NFL Week 3 Odds: Patriots Strong Betting Favorites Vs. Lions After Loss To Jaguars
The New England Patriots will be looking to avoid opening the NFL season on a 1-2 run for the first time since 2012 when they travel to Detroit to face the Lions on Sunday Night Football as 7-point betting favorites on the NFL Week 3 odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
New England came up short against the Jacksonville Jaguars last weekend in a rematch of last season’s AFC Championship Game, dropping a 31-20 decision as 2-point road chalk to fall to 1-1 on the season going into Sunday night’s Patriots vs. Lions betting matchup at Ford Field.
The loss marks the Patriots’ second defeat in their past three on the road, with the Jaguars’ 31 points representing the most surrendered by New England in a regular season road contest since their 30-24 loss in Denver as 2.5-point chalk back in November 2015.
In addition, Jacksonville’s 481 total yards of offense is the most allowed by the Patriots since their stunning 42-27 loss to Kansas City to kick off the 2017 season, and the fourth-highest number of yards surrendered in a single game in franchise history.
While their shaky performance in North Florida has raised doubts about their continued dominance of the AFC, the Patriots have slipped only slightly on the Super Bowl 53 odds, and now are joined by the Los Angeles Rams as +650 co-favorites.
However, the team will have ample opportunity to make up ground as they begin a nine-game stretch in Detroit that features eight dates with teams that failed to make the playoffs last season.
Led by rookie head coach Matt Patricia, who spent the past 14 years working as a member of the New England coaching staff, the Lions have stumbled out of the gate this season.
Detroit suffered a crushing 48-17 upset loss to the New York Jets as 7-point home chalk in Week 1. The Lions continued to struggle on both sides of the ball in last week’s 30-27 loss in San Francisco as 6-point underdogs, and have now opened a season with consecutive losses on eight occasions since 2007.
Detroit has also enjoyed little success in home dates with AFC opponents, going 4-9 straight up in its past 13 while covering in just five of those contests, according to the OddsShark NFL Database.
The Lions also are a meager 2-18 SU in their past 20 games when pegged as home underdogs by six or more points, but have covered the spread in six of their past eight. However, they have dropped four straight to New England, going 1-3 ATS, with the Patriots averaging 35.66 points per game over their past three meetings.
