Good afternoon, everyone. On Sunday November 3, the Green Bay Packers took on the Detroit Lions at a rainy Lambeau Field. This game was for the lead in the NFC North, yet the Packers could not get the job done at home. Like the previous two losses this year, this game was full of self-inflicted errors. Let’s get into detail on how this game went down.
The Packers won the coin toss and elected to receive the ball to start the game. Keisean Nixon had a decent return before being pushed out of bounds at the 40 yard line. Nixon had to leap over a Gatorade cooler to avoid injury. There was a personal foul called on Nixon for getting to it with a player on the Lions’ sideline. Because of that penalty, the drive started at the Packers 25 yard line. From there, Green Bay’s offense went on a methodical drive that had some good production. Josh Jacobs ran well, and Jordan Love made some good completions that helped move the chains. During the drive, Green Bay faced a fourth and one from the Lions 44 yard line. The Packers devised a trick play in the form of a direct snap to Tucker Kraft, who got the first down to keep the drive alive. Even after a false start penalty, the Packers were able to keep the chains moving after a 19-yard pass completion to Christian Watson on second and 15 from the 47. An 11-yard run by Jacobs gave the Packers a first and 10 at the Detroit 17. The Packers had to settle for a field goal when Chris Brooks dropped a pass that could have been at least a first and goal if not a touchdown. Brandon McManus’s kick was good from 30 yards out, giving Green Bay a 3-0 lead with 7:06 left in the first quarter. After the kickoff went into the end zone for a touchback, the Lions started their first possession at their own 30 yard line. Unfortunately, the Packers defense was unable to stop the Lions from moving the ball down the field and running out the rest of the first quarter clock in the process. For a moment, it looked like the Packers were able to hold the Lions to only a field goal. Seeing that the Lions are coached by Dan Campbell and their offensive coordinator is a creative Ben Johnson, they were going to go for the TD. TJ Slaton was called for neutral zone infraction, which gave the Lions a shorter fourth and goal situation. After that penalty, Jared Goff found Amon-Ra St. Brown for a 3-yard touchdown. Keisean Nixon was covering St. Brown and didn’t do a good job at all. The extra point was good, giving Detroit a 7-3 lead right at the start of the second quarter. After the kickoff return only got to the Green Bay 24, the Packers started their second drive with the hope of answering back with a touchdown of their own. The drive started great with a 37-yard run by Josh Jacobs, but it stalled after that huge play. The Packers had a third and 3 from the Detroit 32 yard line until a false start penalty by Sean Rhyan backed them up 5 yards. On third and 8 from the 37, Jordan Love threw a deep pass basically to nobody, setting up a fourth and 8. It looked like the offense was going to go for it, but they decided to take the delay of game and punt it back to Detroit. The Packers defense forced the Lions to go three and out thanks to an 8-yard sack of Jared Goff on third and 4 from the 26 yard line (split between Rashan Gary and Arron Mosby). There was a holding penalty on Kamal Hadden during the punt return, forcing Green Bay to start their next possession at their own 18 yard line. Two good passes by Jordan Love and two good runs by Josh Jacobs got the Packers in a better position at the Green Bay 48. After a holding penalty that nullified a 6-yard pass, the Packers faced a second and 20 from their own 38. On that play, Jordan Love looked for Bo Melton on a pass that was close to the left sideline. The pass went incomplete, but Lions safety Brian Branch did a helmet-to-helmet hit on Bo Melton. Branch’s only intention was to hit Melton and not go for the ball. Not only did he get penalized for the hit, but he also got penalized for flipping off the officials. To top it off, he was ejected from the game. There also should have been a penalty on the Lions linebacker James Houston for trying to twist Jordan Love’s ankle (he also should have been ejected for that). Because of the back to back penalties, the Packers got a first and 10 at the Detroit 32 yard line. Despite this advantage, the Packers did absolutely nothing with the opportunity. To make matters worse, Brandon McManus went wide left from 46 yards out. After all of that, the Packers got no points. Once the Lions took over, they were able to get into scoring position on their next possession. They were a few yards away from scoring a touchdown, but the Packers defense made sure that they only got a field goal. The kick by Jake Bates from 27 yards out was good, increasing Detroit’s lead to 10-3 with 58 seconds left in the first half. Even with less than a minute left, the Packers should have been able to get some points heading into the half. Instead, they turned the ball over on an awful decision by Jordan Love. On second and 2 from the Green Bay 38, Jordan Love dropped back to pass, then ran away from the pocket towards the right sideline. Instead of throwing the ball to the ground or out of bounds, he tried to find Josh Jacobs. The pass went into the hands of Kerby Joseph, who took the pick all the way for a touchdown. That pick six, plus the extra point, increased Detroit’s lead to 17-3 with 32 seconds left in the half. The Packers tried to get points before halftime, but the deep pass from Love to Jayden Reed got only to the Lions’ 11 yard line before time expired.
The Lions opened up the second half with a 9-play drive that started at their own 29 yard line. Detroit’s offense had no issue moving the ball down the field during this drive, which ended with a 15-yard touchdown run by Jahmyr Gibbs that was too easy. The extra point was good, increasing the lead to 24-3 with 9:32 left in the third quarter. The next two drives in the third quarter, one by each team, ended in a three and out and a punt. After that punt exchange, the Packers started their next drive at their own 25 yard line. On the second play of the drive, Jordan Love found Jayden Reed for a 32 yard pass play that went to the Detroit 39 yard line. The Packers made it all the way ti the Detroit 14 yard line before the drive stalled in very ugly fashion. There were back to back ugly snaps by Elgton Jenkins (who was in at center due to Josh Myers being out) that were at least recovered by the Packers. On the first bad snap, Emanuel Wilson recovered the ball at the 23 and was able to get back to the line of scrimmage. On the second bad snap, Jordan Love was in shotgun and had to recover it at the 20. After that, the Packers had to settle for a field goal. The kick was good by Brandon McManus, decreasing the lead to 24-6 with less than a minute left in the third quarter. After another three and out by Detroit, the Packers got the ball back at their own 17 yard line. The drive started with a 14-yard pass from Jordan Love to Christian Watson. After yet another false start penalty, there were two straight incomplete passes. The second one was a frustrating one. Love threw it deep intended for Watson. The pass should have been a big connection, but Watson stopped and leaped too early, leading to the pass to be overthrown. Two plays later, Green Bay converted a fourth and 5 with a 28-yard pass completion to Jayden Reed. After another bad snap, which was recovered by Love, the Packers faced a second and 11 from the Detroit 37. Love found Bo Melton for a 19-yard pass completion that got the Packers into the red zone. Chris Brooks ran for 9 yards, setting up a second and 1 at the 9 yard line. Unfortunately, the drive resulted in no points after two straight incomplete passes (with the second one being a dropped TD by Dontayvion Wicks) and Josh Jacobs being stuffed on fourth down. The Lions didn’t do anything on the ensuing drive and punted back to Green Bay. From their own 45, the Packers finally got a touchdown after a 10-play drive. From two yards out, Emanuel Wilson scored on a touchdown run. Christian Watson caught the two-point conversion pass that decreased the lead to 10 points with less than 4 minutes left in the game. After the onside kick went to the Lions, they were able to run out the rest of the clock and seal their 24-14 win. With the loss, the Packers record is now 6-3 entering the bye week.
(Here are the “lowlights” of the game, provided by the NFL’s YouTube channel. Click on “Watch on YouTube” if you’re curious.)
On offense, the Packers were not great at all, other than on their last drive. There were some promising plays on some drives, including a big run by Josh Jacobs (who finished with 95 rushing yards on 13 carries) on the second drive. The Packers out-gained the Lions by 150 total yards for the game, so it wasn’t like they were struggling to move the ball. When they got closer to the red zone, or even in the red zone, too many self-inflicted errors messed up drive after drive. From too many pre-snap penalties to dropped passes (including two that would have been touchdowns), these errors would grind drives to a halt. Even after the Packers got 30 free yards due to the Brian Branch chaos, the Packers got in their own way with a pre-snap penalty and an incomplete pass (Tucker Kraft dropped that pass). It didn’t help that Brandon McManus missed the field goal there. Right at the end of the second quarter, Jordan Love made an awful mistake when he threw that pick six to Kerby Joseph that was a turning point in the game in Detroit’s favor. Hopefully Love gets healthier and keeps those mistakes to a minimum after the bye week. Christian Watson misjudged a deep pass in the second half that would have resulted in a huge gain if not a touchdown. Dontayvion Wicks and Chris Brooks dropped a pass that would have been a touchdown. The only touchdown the Packers scored on offense was when basically in garbage time. Overall, it was a frustrating game on offense for Green Bay in the pouring rain. There are a lot of things to clean up during the bye week, especially the penalties and dropped passes (also bad snaps on a couple of plays). Hopefully there are less mistakes in the second half of the season.
On defense, the Packers were better than last year in terms of not allowing a whole bunch of points to the Lions. They were able to force them to a few three and outs. Unfortunately, some of those three and outs were after the score was 24-3 and the Lions were playing it safe. They didn’t get a turnover out of Jared Goff, who was an efficient 18/22 for 145 yards and a touchdown pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown, who made a great catch in the end zone. Once again, the Packers were missing Jaire Alexander in the defensive backfield. Evan Williams also missed this game, which didn’t help. Quay Walker came back, but he wasn’t that great in terms of stopping the run. The defense on the whole allowed nearly 150 yards to the duo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery. The Lions were able to play better than the Packers on Sunday in the pouring rain, which should be the opposite given that this game was the first outdoors game for the Lions all season. Kudos to the Lions offense for making fewer mistakes than the Packers offense. The Packers defense needs to be ready for when they play the Lions again in December. Before that though, they have some things to take care of during the bye week and leading to the next game. I’m sure that Jeff Hafley will get these guys ready for anything (minus Preston Smith, who got traded to Pittsburgh).
On Special Teams, the Packers had a couple of mistakes during this game. It started on the opening kickoff, when there was a personal foul penalty on Keisean Nixon when he got into it with a player on Detroit’s sideline. That penalty messed up a pretty good return that nearly got to midfield. Later in the first half, Brandon McManus missed a 46-yard field goal during a drive that was helped by Brian Branch’s back to back penalties. McManus did make his other field goal, and the Packers went for two after their only touchdown. Therefore, he didn’t have to kick an extra point in the rain. Daniel Whelan punted twice, with both punts being inside the Lions’ 20 yard line. In a game where there were too many errors by Green Bay, I was relieved that the Packers didn’t have a turnover or allowed a touchdown on Special Teams. No huge plays happened for Green Bay on Special Teams though.
Overall, the game was awful for the Packers. Just like the losses against the Eagles and Vikings, the main reason why the Packers didn’t win on Sunday was because of too many self-inflicted errors. This loss was the third straight loss to the Lions at Lambeau Field, which dates back to Aaron Rodgers’ last game as a Packer. If I can get positive for a moment, I’ll say this. Last year, the Packers were 3-6 after 9 games. This season is the other way around, with them being 6-3 after 9 games. Hopefully the Packers use the bye week to get healthier and get ready for their third NFC North game. That game will be against the Chicago Bears, who haven’t won against Green Bay since Matt LaFleur became head coach. Hopefully that streak continues on November 17th. In the meantime, the Packers need to clean up a lot of things. Here’s to a healthier second half of the season. Have a great week, everyone. Go Pack Go.
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