Lions vs. Ravens Monday Night Football odds, predictions: Best bets, player prop wagers Matt RussellSeptember 21, 2025 at 9:39 PM 0 Last Monday night's doubleheader came with strange results in our weekly foray into the NFL's primetime capper. We hit five of six player props (+3.
- - Lions vs. Ravens Monday Night Football odds, predictions: Best bets, player prop wagers
Matt RussellSeptember 21, 2025 at 9:39 PM
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Last Monday night's doubleheader came with strange results in our weekly foray into the NFL's primetime capper.
We hit five of six player props (+3.9 units), and came out of a quintet of anytime touchdown selections with an additional 1.9 units. Despite having enough of a read to have success in the derivative markets, neither bet on the side was able to get home, as Houston (-2.5) couldn't wrap up Baker Mayfield on the final drive, and Geno Smith politely turned down the Chargers' repeated offers for a late backdoor cover.
Fast forward a week, and this Monday matchup is good enough to count for two, without having to turn to an extra cup of coffee at work on Tuesday morning. However, bettors have already dug into it, as we've seen a move on the opening line.
Detroit Lions at Baltimore Ravens (-4.5, 53.5)
After a Sunday night opener of Ravens -6, this game was bet down to the current line of -4.5. The question is: Is there any value left in taking the Lions?
There are three core issues to discuss regarding the betting market being down on the Lions this season:
The loss of their offensive and defensive coordinator, leading to a potential drop in efficiency on each side of the ball
The increased interest in the Packers as the team of the NFC North in 2025, because of the trade for Micah Parsons, which shifted Green Bay to the favorite in the NFC North
The general concept of "not being able to replicate a 15-2 season"
No. 3 is a bit obvious to ignore, as no team is that good, and a combination of luck and the schedule breaking the Lions' way is what led to that record.
No. 2 has nothing to do with the Lions, other than when they play Green Bay.
No. 1 (the loss of both coordinators) is the thing that requires a running assessment. Unfortunately, for both the Lions' offense and defense, they had to play the Packers in Week 1, so No. 2 set into motion some confusion about what might be going on with No. 1. Then, the Lions hosted the Bears last week, and all of a sudden the offense looked a lot like last season's edition — one that was feared both on the ground and through the air.
That version of the Lions' offense is going to give the Ravens' pass defense trouble, like the Bills in Week 1, and most of the high-caliber quarterbacks Baltimore faced last season. Even more concerning for the Ravens is the absence of star defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike, who's a critical component in stopping the run.
It won't be a breeze for the Lions' defense, but that's why this game comes with a total of well over 50. The Detroit stop-unit continues to be loaded with red letters in its depth chart, but that's been the case for over a year now, and the Ravens' offense is marginally less complex without Isaiah Likely and Patrick Ricard.
If they were laying points, we'd have a problem expecting the Lions to separate from a good team, but needing only to stay within a field goal, we'll pinpoint last season's Thursday night game between the Bengals and Ravens in Week 10 (decided on a late missed 2-point conversion) as a comparable matchup.
Pick: Lions +4.5
Player propsLions WR Isaac TeSlaa: Under 13.5 receiving yards (-115)
After an impressive preseason, TeSlaa has made a pair of catches that were so good that they needed to be reviewed to be believed. Maybe that buys the rookie third-round pick some more playing time, but there's a reason players who've gotten three and 17 snaps in their two games this season, rarely get lined in player-prop betting markets.
TeSlaa's two catches have come on two total targets, and, if he hadn't hauled them in (or the replay reviews hadn't gone his way), he wouldn't be available to bet on Monday.
Both catches were for more than 13.5 yards, but his longest catch is lined at 10.5, meaning that we're getting a bonus three yards on a bet that will likely come down to whether he can catch one target. That's assuming he even gets that in a game that should be closer than when he got most of his playing time against the Packers and Bears after the result was decided.
Jared Goff: Under 34.5 pass attempts (-110)
The injury to Madubuike should provide the Lions opportunity to run more effectively than they otherwise would, with both Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, setting up the play-action for their deep-shot passing game. Unless they find themselves trailing by more than two scores, the plan should be to play a classic "road game" where taking time off the clock is one of the main goals, sparing Goff from sitting back and throwing all night.
Lamar Jackson: Over 285.5 passing and rushing yards (-115)
It's "Prime-time Lamar Jackson," so, regardless of what you think the result of the game is going to be, we're going to try the over on a bet that could otherwise be called "Lamar does stuff."
Jackson has come up just shy of this total in two games this season, but he wasn't needed much late last week, and he likely would have come up with the handful of yards needed to cover this number if Derrick Henry wasn't tearing it up in Buffalo — something he's known to do against the Bills — in Week 1.
Against teams that can keep up offensively, who don't get run over by Henry, Jackson has been pushed to rack up more 300 total yards against teams like the Bengals, Chiefs, Buccaneers and 49ers under the lights in the last two seasons.
Anytime touchdownsLions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown (+130 or better)
Odds of +130 for St. Brown to score implies that it needs to happen roughly 45% of the time to be a good bet.
Even if you include a scoreless playoff game, St. Brown scored in 11 of 18 games last season, and started this season 1-for-2. Scoring in 63% of the games you play in should make you a favorite to score in any game, but especially in one with this high of a total. Plus, St. Brown didn't just score last week, he had three touchdowns. Evidence that nothing's changed from last season, when he scored in eight straight games.
Lions WR Jameson Williams (+225 or better)
The Ravens' defensive weakness is the occasional coverage break that a good quarterback and/or a well-designed play can take advantage of, and the last runner you want to see free in your secondary is Williams.
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Like St. Brown, Williams' odds (implied probability of 31%) don't accurately reflect what he was able to do last season — the standard for Detroit's offense that we haven't given up on just because Ben Johnson left, and they struggled in a tough Week 1 matchup.
Scoring in half of his regular season games in 2024, Williams finally came into his own with his first 1000-yard season, while adding a 3-yard rushing touchdown. He may not be 50/50 to find the end zone, but with the Lions always trying to free up one of the fastest players in the league, anything better than +200 is worth a bet.
Ravens WR Rashod Bateman (+220 or better)
"What happened to Rashod Bateman?" some might ask, when perusing the Ravens' stat sheet, seeing that seemingly all the other receivers are scoring TDs so far this season.
After all, Bateman seemed to find the end zone all the time last year, scoring nine times in eight of the Ravens' 17 regular season games and then in each of their playoff games.
The Ravens found something with Zay Flowers' matchup against the Bills in Week 1, then the blowout score in Week 2 allowed for Baltimore's depth players to play in a fourth quarter where the Ravens kept scoring on Cleveland.
Overall, Bateman is still second on the team in both receiver snaps and targets, so if the betting market wants to forget about Jackson's faith in Bateman in the red zone, we'll take a better than 2-to-1 payout on one of his favorite targets to score.
You can find more valuable betting analysis from Yahoo Sports betting contributor, Matt Russell, at THE WINDOW.
Source: "AOL Sports"
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