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Morning Coffee: Montgomery powers Lions to win at Lambeau Field

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The final countdown to Thursday Night Football was a weird one for those of us involved in the planning process for last night’s FanDuel NFL content.

First, it appeared as though the Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery was trending towards playing against the Green Bay Packers.

Then, there were the unconfirmed reports that he would have to sit out due to a thigh injury that kept him out in Week 3.

Eventually, we got the official confirmation that Montgomery was going to be available for Detroit after all.

In fact, Montgomery wasn’t just going to play, he was going to be the lead back for the Lions against Green Bay.

As long as Montgomery was good to go health-wise, his return to the lineup was going to have a significant impact on the game.

As it turns out, the 26-year-old running back was just fine.

Montgomery delivered an absolutely dominant performance to power Detroit to a 34-20 win over the rival Packers at Lambeau Field.

Anybody who bet on Montgomery player props at FanDuel or started him in fantasy football leagues was rewarded for their faith in him.

Unfortunately for yours truly, I was not among them.

This is the Morning Coffee for Friday September 29th, 2023.

Montgomery powers Lions to win at Lambeau Field

It wasn’t that long ago that Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson promised to use rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs in ways “people don’t quite think we might”.

What I didn’t realize at the time, was that Detroit might not use him very much at all if Montgomery delivered the type of dominant performance that we saw from him last night at Lambeau Field.

Despite averaging 5.0 yards per carry, Gibbs finished with only eight carries for 40 yards.

The 12th overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft recorded four catches for 11 yards on five targets.

As somebody who bet on him to go over 19.5 receiving yards at FanDuel, I was hoping for a better result from Gibbs than 2.2 receiving yards per target.

Instead, the cheeseheads at Lambeau got the David Montgomery show.

Montgomery rushed for 121 yards and three touchdowns on 32 carries.

32 carries!

So much for potentially being limited by a thigh injury.

Montgomery became the first Lion to register 100 rushing yards and three touchdowns in a game since James Stewart did it all the way back in 2000.

Montgomery is up to five rushing touchdowns in his first three games for Detroit.

That’s tied for the most rushing touchdowns in a player’s first three games with a team in NFL history.

Fortunately for yours truly, we did cash the FanDuel Best Bet that I recommended in Thursday morning’s column with a Same Game Parlay that featured the Lions +3.5 and Amon-Ra St. Brown to finish with 40+ receiving yards.

St. Brown registered five catches for 56 yards and a touchdown on seven targets.

He went under his receiving yards total at 73.5, but got us what we needed to cash the FanDuel Best Bet.

The Lions have won four straight games against Green Bay – tied for the second-longest streak in the history of their head-to-head series.

It was also Detroit’s sixth consecutive division win and 11th consecutive division cover.

The Lions moved one game up on the Packers for the best record in the NFC North.

All of a sudden, Detroit is the obvious favourite to win its division at -220 odds.

A FanDuel Best Bet for Sunday’s NFL Week 4 games

We are 1-0 with the FanDuel Best Bets in this week’s column, with two bets pending.

First, I recommended a play on the Denver Broncos to beat the Chicago Bears in Tuesday’s column.

The spread for that game has moved from Denver -1.5 to Denver -3.5 at FanDuel.

The money line has moved from Broncos -144 to -166.

Meanwhile, I also recommended a play on the Bears to stay under 5.5 wins at +136 odds at FanDuel.

Next up, I want to lock in one more FanDuel Best Bet for Sunday’s games.

I’ll take a two-team money line parlay with the Los Angeles Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles to win outright at -130 odds.

The Eagles have won 11 straight September/October games dating back to the 2021 season.

Jalen Hurts is 20-1 in his last 21 regular season starts.

His lone loss over that span came against Washington in 2022.

I don’t think he’s forgotten about that one.

Philadelphia is an 8.5-point favourite at home.

I think the Eagles roll to a 5-0 start with another victory.

Meanwhile, the Chargers are in a much different spot than Philly, coming off their first win of the season.

After barely holding on for a win over the Minnesota Vikings, LA is a 5.5-point favourite against the Las Vegas Raiders.

With Jimmy Garoppolo in concussion protocol, the Raiders might have to turn to Brian Hoyer as their starter for Sunday’s game.

Regardless of who starts at quarterback, I like the Chargers against the only team that has failed to score 20 points this season and the only team that has failed to force a turnover this season.

I’ll lock in an Eagles-Chargers money line parlay at -130 as my FanDuel Best Bet for Sunday’s NFL games.

Good luck to anyone who tails!

Have a great weekend, everyone!