Detroit Lions @ Denver Broncos Matchup Preview 12/22/19: Analysis, Daily Fantasy
Contents
Looking to prepare early for your fantasy football draft this season??? We have you covered with the lineups.com official fantasy football rankings. You can also find all fantasy football stats,DFS projections, and fantasy football projections on our site. Don’t be the unprepared guy in your league.
The Lions are heading to Denver to take on the Broncos this Sunday. Both teams are coming off of some tough losses. The Lions lost 38-17 against the Buccaneers, and their defense really showed its weakness against the Buccaneers passing attack. They allowed Winston to throw for 458 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception, good for a rating of 124.9. Luckily for the Lions the Broncos don’t have as strong of a passing attack. Lock threw 18-40 for 208 yards and an interception, a 50.8 point rating, in their loss to Kansas City last week. The Broncos have a strong pass defense, and I’m expecting that to give them the win over the Lions this week, as I don’t think Blough will be able to get a lot done against the Broncos secondary. Click here for more details and betting information on the Lions @ Broncos matchup this Sunday.
TV Schedule
Date: Sunday, December 22, 2019
Time: 1:05 PM PST
Location: Empower Field at Mile High Stadium, Denver, CO
Coverage: CBS
Injury Report
Lions: Christian Jones (Q), A’Shawn Robinson (Q), Bo Scarbrough (Q), Rick Wagner (Q), Devon Kennard (Q), Mike Daniels (O), Matthew Stafford (O)
Broncos: Patrick Morris (Q), Adam Gotsis (O), Joe Jones (Q), Dalton Risner (Q), Noah Fant (Q), DeMarcus Walker (Q), Dre’Mont Jones (Q), Ronald Leary (Q), Ja’Wuan James (Q)
Lions Analysis
The Lions are coming off of a tough loss to Tampa Bay. Offensively, they couldn’t get a lot done. Blough threw 24-43 for 260 yards and two interceptions, good for a rating of 54.4 points. Clearly, the Lions offense hasn’t been the same without Stafford, and I don’t think that is miraculously going to change against the Broncos. Their offense was heavily reliant on Stafford, and they’ve been at a loss without him. They ran for a total 45 yards last week, with their lead back of the day, Wes Hills, had 21 yards off of 10 carries against a Tampa Bay rushing defense that allows the fewest rushing yards per game. He did have two touchdowns, but that wasn’t enough to put them over the 38 points that Tampa Bay scored. They’re coming into a matchup against a Denver pass defense that has been better than Tampa Bay’s, which doesn’t bode very well for the Lions. The Broncos are a bottom-half rushing defense, but the Lions haven’t really been able to get the ground game going this year so I’m expecting them to stick with the passing game against the Broncos.
The Lions defense had a rough game against the Buccaneers. Winston had a field day with their secondary, throwing for 458 yards and four touchdowns, plus an interception. Luckily for the Lions the Broncos passing offense isn’t quite as explosive. Lock had a tough game last week, but he was undefeated prior to that matchup and has shown promise with a 38-point game against the Texans. The Lions have been bottom-5 in passer rating allowed and yards per game allowed, and I don’t think that is miraculously going to change against the Broncos. They’re also bottom 5 in yards per carry, and the Broncos have a pretty good weapon in Philip Lindsay. I’m expecting the Lions to have a tough time containing the Broncos.
Detroit Lions Depth Chart
QB: David Blough
RB1: Bo Scarbrough
RB2: JD McKissic
WR1: Kenny Golladay
WR2: Danny Amendola
WR3: Travis Fulgham
TE: T.J. Hockenson
Broncos Analysis
The Broncos are also coming off of a tough loss, this one to Kansas City. Their defense was able to hold a powerful Kansas City offense to 23 points, but their offense was only able to put up 3. Lock had a pretty undesirable game, throwing 18-40 for 208 yards and an interception, good for a passer rating of 50.8 points. Luckily for Lock, he’s going up against a much easier passing defense, one that just allowed Winston to throw for 458 yards. This matchup serves as a great platform for Lock to show that he’s able to recover from a big loss. He was undefeated prior to this game and led his team to a big victory over the Texans. He shows a lot of promise, and this matchup will be a good test to see if he’s able to recover from a tough game. The Lions are a bottom-half rush defense, so the Broncos might lean a little more toward the run than they have previously, especially given Lock’s tough game against the Chiefs, but I’m still expecting a passing-heavy game for the Broncos.
The Broncos are coming into a matchup that shouldn’t be as tough as defending against the Chiefs. David Blough, the Lions quarterback, threw 24-43 for 260 yards and two interceptions (a rating of 54.4 points) against the Buccaneers. The Broncos are one of the better pass defenses this season. They allow an average 223.9 passing yards per game, the 10th fewest in the league. They’ve allowed 15 touchdowns, the 5th fewest in the league, and allow redzone touchdowns only 41% of the time, the least frequent in the league. I think the Broncos are going to be able to hold the Lions to few points through the air, and considering the Lions are a pretty one-sided offense, I think the Broncos will get the win due to their defense.
Denver Broncos Depth Chart
QB: Drew Lock
RB1: Phillip Lindsay
RB2: Royce Freeman
WR1: Courtland Sutton
WR2: DaeSean Hamilton
WR3: Tim Patrick
TE: Jeff Heuerman
Daily Fantasy
I think your best fantasy prospects in this matchup are going to come from the Broncos. If I was to suggest anyone from the Lions it might be Wes Hills, but I’m not sure how certain it is he will be playing. Plus, the majority of his fantasy points were from the two touchdowns he scored. It’s not a given that he’ll score two touchdowns every game and without the two touchdowns all he had was 21 yards off of 10 carries, so I think it would be best to look elsewhere. There are much more reliable running backs on the waiver wire. I think the Broncos could have a big game here so if you have a receiver like Courtland Sutton or a tight end like Noah Fant you might want to consider starting them, as I think the Broncos passing offense could have a big game against the Lions weak secondary.
