Detroit Lions vs Los Angeles Rams Prediction & Betting Tips - NFL

Prediction published on 12/01/2024, 20:15  by Matthew Newman | Modified on 13/01/2024 at 13:28 in NFL Predictions

The 12-5 Detroit Lions and the 10-7 Los Angeles Rams swapped quarterbacks in January 2021 with the teams taking one another on in the playoffs in the early hours of Monday morning. The Rams would win the Super Bowl in Matthew Stafford's first season in California so the Lions will be looking for a win to show that they didn't get the rough end of the deal with Jared Goff. Goff has enjoyed an excellent season for the Lions, helping them to their first NFC Divisional banner since 1993. He threw 30 touchdowns, the 4th most in the league, completed the second most passes with 407 and did it all with a passer rating of 97.9 which was 9th best. They were not a one-dimensional attack though as they had the fifth most rushing yards, which came from an excellent one-two punch of David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs. It's 30 years since Detroit last hosted a playoff game, losing the last eight times that they have managed to get into a wildcard game. The city is ready for a winning team and the crowd are going to be raucous as the playoffs finally return to the Motor City.

Four wins in a row to end the season saw the Rams claim a playoff spot in the final week. They have been exceptional in the second half of the season, winning seven of their eight games following a bye week that came at a perfect time. They were 3-6 heading into that week off, looking as poor as last season but they turned things around in no uncertain terms. The Lions are a strong run-stopping team as they showed a few weeks back against the Dallas Cowboys. That could be an issue for Kyren Williams who led the league in rush yards per game for the Rams with 95.3. Only three teams gave up more yards through the air than the Lions though and that is something that the Rams will hope they can exploit. Puka Nacua had an incredible rookie season with 1,486 receiving yards but they were split as an average of 98.4 yards per home game and 77.7 on the road. He will need to step up on that here, with Cooper Kupp still a long way below the peak form that he showed in the Super Bowl-winning campaign.