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I’m going to be honest. It’s tough to get excited about a game that doesn’t mean anything.
The Detroit Lions haven’t won a game since October. The Denver Broncos are an AFC West team the Detroit Lions only play once every four years. They’ve been eliminated from the playoffs. The Lions have been eliminated from the playoffs.
At least for Broncos fans they’ll be able to look out for any improvement from their rookie quarterback Drew Lock.
I guess I’m interested to see if the Lions defense can do anything against the Broncos’ 30th ranked pass offense. But other than that, there’s not a lot to look forward to.
To me this one feels like a preseason game. Both teams will go out and play hard, but at the end of the day it won’t affect anything other than draft position.
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Opponent snapshot
At 5-9 the Denver Broncos are tied for third place in the AFC with the Chargers. They’re coming off of a loss in which they were eliminated from playoff contention for the fourth straight year. Much like the Lions, the Broncos have shown flashes throughout the year of progress, but they haven’t been able to get over the hump.
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Broncos’ biggest threat
Drew Lock
He might not be great, but the Lions have made just about every quarterback look like an All Pro this season. A weak pass rush from the Lions combined with an altitude adjustment in Denver could mean a long day for the Lions’ secondary running all over the field.
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Broncos’ weak link
Pass offense
The irony here is not lost on me. I just said Drew Lock was the Broncos biggest threat this week, but that has more to do with the Lions than it does with Lock.
The Broncos pass offense has been the offensive weakness this season – ranking 27th in overall offense (299.4 yards) and 30th in passing (196.4).
They also are currently ranked 30th in points (17.1), but I expect a little bit of a shootout on Sunday against a bad Lions defense.
Bottom line
The David Blough experiment is running out of steam in Detroit and I think Vic Fangio will be creative enough on defense to make the Lions offense struggle.
Prediction
Lions 17 Broncos 28