A rundown of everything you need to know before the Patriots kick off in Detroit on Sunday
Sunday's meeting will have a lot of familiar faces for both coaching staffs.
Patriots (1-1) at Lions (0-2)
Sunday, 8:20 p.m. ET, NBC
Opening line – Patriots by 6
Record vs. spread – Patriots 1-1, Lions 1-1
Series record – Patriots lead 7-4
Last meeting – Patriots beat Lions 34-9 Nov. 23, 2014.
Last week – Patriots lost to Jaguars 31-20; Lions lost to 49ers 30-27
AP Pro32 Ranking – Patriots No. 5, Lions No. 30
Patriots offense – Overall (20), Rush (18T), Pass (18).
Patriots defense – Overall (28), Rush (27), Pass (23).
Lions offense – Overall (11), Rush (30), Pass (6).
Lions defense – Overall (16) Rush (32), Pass (4).
STREAKS, STATS AND NOTES
Patriots
-Tom Brady has helped the Patriots win four straight in series since making his NFL debut Nov. 23, 2000, late in the fourth quarter of 34-9 loss against the Lions at Pontiac Silverdome.
-Bill Belichick facing a former assistant for the second time in three weeks. Patriots opened with 27-20 win over Houston and former New England assistant Bill O’Brien.
-Belichick is 14-8 against former assistants. Now Matt Patricia gets his shot.
-Belichick was assistant special teams coach for the Lions in 1976 and wide receivers coach the next season.
-Patriots owner Robert Kraft is one win away from becoming fastest to No. 300 in NFL history; would be in 431 games.
-New England is 45-6 after losing game since 2003 and didn’t lose two straight in 2016 or 2017.
-Brady has won nine of last 11 Sunday night games and 19 of 29 in career.
-Patriots linebacker Kyle Van Noy has nine tackles, tied for second on team, interception and faces franchise that drafted and traded him.
Lions
-Detroit’s first-year coach Matt Patricia was Belichick’s defensive coordinator previous six seasons and on staff for 14 years.
-Lions general manager Bob Quinn worked for Patriots 2000-15.
-More than dozen Lions employees worked for Patriots.
-Detroit off to worst start since 0-5 in 2015.
-Lions wide receiver Golden Tate has scored in each of the last two home games and has seven receptions in last three games.
-Detroit linebacker Devon Kennard has at least one sack in three straight games.
Fantasy tip: Brady should at least match two touchdowns thrown by last two Detroit opponents. Brady may face secondary without All-Pro cornerback Darius Slay, who left last game with concussion.
