Vegas Doesn't Believe Aaron Rodgers or Davante Adams Will Play vs. Lions in Week 18
By Peter Dewey
The Green Bay Packers wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the NFC with a big win over the Minnesota Vikings in Week 17 on Sunday Night Football.
That leaves the Packers with essentially nothing to play for but reps in Week 18 against the lowly Detroit Lions, but Packers head coach Matt LaFleur isn’t ruling out playing his starters in some capacity.
“Right now, the mindset is going into this is we’re going to play our guys and we’re going to approach it like every other game,” LaFleur said in his press conference on Monday. “I just think that the reason behind that is I’m not comfortable having, essentially, a three-week layoff for our guys. And I know you can look at it a million different ways and there’s never a right answer unless it works out.
“So if somebody goes in there and they get injured, then [the question is] why’d you play your guys? But if you go out there in that first playoff game and you lay an egg, [the question is] why’d you rest your guys? So there’s not a right answer. The bottom line is, whatever we do, we’ve got to go out and perform and we know that. And that’s the way we’re going to go about it.”
Despite LaFleur’s comments, the oddsmakers at WynnBET Sportsbook aren’t sold on Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams and company suiting up this week. Green Bay is just a 2.5-point road favorite against the Lions.
When you look at other teams that have been as bad as Detroit this season, they are all double-digit underdogs in the final week of the regular season (Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans, New York Jets).
It makes sense that the Packers wouldn’t want to head into the playoffs and lay an egg, but the fact of the matter is that the team will have a bye week regardless because it has earned the top seed in the conference.
With Aaron Rodgers’ nagging toe injury and the risk of losing other key players to injury, Vegas clearly believes that LaFleur will ultimately decide to rest his guys for most, if not all, of Week 18.
The Lions have been one of the best teams in the NFL at covering the spread this season despite their terrible record, going 10-6 against the number through their first 16 games. Dan Campbell’s squad has nothing to play for, but they have played hard all season long.
If Rodgers and others sit, this may be a great spot to back Detroit considering the Packers’ offense scored just seven points the last time backup Jordan Love started.