Detroit Lions at Philadelphia Eagles: betting odds, matchup, preview, trends and pick

Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE - Presswire

The Lions have struggled and the Eagles are lucky to be 3-2. Detroit comes off a bye week and Philly is headed for one - who needs the game more and is the OVER the safest bet on the board?

The Detroit Lions hope to pick up their first road win of the season when they visit the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field this Sunday.

Philadelphia opened as a 5.5-point favorite, but it had been bet down to -4 by Thursday.

"Many are backing the Lions here, but they are just 1-6 ATS in their past six games as an underdog and they typically struggle coming off a bye week," said Jeff Grant of SportsbookReview.com.

After enjoying a breakout season last year, the Detroit Lions have seemingly taken a step backwards in 2012. After winning its home opener against St. Louis, Detroit entered its bye last week on a three game losing streak, and is 0-4 ATS this season.

Dating back to last year, the Lions are just 1-10 ATS in their last 11 games. The bye week last week might have been just what the doctor ordered as Matt Stafford, Mikel Leshoure and Calvin Johnson are all a bit banged up.

For the second straight season, the Philadelphia Eagles haven't been able to live up to their preseason hype. Philadelphia is 3-2 SU and 2-3 ATS, but those numbers could be a lot worse as the Eagles' three wins have come by a combined total of four points.

Michael Vick is having an extremely subpar season as turnovers have plagued him and the offense is averaging just 16 points per game. The defense has been outstanding however, giving up only 19.8 points per game even with all the turnovers against.

Neither team has looked very impressive here. If history is any indication, Philadelphia should be the pick; the Eagles are 6-0 SU and 5-1 ATS since 1995 against the Lions.

But looking at the current make-up of these teams, it is hard to pass on four points ATS. Philadelphia has shown no ability whatsoever to run away with a game, and Detroit's front seven is perfectly capable of forcing turnovers.

On top of that, the Lions have had the bye week to gameplan for Philadelphia on both sides of the ball. Every Eagles' game seems to be close, so we'll take the valuable points on the Lions in this one.

Still, almost every Lions road game goes OVER the total, so we bet...

PICK: OVER 47.5 (courtesy of PickShark.com)