{"id":24256,"date":"2023-09-05T17:59:51","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T21:59:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/?p=24256"},"modified":"2023-09-05T17:59:53","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T21:59:53","slug":"thursday-night-football-week-1-detroit-lions-at-kansas-city-chiefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/nfl\/thursday-night-football-week-1-detroit-lions-at-kansas-city-chiefs\/","title":{"rendered":"THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL WEEK 1: DETROIT LIONS AT KANSAS CITY CHIEFS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BY ADAM GREENE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After surrendering the airwaves for a single weekend to college football (and Canadian Football, I guess), the NFL returns in force to kick off its 2023-24 season with a Thursday night match up between two teams both expected to make the playoffs by season\u2019s end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the Detroit Lions, the story is all about head coach Dan Campbell\u2019s third campaign with the team. The Lions came within sniffing distance of the playoffs a year ago and could all but punch their ticket by stacking up some early victories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kansas City Chiefs have once again been robbed of their depth and talent by other NFL franchises, but such is the lot of a champion. They remain the favorite to win it all and their quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, the gold standard at the position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DETROIT LIONS AT KANSAS CITY CHIEFS (-6, O\/U: 53)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Location:<\/strong> GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Mo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broadcast:<\/strong> NBC<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kickoff:<\/strong> Sep. 7. 8:20 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DETROIT LIONS (0-0)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact that the Lions, who did not make the playoffs last season (but would have if the refs in the Los Angeles Rams vs Seattle Seahawks game weren\u2019t complete garbage), are in the season opener TNF game shows exactly how high the expectations are for the team this season. Detroit did nothing but boost their odds, through both free agent acquisitions and the draft, adding running back Jahmyr Gibbs from Alabama, a guy I think will be in the Offensive Rookie of the Year conversation. Quarterback Jared Goff is coming off his best season since 2018 and playing for a contract extension and forever home with the Lions. Last year Goff was good for a 65.1 completion percentage, 4,438 yads (third highest total of his seven-year career), 29 touchdowns (second highest total of his career) and seven interceptions (tied for the lowest of his career).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jameson Williams\u2019 suspension hurts Detroit, but they\u2019re deep enough at wideout with Amon-Ra St. Brown, Marvin Jones, Jr. and Josh Reynolds where they should be fine until he suits back up in Week 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS (0-0)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no secret as to why the Chiefs were selected to open the season with this showcase. They\u2019re the defending Super Bowl Champions after defeating the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII. Not everything has gone well for the champs this offseason. Their roster was raided once again and they have to deploy new starters on offense and defense, especially up front on both lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also got some bad news in practice this week as All-Universe tight end Travis Kelce hyperextended his knee and could miss Thursday night\u2019s game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes is coming off an MVP campaign that saw him lead the NFL in passing yards (5,250) and touchdown passes (41) with just 12 interceptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE PICK<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NFL has the ability to shock everyone, with pretty much any result. That being said, I\u2019m not sure anyone outside of Dan Campbell\u2019s household is picking Detroit to win this one. I do think there\u2019s a chance it could be closer than the spread. Chiefs 27, Lions 23<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Straight up:<\/strong> 8-8<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against the spread:<\/strong> 9-7<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preseason<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Straight up:<\/strong> 26-21-2<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against the spread:<\/strong> 26-23<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow Adam Greene on Twitter <\/em>@TheFirstMan<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connect with us our socials on <\/em>Twitter<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>Instagram<\/em><\/a> for the latest sports news, viral moments, betting odds and the occasional memes.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY ADAM GREENE After surrendering the airwaves for a single weekend to college football (and Canadian Football, I guess), the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":24257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[129],"tags":[146],"class_list":["post-24256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl","tag-nfl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24256"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24258,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24256\/revisions\/24258"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}