5 bold predictions for the Detroit Lions in Week 18 at Green Bay Packers
2. Amon-Ra St. Brown gets double-digit receptions
Green Bay has two very good cornerbacks in Jaire Alexander and Rasul Douglas, but as primarily perimeter corners how much one or the other will cover St. Brown (or travel with him) on Sunday is unclear.
"Amon-Ra St. Brown has earned a first down on 17 percent of his third-down routes. To put some context behind the number: That ranks first among all wide receivers with 10-plus third-down targets. St. Brown was one of the best bets you could make in fantasy football and a huge factor in why the once-lowly Lions are a playoff contender heading into the final week of the season. Green Bay just put the clamps on Justin Jefferson last week. However, the routes St. Brown runs and where he lines up pre-snap — 55% of snaps in the slot, vs. 23% for Jefferson — will make that a difficult plan to replicate. It also helps that Detroit has a variety of secondary and tertiary threats defenses need to worry about, which, strange as it is to say, Minnesota can’t really claim."
St. Brown had just four catches for 55 yards (on nine targets) against the Packers back in Week 9. But that was a different Lions’ offense, and a different version of Jared Goff. As Alexander and Douglas make Detroit’s outside receivers more hit-and-miss for notable production on Sunday night, the “Sun God” becomes a high-volume option to great success.