Photo: EA Sports

Not many expect the Detroit Lions, losers of six-straight games, to defeat the Atlanta Falcons tonight. The sports books list the Falcons as four point favorites while only Adam Schefter was brave enough to pick the Lions while the rest of the ESPN panel of experts went with the Falcons.

That’s what man has to say, but what about machine? ESPN published their weekly Madden 13 video game simulation and the result doesn’t come back with good results for the Lions with the Falcons winning 26-17.

The virtual recap reads like this:

When Matt Ryan hits Julio Jones on a 35-yard bomb in the second quarter, it’s 10-0 Falcons, and Detroit plays catch-up to no avail for the remainder of the game. Ryan finishes with 267 yards passing, including two touchdowns, as the Falcons look to finish strong these last two weeks and prove to all the naysayers that they can contend for the title once January rolls around.

The simulation stats produced just 63 receiving yards for Calvin Johnson. That would leave him 119 yards short of Jerry Rice’s single-season receiving yards record.

So, does the simulation seems realistic? Perhaps although everyone should expect Megatron to come away with more than 63 receiving yards. The simulation’s result might be an accurate representation of each team overall but it can’t account for a game’s intangibles like Johnson’s chase of Rice’s record.

the Detroit Lions face a must-win situation this week against the Green Bay Packers. Win and their playoff hopes survive another week, lose and anything short of running the table likely won’t be enough.

Can the Lions pull off the mild upset or will the Packers stay on the winning path and bury their division rivals? We’ll find out for sure on Sunday but ESPN has run their weekly Madden 13 simulations to give us an idea how it might play out.

The simulation recap reads like this:

Aaron Rodgers completes 22 of 27 passes for 291 yards and two touchdowns as the Packers take down their NFC North rival 27-23. The Lions and Packers exchanged scores throughout this one, with Detroit taking a late lead thanks to a 70-yard bomb to Titus Young. But it’s Rodgers who has the last laugh, hitting Jones on a 6-yard score to give Green Bay its fifth win in a row.

The three point spread favoring the Packers seemed a little thin considering the state of each team. The Packers seem to be hitting their stride while the Lions still mire in inconsistency. That being said, Vegas has a funny way of “knowing” and the Madden 13 simulation tends to agree. The 27-23 final score in the simulation comes in two points less than the current over/under of 52 total points.

Photo: EA Sports

The Detroit Lions’ week four loss to the Minnesota Vikings was something of a surprise. Can the Vikings pull off another stunner to sweep the 2012 series from the Lions? We’ll find out for sure on Sunday but ESPN has run their weekly Madden 13 simulations to give us an idea how it might play out.

The news is good for Lions fans. The winning streak will reach three games.

The virtual recap reads like this:

Calvin Johnson, on the cover of “Madden,” continues to dominate these simulations, catching five passes for 104 yards in Detroit’s 24-20 win over the Vikings. But it’s not all Megatron in this one. Thanks to Mikel Leshoure, the Lions finally have a solid running attack to complement their passing game. The back runs for 74 yards and one touchdown to help Detroit pull out the much-needed win.

A four point win would give the Lions a cover on the current sports book line of Lions -3, while the 44 total points scored in the simulation comes in under the current over/under of 46 points. Sound realistic?