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The Detroit Lions and New York Giants have traded punches (literally) in joint practices ahead of Thursday's preseason opener. They'll get a chance to trade blows on the field when their first exhibition game kicks off Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.
The Giants are favored by 3.5 points to beat the Lions across our best sports betting sites, which have Detroit among the favorites by the Super Bowl odds. We're targeting the underdogs in our Lions vs. Giants prediction and expert picks.
Lions vs. Giants odds
See our full NFL odds here.
Take the points between Lions, Giants
Odds via our best NFL betting sites; NFL picks confidence based on a 1-to-5-star scale.
As we discussed in our NFL preseason betting guide, exhibition football is volatile by nature, so I'm always lo oking for a reason to take the points with all else being equal. And I'm a bit surprised to see the Giants laying more than a field goal.
Both sides have signaled that their starters likely won't see the field on Thursday. Assuming that's the case, the Giants should have a slight advantage under center with Drew Lock and Tommy DeVito – who boast 29 career starts between them – facing off against Nate Sudfeld and Hendon Hooker.
That said, the Lions still boast a deeper and more talented roster overall against a New York team that won six fewer games last season and will be debuting new play-callers on both sides of the ball. That should mean more experimentation from the Giants' side, which doesn't bode well for trying to actually win the game.
Speaking of coaches, it's hard to ignore the preseason failures of the Giants' Brian Daboll, who will be calling plays on Thursday for the first t ime as a head coach.
He's called plays before as a coordinator, but he's never done so while wearing the main headset. Even without that added responsibility, his team has gone 0-6 against the spread in the preseason in his two years as head coach, compared to a modest 4-5 ATS record for Lions coach Dan Campbell.
That poor record doesn't mean New York is an auto-fade in exhibition. But it does speak to how Daboll views the preseason overall and his motivations to actually win the football game – especially with him using Thursday's game as a “trial and error” for his play-calling role, as he told team media earlier this week.
These teams opened against each other in last year's preseason, and the Lions came away with a 21-16 win. I'm not sure the Giants should even be favored in this year's rematch, so I'll gladly take the points to kick off this Week 1 slate.
Best odds: -110 via bet365 | Implied probability: 52.38%
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Players to watch
| Career stats | Drew Lock (NYG) | Nate Sudfeld (DET) |
|---|---|---|
| Preseason | 102-for-173, 1,285 yards, 10 TD, 5 INT | 109-for-188, 1,293 yards, 9 TD, 7 INT |
| Regular season | 469-for-786, 5,283 yards, 28 TD, 23 INT | 25-for-37, 188 yards, TD, INT |
Lions vs. Giants game info
- When: Thursday, Aug. 8
- Kick off: 7 p.m. ET
- Where: MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, N.J.)
- How to watch: FOX 17 (Detroit), FOX5 (NY)
- Favorite: Giants -3.5 (-110 via bet365)
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