Sunday, September 13th
New Orleans Saints @ Detroit Lions, 1:00 PM ET
This could be another game where the ending result shocks you, but at the same time, the 'easy' pick here might end up being the pick to make. The New Orleans Saints are coming into this season after what was a shockingly encouraging 2025 campaign.
Rookie quarterback Tyler Shough played better than I think a lot of us thought he would. He helped lead the Saints to a 5-4 record in his nine starts, which included four of five victories to end the season. Suddenly, the Saints find themselves right in the mix in the NFC South, and while that division is a weaker one, the Saints can be good enough to win it this year.
On the other sideline, we have the Detroit Lions, coming off a 9-8, non-playoff season. With that said, the Lions have won no fewer than nine games four years in a row, and did win 27 regular season games across the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
With Detroit, the one thing that has been the iffy part is the defense, as the injuries have continued into this offseason, and it was the defense that fell apart a bit down the stretch. The Lions were 7-4 through 11 games in 2025 but failed to touch 10 wins.
While the Saints would be a logical team to pick here for the upset, I am not doubting the Lions this year and view this team as a bounce-back club, as they're simply too talented not to win a ton of games, as I don't believe those 27 regular season wins across two seasons was at all a fluke.
Give me the Lions by eight points here in a game that could at least be closer than we might think.
Prediction: Detroit wins 28-20
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