Five things the Lions must do to beat the St. Louis Rams in Sunday’s regular season opener for both teams:

1. Stop Steven Jackson and the Rams run game. Short runs are key, but last season the Lions defense had trouble plugging up the holes and preventing big runs. That has to be a priority this week.

2. Sam Bradford is healthy after going through last season on a wonky ankle. The quarterback has a laser arm and he might just target rookie corner Bill Bentley and the decimated defense which is likely to be playing without cornerback Chris Houston and safety Louis Delmas.

3. Get the ball to Calvin Johnson. Don’t see this as a problem although the Rams have upgraded at corner with veteran Cortland Finnegan and rookie Janoris Jenkins.

4. Establish some type of running game with Kevin Smith, who is coming off an ankle injury, leading the way. Stefan Logan will also be used in the run game along with Keiland Williams. But Smith is the key here.

5. The defensive front seven must pressure the Rams to help out the secondary. The Rams are starting a rookie, Rokevious Watkins, at left guard and don’t think Ndamukong Suh and Corey Williams won’t try to exploit his inexperience.

Prediction: Lions 35, Rams 21.

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