Caleb Wilfinger
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Following an eventful offseason and a wild first couple of games during the week, the 2024 NFL season truly kicks off in earnest on Sunday. While we’ve already seen a pair of high-scoring, wacky football games to whet the appetite, there’s still a full slate of NFL action for football fans to enjoy on Sunday. One of the marquee matchups on the schedule takes place in Detroit as the Lions will host the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football. I’ve taken a look at the anytime touchdown scorer market and have 2 picks to lock in for this terrific NFC matchup.
The Pickswise team was absolutely on fire with our touchdown scorer prop picks throughout the 2023 NFL season, so let’s keep the momentum going in 2024! Here are my best TD scorer bets for Sunday’s game, and also be sure to check out our full NFL predictions for all of the Week 1 action.
Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR, DET (+105 at Caesars)
The Lions should certainly be motivated to get off to a winning start against Matthew Stafford and the Rams, and I expect Dan Campbell and company to lean on their strengths in order to do so. The fact of the matter is this game will be played in a dome, which is the perfect setting for Jared Goff and this Lions passing attack. Goff is a noticeably better QB indoors, particularly when he’s able to sit in the pocket and be unbothered by pressure. Last season, we saw him light up the Rams in a high-pressure environment in the NFL playoffs, and I don’t expect that to change in Week 1.
In steps Amon-Ra St. Brown, who has thrived in the WR1 role as Goff’s top target. St. Brown scored in 10 of his 16 regular season games a season ago, and he’ll be going up against a Rams defense that surrendered 24 passing touchdowns last season, which was 11th-most in the NFL. In fact, St. Brown hauled in 7 receptions for a whopping 110 yards in that playoff game, so he’s already seen success in this matchup. The Rams are also breaking in a couple of rookies on the defensive line, so Goff should have a bit more time than when Aaron Donald was creating havoc in the offensive backfield back in January. I expect St. Brown to be Goff’s first read on multiple red-zone snaps, so let’s take this number while it’s still at plus money.
Cooper Kupp, WR, LAR (+140 at BetMGM)
While I see the Lions having plenty of success on offense, the same can be said for the Rams on the other side of the ball — particularly in the passing game. Last season, Detroit was shredded by Matthew Stafford and the Rams through the air in the NFC Wild Card round, particularly when Stafford repeatedly targeted Puka Nacua. Therefore, I’m expecting plenty of attention to be paid to Nacua from this newly revamped Detroit secondary in this game. This could create a surprising amount of opportunities for Cooper Kupp to exploit weaknesses against tertiary players in the Lions secondary, especially when Kupp lines up in the slot. This is also a game where the Rams should be playing from behind, which means more opportunities for Stafford to look for his favorite target in the passing game. At +140, this might be one of the better prices we see on Kupp all season, so I’ll grab this while I have the opportunity.
