Sunday open thread: Who will finish with more passing yards: Matthew Stafford or Aaron Rodgers?

One of the oddest stats you’ll find about the Detroit Lions this year is that they have allowed the second fewest passing yards of any team in the NFL. Looking at the teams near them—Jaguars, Washington, Ravens, Seahawks—you’d understandably think the Lions pass defense is fairly stout.

... but you’d be wrong. The Lions rank so high in passing yards allowed simply because teams aren’t throwing the ball against Detroit. They’ve faced just 100 passing attempts, which is 23 fewer passes than any other team that has played four games this season.

Teams aren’t throwing the ball against the Lions for two reasons: first, they’ve been able to get out to early leads against Detroit, limiting their need to pass later in the games. The other reason is Detroit can’t stop the run, so teams are just keeping the ball on the ground.

So you have to wonder, with Aaron Rodgers in town, will Green Bay forego having the future Hall of Famer air it out on Sunday in favor of establishing the run? Today’s Question of the Day is:

Who will finish with more passing yards: Aaron Rodgers or Matthew Stafford?

My answer: I’m picking Stafford simply for the fact that I think the Lions will throw the ball more in this game. Don’t get me wrong, the Packers’ run defense is quite vulnerable too, and I expect Detroit to run the ball far more often than they did last week. Still, the Lions offense has always gone through Stafford, and I fully expect him to throw it at least 5-10 more times than Rodgers this week. That doesn’t mean the Lions will lose necessarily, just that they are going to be forced to air it out more.

Your turn.