NFL Game Preview for Sunday November 14, 2010: Detroit Lions at Buffalo Bills -3

Betting Overview

You have to be really careful if your NFL betting plans include this particular game. Football betting can seem easy when one of the teams involved has not won a game yet, but when you look at the NFL predictions that the Buffalo Bills (0-8) have been a part of in the past three weeks you start to wonder if something isn’t brewing in Western New York.

The Lions are mortally wounded. News was just released that quarterback Matthew Stafford’s shoulder injury will end his season. Without the duo of Stafford throwing to Calvin Johnson, the Lions offense is not nearly as effective. The pressure to sustain the offense now falls on rookie running back Jahvid Best, and with the offensive line that the Lions have that may be too much for the first year player.

Offense

Throw out every offensive stat for the season on the Buffalo Bills because the offensive production is not their problem. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick is one of the top three quarterbacks in the league when it comes to rating and touchdowns. The offense is moving the ball what it needs to.

What is killing the Bills are penalties and turnovers. When the Bills get themselves into a position to score and win the game they will either turn the ball over, miss the field goal or take a penalty that will eventually cause them to turn the ball over on downs. If the Bills can learn to limit their mistakes then their first win will come.

As was mentioned before, the Lions offense is ineffective without Matthew Stafford. They will lean on the running game against the Bills and, considering how bad the Bills running defense is, that may not be such a bad thing. If Drew Stanton tries to air it out then the Bills secondary, who has been dying to get their first real interceptions of the season, will make him pay.

Defense

Not only did the Lions make a good draft pick with running back Jahvid Best, but they also did well with defensive lineman and place kicker Ndamukong Suh. Suh has six and a half sacks this season, an interception and is 0 for 1 on extra-point attempts.

The Lions defense as a unit ranks in the bottom half of the league, but a game against the Bills always seems to fix any team’s run defense. Mostly because the Bills refuse to play their first round draft pick running back C.J. Spiller.

The Bills defense is ranked sixth against the pass, but it is dead last in points allowed and against the run. The Bills are awful against the run, and they allow opposing offenses to set up short touchdown passes by allowing so many yards on the rush. Against a team like the Lions, who have a weak offensive line but an explosive runner in Jahvid Best, the Bills could be in trouble.

The Bottom Line

The Buffalo Bills will not go 0-16 this season. In their last three games they have taken two teams to overtime and lost to another by three points. The Lions are ripe for the picking because of the loss of Stafford, and the Bills have just enough to take advantage of it.

Pick: Buffalo Bills