The Detroit Lions and the Los Angeles Chargers seem to be very similar teams in the 2019 season. Both squads feature a solid veteran gunslinger with a lot of promising skill position players, but question marks throughout the roster.
In addition to a similar construction, both teams gained early leads in their Week 1 contests before collapsing in the fourth quarter and having to go into overtime. The Lions gave up an 18-point lead to the Arizona Cardinals before playing them to a draw, and the Chargers let the Indianapolis Colts climb back into the game after leading by 11 at the half before ultimately earning the win in extra time.
With that in mind, this is set to be a close game. Vegas has the teams separated by fewer than three points in the spread. Here are four bold predictions for the Week 2 matchup.
Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram will combine for 5+ sacks
One of the more underraed pass rushing duos in the NFL is in Los Angeles. Bosa and Ingram can provide constant pressure off both edges for the Chargers. Both defenders had a sack in Week 1, and the pair's reputation around the league is starting to grow, as Lauren Williams of MLive covered earlier this week.
Lions fans should be afraid of that duo, especially because left tackle Taylor Decker struggled all day long to stop Arizona's Terrell Suggs. It doesn't help that the former Ohio State Buckeye tackle is dealing with back issues.
While they will have the home crowd behind them, Decker and right tackle Rick Wagner will most likely struggle all day long, leading to Bosa and Ingram going off in the contest.
Marvin Jones will score his first two touchdowns of the season
The Lions' passing attack put up almost 400 yards in Week 1, and while T.J. Hockenson and Danny Amendola each were able to amass over 100 yards and a touchdown, Jones had a quiet day: only four catches for 56 yards.
Jones specializes as a deep-ball threat, and since Chargers safety Derwin James is likely to sit out while recovering with a foot injury, the middle of the field should be wide open for Jones.
If offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell is willing to take shots on deep balls down the field, Jones will get a chance to celebrate with the Detroit faithful in the end zone more than once.
Matthew Stafford and Philip Rivers will combine to throw for 650+ yards.
As mentioned at the beginning, both teams have talented skill players throughout their rosters with veteran quarterbacks who can throw the air out of the ball.
Given the status of these defenses and the reputation of these quarterbacks, this game is likely to be a shootout with both teams scoring 30 or more points. Both quarterbacks threw for over 300 yards last week; expect more of that in this intense quarterback battle between two players who don't get enough credit.
The Lions will win on a last-second field goal
With a likely offensive onslaught taking place at Ford Field come Sunday, Vegas has set the over/under at 47.5 for this game while favoring the Chargers by 2.5 points.
While the Chargers are certainly a good football team, these Lions are hungry for a victory after last week's tie. Stafford is likely to be the hungriest of them all; he was seen mouthing the words “trust me” on the sideline against the Cardinals.
The former Georgia Bulldog was rightfully pissed that the coaching staff didn't trust him to win the game and deferred to the run. He is likely to take that anger out on this Chargers defense, which is not in tip-top shape due to injury concerns and a shaky performance against the Indianapolis Colts this past week.
This game is likely to end in the last few minutes. With the Lions' crowd behind him, I see veteran kicker Matt Prater nailing a 50-yard field goal right down the middle to win the game as the clock expires, 31-30. With that predicted final score, the Lions will win outright, negating Vegas' prediction of the spread.
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