My best friend went to Highland High School in Illinois.
He now lives in Florida and is a Miami Dolphins season ticket holder. In fact, he owns enough Miami Dolphins season tickets to hire a bus or two to take a lot of his friends to key Dolphins home games. Given how hard of a season the Dolphins were having midway through this campaign, they have now had a somewhat reversal of fortune with four straight wins, I wanted to do something special for J.R. when he celebrated his birthday in November.
The Detroit Lions All Pro Tightend, Sam LaPorta, also attended Highland High School and is the first graduate of that institution to advance to the National Football League. J.R. had been braggin’ on LaPorta since his days at Iowa and declared him the best thing that ever came out of Highland High. I thought it would be nice to have LaPorta send a birthday greeting to my friend with an autographed portrait from one Highland High graduate to another.
I sent a portrait of the Lions tightend to him in Detroit and he was super gracious in autographing it and offering J.R. a birthday message from a fellow high school grad. The experience had my personal admiration for LaPorta multiply and I quickly rooted for him and his team like I had bet on their success.
Then, in the second week of November, LaPorta suffered a back injury that required surgery and, in all likelihood, will sideline him for the season. Critical injuries are becoming the norm for this talented Detroit team. Last year, with one of the most explosive offenses in NFL history, the Lions lost a car full of top players off their defense that depleted their stop unit and was no doubt a contributor to them losing their only postseason game while surrendering 45 points to the Washington Commanders.
In last week’s win over the Dallas Cowboys, a victory that kept them in the hunt for the NFC North Division title, Dan Campbell’s team suffered another injury to a key defensive player when safety Brian Branch went down with a season ending torn Achilles.
Now this talented but injury prone Lions squad head to SoFi Stadium to meet the team with the best record in the NFC, the Los Angeles Rams.
Both these teams were in the playoffs last season, and both hope to be again this year. The prospects are brighter for the home team this week. The Rams don’t have a weakness and while they experienced early season injury problems they are about as healthy as a team can hope to be after playing 14 weeks of rigorous NFL action.
While the Lions are desperate for a win while embroiled in a tough division race with the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears, the Rams perch atop the NFC West is by the slimmest of margins. They have the same record as the Seattle Seahawks but own the tiebreaker edge based on a two-point win in their first of two head-to-head meetings.
While rooting for the Lions with an invested interest last Thursday night, I was aware that in key situations in the red zone that this is where LaPorta would be a primary target to tally six points. With the Lions backup tightend also sidelined with an injury, that position was manned by a player not initially thought to be a key to Detroit’s success. The Lions offense is not as good without LaPorta, and their defense is now vulnerable to an opponent's passing attack.
It can be argued, with Matthew Stafford directing the Rams offense from the quarterback position, that the Rams have the most effective passing game in the league.
In an important contest for both teams, the Rams come into this meeting fully armed against a weakened Detroit stop unit. That is why the opening line on this game appeared gaudy, the Lions getting six points. The bettors thought there was value in that number and their wagering has driven the number down to 5½ points, which I suggest you lock in before people figure out that six points on the spread isn’t enough.
Qoxhi Picks: Los Angeles Rams (-5½) over Detroit Lions