Sun. 10-27 vs. New York Giants (2-3)
It would have been easy to leave the Giants for dead when Saquon Barkley went out with an injury in the Tampa Bay game a few weeks back. Truth be told, most people had already left the 0-2 Giants for dead even before Saquon went down. But somewhere along the way, through the young superstar’s injury and the inevitable benching of Eli Manning, the Giants got a new(ish) lease on life in 2019.
After two straight wins led by Daniel Jones (coming back from 25-10 down against the Bucs), sluggish performances from the Cowboys and Eagles, and a much faster than expected rehab by Barkley, the Giants are very much alive(ish) in the NFC East race.
Outlook: Even with the mini-resurgence and a lot of excitement surrounding rookie quarterback Daniel Jones, there’s no excuse for anything less than a Lions win here.
Speaking of teams that were left for dead very early in the season…
Sun. 11-3 @ Oakland (3-2)
The Raiders made the single riskiest move of the NFL offseason, it blew up in their faces, and as a result they’re…thriving? The Antonio Brown fiasco, Vontaze Burfict getting tossed out of the league, or even his brother Jay getting fired hasn’t been able to dampen the spirits of John ‘knock on wood‘ Gruden and company. The longer these plucky underdogs from Hard Knocks hang around in their own divisional race, the more dangerous an opponent they’ll be for the Lions out west.
Outlook: Knock on wood if you’re suddenly nervous about this one.