	39.00	-17.00

Supergrid

Title	Stat	Rank	Stat	Rank
Away Team Overall Scoring vs Home Team Overall Defense	23.50	15	39.00	32
Awy Team Road Passing vs Home Team Home Passing Defense	220.00	20	180.00	8
Away Team Road Rushing vs Home Team Home Rushing Defense	82.00	23	169.00	27
Home Team Overall Scoring vs Away Team Overall Defense	22.00	19	25.50	20
Hme Team Home Passing vs Away Team Road Passing Defense	300.00	10	377.00	26
Home Team Home Rushing vs Away Team Road Rushing Defense	39.00	27	104.00	15

Head To Head Summary

Name	Record	ATS	OU	Score	Rush	YPR	PA	CP	PY	TY	TO +/-
New England	4-1	3-2	3-2	27.20	96.60	3.80	36.60	66.67	266.00	362.60	1.40
Detroit	1-4	2-3	3-2	20.00	97.80	4.18	39.80	53.27	240.80	338.60	2.40

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
Nov 23, 2014	DET	NE	9-34	91	244	335	1	90	349	439	1
Nov 25, 2010	NE	DET	45-24	109	338	447	0	129	277	406	2
Dec 3, 2006	DET	NE	21-28	77	284	361	5	79	284	363	3
Nov 28, 2002	NE	DET	20-12	139	210	349	1	82	210	292	3
Nov 23, 2000	NE	DET	9-34	66	149	215	2	110	189	299	1
Sep 25, 1994	NE	DET	23-17				0				0
Sep 12, 1993	DET	NE	19-16				0				0
Dec 8, 1985	DET	NE	6-23				0				0
Oct 7, 1979	DET	NE	17-24				0				0
Oct 10, 1976	NE	DET	10-30				0				0

NFL Betting Odds & Trends

New England Patriots
Patriots are 11-4 ATS in its last 15 games
New England is 14-3 SU in its last 17 games
New England is 14-4 ATS in its last 18 games on the road
Patriots are 16-2 SU in its last 18 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of New England's last 5 games on the road
New England is 6-2 ATS in its last 8 games when playing Detroit
New England is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing Detroit

Detroit Lions
Detroit is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games
The total has gone OVER in 8 of Detroit's last 11 games
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Detroit's last 5 games at home
Detroit is 2-6 ATS in its last 8 games when playing New England
Detroit is 1-5 SU in its last 6 games when playing New England

Team Last 5 Games

New England Patriots

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
Sep 16, 2018	JAC	20-31	L	-2/44.5	L/O	82	220	302	104	377	481	-1	A
Sep 9, 2018	HOU	27-20	W	-6.5/49.5	W/U	122	267	389	167	158	325	1	H
Feb 4, 2018	PHI	33-41	L	-4.5/49	L/O	113	500	613	164	374	538	0	H
Jan 21, 2018	JAC	24-20	W	-8/45.5	L/U	46	298	344	101	273	374	1	H
Jan 13, 2018	TEN	35-14	W	-13.5/48	W/O	101	337	438	65	202	267	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
Sep 16, 2018	SF	27-30	L	6/48	W/O	98	329	427	190	156	346	1	A
Sep 10, 2018	NYJ	17-48	L	-7/44	L/O	39	300	339	169	180	349	3	H
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

Next up:
New England home to Miami Sunday, September 30
Detroit at Dallas Sunday, September 30

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