NFL 2024 Season - PS3
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Articles published multiple times per week, offering insights and picks on upcoming games.
 
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Conference Championships
Top-Flight QB Duel
Looking for a First
Cold Reality
Three and One
Divisional Playoffs
Winter Wonderland
Yes We Can
Getting Better
Three-Peat Begins
Correction
Challenge Accepted
Wild Card Weekend
Early Celebration
QB matchup
Starting and Ending Spots
Wild Card Trend
What to Like
Rookie Quarterbacks
Broken Fever
That's That
Week 18
Checking the Boxes
Needs and Wants
Four and Out
One or the Other
Point Spread Clouds
Fix It
Hollow Revenge
To Win or Not to Win
Week 17
All Knowing
Complicated Made Simple
Advanced Calculus
Glow Dimmed
Brink of Elimination
Game of Survival
Pleading for the Fifth
Need over Nothing
Christmas Grinch
Week 16
Numbers, Numbers, Numbers
Vintage 2018
Penix Debut
Dog Day
Playoff Position
Rest of the Story
Different Sundays
Run Some Tests
Without and With
Week 15
Two Tonight
Playoff Chances
Wild Card Challenge
Best of the Best
Next
Dire Straits
And It's Good
Bloated Lines
Week 14
Running up the Score
Challenge Me
Finding Reasons to Win
Crab Feed
Week Off
Good Enough
Buyers Regret
Pulled the Rug
Week 13
Mile High Hopes
Top and Bottom
Fourth Time the Charm
Bounce Back
Engage Spark
Line Up
Out in the Cold
Thanksgiving Visitors
Good Enough
Motivation on Steroids
Week 12
Second Best
Heavyweight Bout
QB's Ins and Outs
Everybody In
Too Easy
Walk the Plank
Hot to Trot
Try, Try, Try, Try, Try Again
Week 11
Mouse Trap
Must Game
Malfunction
Easy Does It
Old Foes
Falcons Fly into Mile High
Matter of Time
Improv
To the Brink
Week 10
Odd Man Out
Lions come Calling
Rookie versus Veteran
Call to Action
Full Reverse
When 8-0 is 4-4
Game of Contradictions
NFC West Bunch
Early Boarding
Week 9
Not Enough, Too Much
Real or Imposters
Groin Shot
Best Show
Saddle Up
Dull Edges
Telling Actions
Annihilation Formula
Week 8
No and No
Old Glory
Rookie Face Off
Adding it Up
Holding On
Jets Down
Unload and Reload
No Surprise
Career Paths
It Hurts
Week 7
Harbaugh Monday
Kids Camp
Barkley Back
Bird Battle
Mouse Time
Too Many?
Gone Shopping
Not Bad
40 for 3
Week 6
Try New
Night Vision
Trap Door
Looking Up
Wake Up Call
All Good Things
Bad Idea
Unexpected
Fire One
Week 5
Yes & Yes
Old Rivals
Rookie Sensation
So Close
Lunch in Seattle
Wake the Roosters
No Respect
Too Sweet
Turtle Flip
Week 4
Landmine
Bottoms Up
Winners and Losers
Call Me
Short Line
Reality Bites
Like Tonight
Uptick
Challenge Generates Performance
Week 3
Two Times
Reduced Value
Stars Down
The Other 21
Opportunity Knocks
Lots of Questions
Move Along People
Times Up
Week 2
Confidence Game
First and Second Picked QB's
Avoiding the Donut
Do or Die
One for the Road
Likewise
Adjustment Bureau
Down ... Not Out
Week 1
Time Marches On
Cashing the Trade
Start Here
Say What
Quick Up, Quick Down
Brazil Play Date
Top Two Open
Super Bowl Pick
Season Win Totals
Moving on Up
Breakout to Breakdown
Preseason 4
Preseason Wrap
Rookie Playoff Run
Preseason 3
Short Memory
Two In, One Up
Eagles Hunt
Winning Formula
Preseason 2
Quarterback Shuffle
One Two, or Two One
Starters Sit
Remote Control
Money be Damned
Preseason 1
One Season to the Next
Public Shift
Comets in the Night
Offseason
Mahomes Chasing History
All's Well that Ends Well
Ups and Downs
     
 
First Up
by Dennis Ranahan

With the Chicago Bears win on Thursday night in Washington, there remains only one team in the National Football League without a victory this season. On Sunday, that team meets the NFC North Division leading Detroit Lions.

The Lions have won three of four games this season, are considered a far cry from the doormat editions in recent decades playing out of Detroit, and are double-digit favorites on Sunday to continue their winning ways and pin the Carolina Panthers with a fifth straight loss.

The winless Panthers are under the direction of head coach Frank Reich. Looking for his first win with his new club, Reich compiled a 40-33 mark as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts over the past five seasons. Reich also led Indianapolis to a pair of playoff appearances, including one in his first season with the Colts.

The Panthers are led on the field by rookie quarterback Bryce Young, who was taken with the first pick in this year’s NFL draft with a selection Carolina got in a trade with the Chicago Bears.

Are the winless Panthers overmatched this week in Detroit?

Maybe not.

The Panthers are not without talent and their slow start this season can be as much attributed to them learning a new system with new people in key positions than a lack of talent.

The Lions, after years of dismal play, made a bold trade two years ago that sent their starting quarterback, Matthew Stafford, to the Los Angeles Rams for Jared Goff and a bevy of draft picks. This is one of those trades that appears to have benefited both teams. The Rams got the veteran quarterback that led the Rams to their first Super Bowl win while the franchise was stationed in Los Angeles and the Lions got a future.

Goff, who had led the Rams to the Super Bowl five years ago, a loss to the New England Patriots, has a lot more tread on his tires than the departed Stafford. He is also leading a dynamic offense in unison with a defense that has been stocked with high draft choices both from years of losing seasons and the selections gained in the trade with the Rams.

The Lions opened this season with a win over the defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs. That victory marked only the fourth time a visitor has defeated a defending champion in the opener on the champ's home field since the league adopted the Super Bowl Champion hosting the season opener on Thursday night in 2004.

Pretty big deal for the long suffering fans in the Motor City.

What the Lions did after that impressive win was lose their home opener to the Seattle Seahawks before rebounding the past two weeks with wins over the Atlanta Falcons and against their division rival Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.

So, take the Lions to beat the winless Panthers?

No.

Why not?

Because the Lions are still new to piling up victories, and the most difficult thing for an inexperienced winner to do is triumph when it is expected. Their initial success is built on the need to overcome, and once they have established themselves as a winner, the challenge to carry the weight of being a favorite often results in negative results.

Carolina comes to town knowing they need to play better to avoid getting blown out of the building, and the Lions are saddled with the difficult motivation of thinking all they have to do is play as well as they have in recent weeks.

The team with the need to overcome is in a perfect position to succeed against a confident double-digit favorite.

Qoxhi Picks: Carolina Panthers (+10) over Detroit Lions