After a big week one victory over the Indianapolis Colts, the Detroit Lions will head home and take on the Tennessee Titans.

The Lions’ offense was stellar in the win against the Colts, but the defense has a lot to prove going forward. The Titans lost their opening game to the Minnesota Vikings, but they could challenge the Lions.

The Lions’ offense should be able to have their way with the Titans defense. The Vikings rushed for 65 yards and threw for 236 yards against the Titans. The Lions should easily surpass those numbers as their offense is far more explosive than the Vikings.

Quarterback Matthew Stafford should be able to pick apart the Titans’ defense with the amount of weapons he has at his disposal, and the running backs should be able to find running lanes. Stafford threw for 340 yards and three touchdowns last week, and he has a chance to surpass those numbers against the Titans.

Defensively, the Lions could struggle against the Titans. Running back DeMarco Murray presents a challenge for a Lions defensive line that was underwhelming in the week one. Murray only ran for 42 yards, but had two receiving touchdowns. He is a big threat out of the backfield.

Marcus Mariota is the Titans’ quarterback and he is a big threat as well. As a dual threat quarterback, Mariota is great at buying time and finding the open man or taking off with the ball and getting the first down. The Lions didn’t get a lot of pressure on the quarterback last week, so Mariota could cause some problems.

Keys to the Game

• Detroit’s defensive line will be a huge key to the game as they will need to put pressure on Mariota. The Lions only had two sacks in last week’s game and Andrew Luck had a lot of time to throw. It is crucial for the Lions to be able to get pressure on Mariota and make sure to keep him in the pocket. His running ability could the Lions.
• Stafford and all of his weapons are a huge key to the game. The Lions aren’t going to win this game by running the ball. Tennessee’s secondary is beatable and the Lions have the weapons to burn them. Golden Tate and Marvin Jones should see a lot of targets. Also, don’t forget about Eric Ebron in the red zone. He is a big target for Stafford.
• Time of possession will be huge in this game. The Titans want to establish the run and keep the ball out of Stafford’s hands. The Titans have to be able to establish the run game against the Detroit’s suspect defense. If they are able get the running game going, they have a good chance at winning the game.

Prediction

In the end, I think the Lions pull away in this game. The defense will take a step forward and the offense just has too many weapons for the Titans to keep pace. The game might be close at half, but the Lions will pull away.

Lions 34 Titans 17.