On Monday night, the Detroit Lions will be going to Seattle to take on the Seahawks. The Lions are 0-3 while the Seahawks are 1-2. Those aren’t exactly the kind of numbers that elicit excitement, but this game has a lot of eyes on it for reasons other than the teams’ records.
One big reason is Seattle tight end, Jimmy Graham. Graham finally had a big game last week against the Chicago Bears where he received for 83 yards and had a touchdown. Graham is one of the top 3 TEs in the NFL, and the game against Chicago showed a lot of his doubters that he is still deserving of that honor.
Another thing that has people excited about this game is strong safety Kam Chancellor. Chancellor had only one tackle last week, but because he didn’t play in the first two games of the season, a slow start was to be expected. This week, he should be back at full strength and ready to contribute to one of the NFL’s best defenses. Seattle hasn’t shown that they have much of a defense yet this year, despite having the fewest points scored against them in the league last year. Chancellor is back though, and they should start showing what they are capable of again.
Vegas has the Seattle Seahawks as the overwhelming favorites for this game. The spread stands at -10 in favor of the Seahawks, and the money line is -600, up considerably from the -475 it was a few days before the game. While most people have already finalized their daily fantasy football rosters for the week, Seattle QB Russell Wilson looks like he is finally ready to have a breakthrough night. The Lions’ defense has been underwhelming this year, and Wilson has steadily been getting back to the level that he was at toward the end of last year, when he led his team to the Super Bowl.
With that in mind, Detroit doesn’t have the same buzz surrounding them that Seattle does. Quarterback Matthew Stafford is talented, but doesn’t have the supporting offense to help him achieve big numbers. He has thrown for 814 yards so far this season and has 5 touchdowns, but his QB Rating is only 78.7. He’s capable of much better, but until he gets a good offensive line and a talented wide receiver to assist him, Stafford will keep turning out mediocre numbers. It also makes him a very unattractive fantasy QB, especially against team like the Seahawks where he is already at a disadvantage.
The Lions do have wide receiver Calvin Johnson. He has been very inconsistent lately, though, and isn’t really someone that you should rely upon too heavily for your daily fantasy roster. It really depends upon the defense he is going against, and again, Seattle is not the place where he should be experimented with. Johnson is more than capable of producing big numbers, but with recent unreliability, a lower than normal reception percentage (58.8%), and the return of Chancellor to Seattle’s lineup, Johnson shouldn’t have much of a priority for your lineup.
The other reason why this game has created some excitement is that the returning NFC Champions need to have a big night, and they need to have it soon. This matchup provides a perfect opportunity for Seattle to silence their critics and show that they are still capable of winning games and that they belong in the postseason yet again this year. They might not be Super Bowl material come this February, but they are still a talented team, which isn’t that apparent by how they’ve been playing recently.
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