2014 SCHEDULE DETROIT LIONS Week Day Time Opponent 1 September 8 7:10PM ET New York Giants 2 September 14 1:00PM ET @ Carolina Panthers 3 September 21 1:00PM ET Green Bay Packers 4 September 28 1:00PM ET @ New York Jets 5 October 5 1:00PM ET Buffalo Bills 6 October 12 1:00PM ET @ Minnesota Vikings 7 October 19 1:00PM ET New Orleans Saints 8 October 26 9:30PM ET @ Atlanta Falcons 9 Bye Week 10 November 9 1:00PM ET Miami Dolphins 11 November 16 4:25PM ET @ Arizona Cardinals 12 November 23 1:00PM ET @ New England Patriots 13 November 27 12:30PM ET Chicago Bears 14 December 7 1:00PM ET Tampa Bay Buccaneers 15 December 14 1:00PM ET Minnesota Vikings 16 December 21 1:00PM ET @ Chicago Bears 17 December 28 1:00PM ET @ Green Bay Packers Matthew Stafford Lions Special Teams Last season, the Lions brought in veteran kicker David Akers to replace longtime veteran Jason Hanson. Akers’ performance was adequate but not particularly inspiring. He made 19 of 24 field goals and struggled on kickoffs. The Lions parted with Akers in the offseason, choosing to spend their seventh round draft pick on Nate Freese. Freese made all 20 of his field goal attempts at Boston College last year and will compete with Giorgio Tavecchio for the job. Jeremy Ross will handle return duties after impressing in that role last season. In a blizzard against Philadelphia, Ross scored two return touchdowns, one on a kickoff return and one on a punt return. Overall, Ross averaged 24.5 yards per kickoff return and 15.5 yards per punt return. The punting duties will be handled by Sam Martin, a second-year player who averaged 47.2 yards per punt in his rookie season. Prediction The Lions will have no problem putting points on the board due to continued dominance from Calvin Johnson and the addition of new weapons in the offense. However, unless the team improves greatly at limiting turnovers under Jim Caldwell, the defense won’t be strong enough to prevent this team from losing shootouts. Expect seven or eight wins on the season. LEON HALIP/GETTY IMAGES SPORT
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