{"id":29733,"date":"2013-08-22T14:18:37","date_gmt":"2013-08-22T19:18:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=29733"},"modified":"2013-08-22T14:18:37","modified_gmt":"2013-08-22T19:18:37","slug":"2013-nfl-preseason-week-3-picks-new-england-patriots-vs-detroit-lions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/2013-nfl-preseason-week-3-picks-new-england-patriots-vs-detroit-lions-29733\/","title":{"rendered":"2013 NFL Preseason Week 3 Picks: New England Patriots vs. Detroit Lions"},"content":{"rendered":"

New England Patriots vs. Detroit Lions
\nThursday, 8\/22\/13, 7:30 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 N\/A
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Detroit -1.5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Detroit -2.5
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 45.5
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 46
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Detroit Lions want to pressure New England Patriots QB Tom Brady Thursday night<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

New England is 2-0 straight up and against the spread in the 2013 NFL preseason, including a 25-21 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as three-point home favorites last Friday, while going OVER the betting total in each contest.\u00a0 The Patriots continue to be led by quarterback Tom Brady on the offensive end, who has completed 18 of 20 passes for 172 yards and a pair of touchdowns, which can\u2019t be ignored when looking over the pro football odds page.\u00a0 The franchise is 2-5 all-time against Detroit in exhibition play, including a 1-3 mark when playing in the Motor City.<\/p>\n

The Patriots haven\u2019t started a preseason schedule with a 3-0 record since 2003, but they\u2019ll be more concerned about the tight end position on the depth chart, as Rob Gronkowski continues recover from offseason surgeries, while Aaron Hernandez is in jail.\u00a0 On the other side of the football, New England is hoping its defensive line can create pressure this season\u2014starting with the play of second-year defensive end Chandler Jones.\u00a0 The unit registered four sacks on the first four drives against the Buccaneers.<\/p>\n

Detroit has split its first two games, as it looks to bounce back from a 24-6 defeat to the Cleveland Browns as 1.5-point road underdogs last Thursday, while going UNDER the betting total of 42.5.\u00a0 The Lions have managed just one offensive touchdown and six field goals in two contests, which is important to consider when making your pro football picks Thursday night.\u00a0 Starting signal-caller Matthew Stafford has connected on 14 of 24 passes for 132 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.<\/p>\n

The Lions are hoping that star wide receiver Calvin Johnson can return to the lineup, as he\u2019s been battling a bruised knee over the last week.\u00a0 Detroit may be more concerned with Stafford\u2019s passer rating, which was 116.9 and 154.7 in the last two preseasons, but stands at 73.6 entering this affair.\u00a0 From a defensive standpoint, the unit wants to pressure Brady, with Ndamukong Suh likely leading the charge.<\/p>\n

Sports bettors will likely play the OVER in this affair, as both quarterbacks will likely attempt 25-plus passes before giving way to their backups.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss out on a winning season and let the NFL handicappers at Maddux Sports line your pockets with cash.\u00a0 Long term packages are available now!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New England Patriots vs. Detroit Lions Thursday, 8\/22\/13, 7:30 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 N\/A Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Detroit -1.5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Detroit -2.5 Opening Total:\u00a0 45.5 Current Total:\u00a0 46 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker New England is 2-0 straight up and against the spread in the 2013 NFL preseason, including a 25-21 victory over the Tampa […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":29520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,132],"tags":[2753,542,616,1411,125,31,398],"class_list":["post-29733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nfl-handicapping","tag-calvin-johnson","tag-detroit-lions","tag-matthew-stafford","tag-ndamukong-suh","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-nfl","tag-tom-brady"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29733"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29734,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29733\/revisions\/29734"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}