Best Bets in Sports: ‘Thursday Night Football’ Provides Pivotal Opportunity for One Tight End

It’s definitely a different time in the NFL. The Lions are playing a Thursday Night Football game for the second time in four weeks and are favored in Green Bay for only the third time in the past 30 years. The last time the Lions were favored at Lambeau Field was in 1986.

The Lions take on the Packers in a battle of 2-1 teams in the NFC North. The Lions are favored from anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 points depending on the book. The game total is 45 points. Lions running back David Montgomery is expected to play for the Lions after missing last week with a thigh injury. 

The Packers are expected to get back two big weapons on offense: Running back Aaron Jones, who injured his hamstring in Week 1 and missed the last two games, and wide receiver Christian Watson, likely to make his season debut after sitting out with a hamstring injury. The Packers will be without the left side of their offensive line with David Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins and linebacker De’Vondre Campbell ruled out. It should be a fun game. Here is my top bet from the game, as well as an MLB player prop.

Luke Musgrave OVER 35.5 receiving yards (-125 on PointsBet Sportsbook)
Musgrave has already played a key role in the offense as a rookie. He’s on the field often and running a lot of routes. The Packers’ tight end has 50, 25 and 49 yards through three games. Last week, he had eight targets and caught six passes for 49 yards. It could have been a bigger game, but Jordan Love missed a wide-open Musgrave in the middle of the field. He leads all tight ends with an average depth of target of 13.7 yards. The Lions have allowed the most targets, yards and receptions to tight ends. Kyle Pitts had five catches for 41 yards and Jonnu Smith had five catches for 37 yards last week. Noah Fant (56 yards), Colby Parkinson (41) and Will Dissly (35) totaled 134 yards in Week 2 and Noah Gray added 31 yards in Week 1. The Packers haven’t targeted other tight ends much, so Musgrave will go over the total.

Chris Bassitt OVER 5.5 strikeouts (-140 on FanDuel Sportsbook)
The Yankees have been striking out a lot lately. Over the last 30 days, the Yankees have a 27.6% strikeout rate against right-handed pitching, the second-worst mark in baseball. Bassitt has at least six strikeouts in seven of his last 11 starts. Bassitt faced the Yankees at home on May 17 and struck out seven over seven innings.

Yesterday’s record: 1-2 (-1.17 units)
All-time record: 50–26 (+18.04 units)