Thursday Night Football Betting Picks and More - Ride the Line Ep #62

A new episode of Ride the Line with Grant Mitchell and Tanner Kern is now live on all WSN platforms!

Thursday Night Football Betting Picks

The boys start the show off with a quick review of Tanner’s trip down south to watch the Tampa Bay Buccaneers play the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football.

The Eagles moved to 3-0 with a commanding win on the road, but Tanner still believes the Bucs are the frontrunners in the NFC South and pushed back on the idea that the Eagles were impressive during the victory.

Looking ahead to Thursday Night Football, the Detroit Lions will hit the road to take on the Green Bay Packers. The winner of the matchup will move to 3-1 on the year and will take hold of the outright lead in the NFC North.

Ride the Line is known for its debates and disagreements, but both co-hosts find themselves on the side of the Lions for this matchup. It’s always dangerous to bet against home underdogs, especially in divisional matchups, but the belief of the show is that the Lions have too much firepower for the Packers to handle.

Green Bay has faced the quarterback carousel of Justin Fields, Desmond Ridder, Derek Carr, and Jameis Winston thus far. Jared Goff is clearly the best player they will have taken on, and the boys like him to find success. Goff also threw for 253 yards and a touchdown in a road TNF win against the Kansas City Chiefs on opening night and is no stranger to this type of stage.

Jordan Love has played a lot better than many expected he would in his first three starts as the full-time starter, but he has the second-worst completion percentage in the league (only ahead of Zach Wilson) and is averaging less than 220 yards passing per game. The Lions’ defense has improved since last season and can generate pressure off the edge and should cause problems for the 24-year-old.

Lions vs Packers Player Props

Grant’s favorite player prop in this matchup is Goff over 249.5 passing yards. He’s gone over this total in two of three outings including the TNF road opener and gets to face a Packers defense that has not been tested against top arm talent.

This is also the Lions’ time to seize control of the division in the post-Aaron Rodgers world of the division, and that starts with Goff. Grant believes he will live up to the moment and Detroit will emerge victorious.

Tanner also likes the over on a Lions player and is looking at Amon-Ra St. Brown to go over 72.5 receiving yards. He’s also hit the over twice and is Goff’s favorite target and will benefit from him having a strong day.

Grant threw out David Montgomery and Aaron Jones as anytime touchdown scorer candidates to beware of as well. Jones caught and ran for a touchdown in the opener before missing the next two games with injury, and Mongomery scored in back-to-back games before he too missed last week’s action with some bruises.

The boys don’t have a lean on the total, but recent history would suggest the under is the better of the two sides. Nighttime unders are 9-2 this season and 49-24 across the last two years—the boys’ concern is the Lions have an explosive offense and could force the Packers to play aggressively and score points even if they go on to lose the game.

Check back throughout the week for more episodes of Ride the Line and more NFL betting picks!