Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-1) at Detroit Lions (4-2)
Monday, 7 p.m. ET
Betting Hero odds: Lions -5.5, Total 52.5
Series Rewind: Former NFC Central rivals meet in Detroit for the third time in 22 months. They’ve split the past two meetings, both decided by one score: the Lions won 31-23 in the 2023 playoffs and the Buccaneers snuck out with a 20-16 victory in Week 2 last season. Bucs QB Baker Mayfield ran for a TD, threw for a TD, was sacked 4.5 times by Aidan Hutchinson and intercepted by safety Brian Branch.
The Lions can outscore teams when necessary and exploiting shorthanded defenses is a specialty of QB Jared Goff. Goff leads the NFL with a 120.6 passer rating, 14 touchdowns and pilots an offense averaging 31.8 points per game. Goff has multiple options at most positions and elite playmakers in RB Jahmyr Gibbs and WR Amon-Ra St. Brown. Both are over 460 yards from scrimmage this season and have a combined 11 touchdowns. The Bucs can score points, too, and Detroit’s secondary might look different with Branch serving a one-game suspension and Kerby Joseph (knee) fighting through a knee injury. CB Terrion Arnold is a candidate to return from the shoulder injury that pushed him to IR and surprisingly practiced Friday. Tampa has a similar issue at wide receiver. Mike Evans (hamstring) was plotting to play, but after a limited Thursday practice he didn’t take the field with the Bucs on Friday. If he’s out, as Emeka Egbuka (hamstring) and Chris Godwin (fibula) are expected to be, QB Baker Mayfield would be without his top three wideouts and starting RB Bucky Irving (foot, shoulder). He’s tied with Goff for the most TD passes in the league (81) since 2023.
Houston Texans (2-3) at Seattle Seahawks (4-2)
Monday, 10 p.m. ET
Betting Hero odds: Seahawks -3, Total 41.5
Series Rewind: Seattle beat the Texans by 20 (33-13) in 2021 the last time these teams met. The Seahawks have won the past three meetings and four of five all-time.
QB Sam Darnold appears to be working out just fine in Seattle. He has 11 touchdowns passes and a passer rating over 110 in four consecutive games. The Seahawks are dynamic defensively when healthy and DT Lawrence Jackson in the middle holds the key to locking down Houston’s passing game and QB C.J. Stroud. Stroud and Darnold have matching 70.8 completion percentages, but Stroud was sacked 12 times in the first five games as the Texans search for a consistent spark in the running game. Rookie Woody Marks and relative greybeard Nick Chubb have combined for 94 carries and 368 yards with Joe Mixon on the non-football injury list. Seattle is trying to turn Lumen Field back into the place visitors don’t want to see on the schedule. But the Seahawks are 1-2 this season at home after going 3-6 last year at home in coach Mike Macdonald’s first season at the helm. Houston returned from the bye week and won at Baltimore in Week 5. Stroud had four TD passes. Darnold and WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba run into a talented secondary on Monday, but they’ve more than held their own this season. JSN is No. 1 in the NFL with 696 receiving yards in 2025, with a league-high four 100-yard receiving games.
–Field Level Media