Detroit Lions vs. Falcons: Week 16 betting odds, spread, and prediction

The Detroit Lions are heading down to Georgia this Sunday to take on the Atlanta Falcons in some Week 16 action. Somehow, someway, the Lions are coming off of a win against the Arizona Cardinals, which is shocking enough.

However, it now seems like the Detroit Lions may end up jeopardizing their draft position if they continue to win football games. This Sunday’s matchup against the Falcons is a winnable game; whether you are rooting for wins or draft position, the Lions may come out on top and get their third win of the season.

On the other hand, the 6-8 Falcons are struggling to really get things going. They have been pretty mediocre and are coming off of a blowout loss to the San Francisco 49ers. Given their situations, it will be interesting to see how these two teams match up on Sunday.

The one thing holding the Lions back is that quarterback Jared Goff was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list on Tuesday. Certainly not what the Lions want to see after Goff looked fantastic against the Cardinals and really has cleared some things up in the last few weeks.

The Detroit Lions will be looking for back-to-back wins on Sunday.

If the Lions have to turn backups, their offense will likely slow down a bit. Going from Goff to Tim Boyle or David Blough will be a much different look after Goff has pieced together each of the last few weeks.

Offensively, the Lions will be looking for Amon-Ra St. Brown to continue his streak of quality performances. On the flip side, the Falcons offense will be heavily reliant on Russell Gage and Kyle Pitts to get things going.

So the Lions will have to try and minimize these two and take away options from Matt Ryan. The Falcons also have Cordarrelle Patterson, who is a dual-threat option to consider. According to the Falcons roster, he’s a running back but will also do a lot more for their team throughout the game.

The Lions have their work cut out for them on Sunday but can certainly come away victorious.

Detroit Lions betting odds, spread, and prediction

According to WynnBET, the Atlanta Falcons are favored by 5.5 points at the time of writing this betting preview. With the -5.5 point line favoring the Cardinals, the Over/Under is set at 42.5 points on the game.

Prediction: The Lions’ +5.5 points sounds like a good pick considering it seems like this will be a close game. I like the Lions’ +5.5 and the over of 42.5 points. Now, without Goff, the over seems like a tougher sell, but I think it’s going to be a shootout between the two offenses as they simply take advantage of each other’s defenses.