The Detroit Lions were favored last week to defeat the Los Angeles Rams in their wild-card matchup at Ford Field, but some NFL journalists felt the Rams had a shot to emerge victorious due to deficiencies in Detroit’s secondary and the potency of Los Angeles’ offense.
Well, that’s a bit of the same thing this week.
Following their narrow 24-23 victory over the Rams, the majority of NFL journalists, including MLive’s Kyle Meinke and Ben Raven, predict the Lions will triumph over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Sunday’s divisional round.
However, there are still those who believe the Buccaneers’ strong finish to the season, including their wild-card win over the Philadelphia Eagles, might provide enough momentum for them to surpass the Lions.
The winner of Sunday’s game will advance to the NFC Championship game to play either the Green Bay Packers or the San Francisco 49ers.
As we approach Sunday’s game, here are some predictions from journalists across the country.
I picked the Lions to win 12 games, and they won 12 games. I picked the Lions to beat L.A., and they beat L.A. Yes, I’m taking them over Tampa too.
I’m worried about what Mike Evans might do to the Lions secondary, but every other matchup favors Detroit decidedly.
That’s especially true when Jared Goff is on the field.
That man is playing at the height of his powers right now, with an All-Pro receiver, All-Pro tight end and one of the best 1-2 running back combos in the league — neither of whom was healthy for the duration of the first game in Tampa.
You know, a game where Goff threw for a season-high 353 yards and Detroit won by 14 points.
The playoffs are another beast, but then again, so is this Lions team.
And if you were inside Ford Field last week, you’d understand why I’m not picking against them in that building again this season.
