The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 5 matchup between the Lions and Panthers.
Find a breakdown of every Week 5 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.
| Carolina | Rank | @ | Detroit | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9.0 | Spread | -9.0 | ||
| 18.0 | Implied Total | 27.0 | ||
| 16.8 | 24 | Points/Gm | 26.5 | 8 |
| 25.5 | 25 | Points All./Gm | 20.8 | 13 |
| 67.8 | 7 | Plays/Gm | 67.8 | 7 |
| 59.3 | 5 | Opp. Plays/Gm | 61.8 | 10 |
| 4.2 | 29 | Off. Yards/Play | 5.7 | 8 |
| 5.3 | 20 | Def. Yards/Play | 4.5 | 4 |
| 35.42% | 30 | Rush% | 49.82% | 4 |
| 64.58% | 3 | Pass% | 50.18% | 29 |
| 48.52% | 27 | Opp. Rush % | 32.39% | 3 |
| 51.48% | 6 | Opp. Pass % | 67.61% | 30 |
- Detroit is averaging 1.2 more yards per play than their opponent, fourth in the league.
- Carolina is averaging 1.1 fewer yards per play than their opponent, 29th in the league.
- The Lions are averaging 7.3 yards per passing play, third in the league.
- The Panthers are averaging 4.3 yards per passing play, 31st in the league.
- 23.8% of the rushing attempts against the Lions have gained five or more yards, the lowest rate in the league.
- 44.9% of the rushing attempts against the Panthers have gained five or more yards, the highest rate in the league.
- 21.7% of the yardage allowed by Detroit has come via rushing, third third-lowest rate in the league.
- 43.5% of the yardage allowed by Carolina has been via rushing, the second-highest rate in the league.
- Detroit is allowing 4.4 yards per play on early downs (first and second), third in the league.
- Carolina is averaging 4.0 yards per play on early downs, 31st in the league.
Trust = spike production for that player
Quarterback
Jared Goff: Goff has finished higher than QB14 in one of the opening four games of the season.
That was his only game reaching 250 passing yards or throwing multiple touchdown passes.
One of those was even a home game, where Goff has posted skewed statistics since joining the Lions.
What has truly limited Goff is that Detroit is running the ball a ton.
As a team, they are 7% below pass rate expectations.
Detroit has a dropback rate of just 50.6%, which is 31st in the league.
Outside of the fourth quarter, that rate is 57.3%, which is still 28th.
As one of the largest home favorites of the week, Goff has favorable conditions to excel, but Detroit is also in place to keep this passing game grounded while establishing the run.
It also does not help that Carolina has been awful against the run and competent against the pass.
The Panthers have allowed 10.4 passing points per game, which is sixth in the league.
They are allowing 7.2 yards per pass attempt (19th) and 10.9 yards per completion (20th), but they have faced the fourth-fewest pass attempts per game (27.5) because they can’t score points or stop the run.
Goff threw for 355 yards and three touchdowns in this matchup a year ago if you want to chase that output, but he also threw the ball 42 times in that game.
Playing the odds that game conditions will be more reserved here paired with Amon-Ra St. Brown likely sidelined, Goff is more of a floor-based QB2.
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