NFL Picks 12/30: Detroit Lions @ Dallas Cowboys

NFL Picks 12/30: Detroit Lions @ Dallas Cowboys

by Thomas Quaynor for Wannamakeabet.com

The Detroit Lions (11-4) visit the Dallas Cowboys (10-5) in a Saturday Night affair at AT&T Stadium. Dallas is a 4.5-point favorite and the total is 52.5. Detroit is coming off a 30-24 victory at Minnesota last Sunday, the win clinched the NFC North division title for the Lions. It’s their first division title since 1993 when the division was known as the NFC Central before leaguewide realignment in 2002. Dallas lost 22-20 last week at Miami after kicker Jason Sanders nailed a 22-yard field goal as time expired. Dallas has won five straight games against Detroit including a 24-6 win at home last season. Dallas is a perfect 7-0 at home heading into Saturday’s regular season home finale, they’ll look to go undefeated at home for the first time since 1981. 

GAME STORYLINES: DETROIT

For virtually their entire existence in the NFL, the Detroit Lions have been the epitome of futility as they’ve never won or participated in a Super Bowl and have won just one playoff game since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. That’s saying something for a franchise who had arguably the greatest running back in NFL history in Barry Sanders for 10 seasons and one of the greatest wide receivers of all time in Calvin Johnson for 9 seasons.

The 2023 Detroit Lions are exorcising a lot of franchise demons as they’ve won a division title for the first time since 1993 and are one win away from tying the franchise record for wins in a season. 

A big reason for Detroit’s surprising turnaround this season has been the play of quarterback Jared Goff. The 29-year-old former No. 1 overall pick (2016) has experienced a circuitous 8-year NFL career that saw him struggle mightily as a rookie with the Los Angeles Rams to leading them to a Super Bowl in his third year to being essentially cast off to Detroit three years later.

The Los Angeles Rams dealt Goff to Detroit in a trade package for Pro Bowl quarterback Matt Stafford in January 2021 as Goff may have been perceived as the weakest link on the Rams. The trade appeared to be lopsided in the Rams favor initially when Stafford and the Rams went on to win the Super Bowl for the 2021 season while Detroit finished 3-13-1 with Goff.

The past two seasons have brought about a 360-degree turn as Goff has led Detroit to back-to-back winning seasons and a division title, while Stafford and the Rams have been mostly inconsistent and dealt with a litany of injuries.

Jared Goff is having one of the best seasons of his 8-year career this year as he’s thrown for 3,984 yards with 27 touchdowns to 10 interceptions and is completing a career-high 67.7 percent of his passes. Goff needs 6 touchdown passes over the final 2 games to establish a career high for himself which he set in 2018. 

Detroit has a bevy of talented and explosive players on offense led by star wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. The 24-year-old has racked up 106 catches for 1,281 yards and 8 touchdowns in 14 games, which are all career-highs. St.

Brown has an outside shot at setting the franchise-record for catches in a season which is 123, set by Herman Moore in 1995. Running back David Montgomery (910 rushing yards, 11 touchdowns) along with rookies Jahmyr Gibbs (872 rushing yards, 316 receiving yards, 10 touchdowns) and Sam LaPorta (74 catches for 776 receiving yards, 9 touchdowns) are also standouts in Detroit’s high-powered offense.

GAME STORYLINES: DALLAS

Whether you love or hate the Dallas Cowboys, ‘America’s Team’ seems to rile up the masses in one way or another. Dallas has been extremely polarizing again this year due to the erratic shifts of play.

They’ve won four games by 30+ points but suffered a 12-point loss at lowly Arizona and a 32-point loss at San Francisco. A more telling sign of their inconsistency is the fact that Dallas is invincible at home going 7-0 and winning 6 of those games by at least 20 points, while 3 of their 5 road losses have been by double digits. Expectations were high coming into the year after back-to-back 12-win seasons but it appears as if Dallas will finish up as the runner-up to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC East and will open the playoffs on the road as the No.5 seed again in the playoffs.

Talented and much-maligned quarterback Dak Prescott is having another excellent season, he’s thrown for 3,892 yards with a league-high 30 touchdowns to 7 interceptions. Prescott has thrown for 30+ touchdowns in 3 straight seasons where he’s played at least 15 games. Dak’s main target on offense is dynamic wide receiver CeeDee Lamb.

The 24-year-old Lamb has amassed 109 catches for 1,424 yards and 9 touchdowns, he’s already establish career highs in all 3 categories. Second-year tight end Jake Ferguson (61 catches for 659 yards, 5 touchdowns), running back Tony Pollard (886 rushing yards and veteran wide receiver Brandin Cooks (558 receiving yards, 6 touchdowns) are also key players in the offense.

The Cowboys defense began the year hot after outscoring the Jets and Giants by a combined score of 70-10 in Weeks 1 and 2, but they’ve cooled off as the season has gone on. Their inability to stop the run and pressure the quarterback has become glaring weaknesses for most of the season.

All-Pro linebacker Micah Parsons continues to be a dominant force in year three, the 24-year-old superstar has registered 53 tackles, a team-high 13 sacks and 1 forced fumble on the season. Second-year cornerback Daron Bland has an NFL-leading 8 interceptions and his 5 pick-six’s have set an NFL-record. Bland already has 13 career interceptions in his 2 NFL seasons.  

THE PICK

Dallas has won 15 straight home games and have throttled teams at home this year, I don’t see things changing on Saturday against a Detroit team that is pretty much locked into the No. 3 seed in the NFC, Lay the Points…Dallas 37, Detroit 23