NFL Week 2 expert picks: National analysts don’t have much faith in Lions over Giants

Did the Detroit Lions Week 1 victory over the Arizona Cardinals turn doubters into believers? Last week, 57.5 percent of national experts picked the Lions to lose in their home opener, but most haven’t changed their tune heading into Week 2.

With the Lions at the Meadowlands to face the 0-1 New York Giants, most experts are still picking against the Lions. Obviously, the Giants are their own team with their own set of challenges, and playing on the road is always more difficult than a home opener, but more national experts are picking against the Lions this week than they were last week. Take a look:

National analysts:

ESPN: 2 of 9 picked Lions
SB Nation: 5 of 8 picked Lions
CBS Sports: 3 of 8 picked Lions
Pro Football Focus: 2 of 9 picked Lions
Sports Illustrated: 4 of 6 picked Lions

Total: 15 of 40 picked Lions (40%)

Like last week, PFF only has two experts going with Detroit tonight. Similarly, ESPN doesn’t appear to have much faith in the Lions.

Locally, there’s also a bit of a dive in terms of optimism surrounding the hometown Lions. Against the Cardinals, 64 percent of local writers picked Detroit, but that number is almost down 10 percentage points this week.

Local analysts:

MLive: 1 of 3 picked Lions
Freep: 0 of 3 picked Lions
Detroit News: 3 of 4 picked Lions
Detroit Jock City: 5 of 9 picked Lions
Pride of Detroit: 7 of 10 picked Lions

Total: 16 of 29 picked Lions (55.2%)

Overall, there’s a little more caution in the air in Detroit, and that’s to be expected. New York was widely considered to be the better team heading into the 2017 season, and it’s hard to shake those preconceived notions this early in the season, especially when no one wants to overreact to one week of football.

We’ll see which experts are right in just a few hours.