The Green Bay Packers manage to pull off an upset against the favored Detroit Lions in the first Thanksgiving game of the year. This required a strong Jordan Love and a flawed performance from the Detroit Lions, who are still on course towards the NFL playoffs.
Packers @ Lions: At a glance
- Led by a strong Jordan Love, the Packers dominated the game and had significantly better drives on their side. In the end, the Lions even had 78 plays compared to the Packers’ 54, but couldn’t make enough of them.
- The Detroit Lions once again committed three turnovers, all due to fumbles. Packers safety Owens returned a fumble for a touchdown.
- Things are still looking good for the Detroit Lions in the NFC North despite the loss against their division rivals. Now 8-3, they are currently still two wins ahead of the Vikings (6-5). The Packers improved their record to 5-6 after four defeats in a row.
Packers @ Lions: The game report
The Packers went into their division duel with the Detroit Lions hot. On the first play, Jordan Love found Christian Watson for 53 yards. Four plays later, tight end Jayden Reed got the Packers on the scoreboard with a touchdown catch.
The Lions were able to respond immediately with rookie tight end Sam LaPorta. However, kicker Riley Patterson missed the extra point. In a high-scoring first quarter, the Packers immediately followed up with a touchdown from Tucker Kraft.
Less than a minute later, Jared Goff fumbled near his own end zone. Packers safety Jonathan Owens was quickest and carried the ball back for a touchdown. After Patterson, his fellow kicker on the Packers side, Carlson, also missed an extra point.
After just under a minute, Jared Goff lost his second fumble. The Lions’ defense was then able to stop the Packers on 4th&1 at the 14-yard line, almost making them forget about the turnover.
Shortly before the end of the first half, the Lions played a 4th & 4 at the opponent’s 35-yard line. However, Goff was hit and the attempted pass was deemed “incomplete”. We went into the break with a score of 23:6.
The Lions marched down the field right after halftime. A touchdown by David Montgomery was called back. Two plays later, Montgomery found the end zone in accordance with the rules.
After a failed fake punt by the Lions, the Packers extended their lead with another touchdown pass from Love to Watson. The Packers then tried the “Philly Special” for two points. But receiver Romeo Doubs was sacked before he could throw the pass.
The Lions were unable to gain any momentum after the unfortunate start. The six 4th downs played including the fake punt showed the Lions’ aggressiveness and desperation at the same time. The fact that the first five of these 4th downs all ended unsuccessfully and the clock was ticking mercilessly meant that the Lions had to run against a confident Packers defense again and again.
40 seconds before the end of the game, the Lions were able to reduce the lead to 29:22 with a touchdown and 2-point conversion, but the Packers were able to recover the subsequent onside kick and thus secure the victory.
Green Bay Packers (5-6) @ Detroit Lions (8-3)
Result: 29:22 (20:6, 3:0, 6:8, 0:8) BOXSCORE
Bengals @ Lions: Key stats
- The Detroit Lions were brave as usual on 4th downs, but were unsuccessful today. Including the fake punt, there were six attempts, of which only one was successful.
- Due to these various failed attempts, the Lions had to repeatedly replay the field, while the Packers had significantly better field positions. In the end, the Lions had almost 500 total yards (472) while the Packers had 377 yards to win.
- According to “Next Gen Stats”, Jordan Love achieved a 7.3% completion rate over expected, a career high that shows that Love was particularly good at throwing into narrow windows today. Previously, he was the bottom performer among QBs with -4.4% CPOE.
The star of the game: Jordan Love (Green Bay Packers)
Jordan Love continues to follow in Aaron Rodgers’ footsteps. A difficult legacy, but one that the quarterback perhaps took on better today than ever before. With 22/32 completed passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns, he led his team to victory with a passer rating of 125.5.
Also strong: pass rusher Rashan Gary, who sacked Lions quarterback Jared Goff three times and scored two forced fumbles.
The flop of the game: The Lions’ pass protection
Coach Dan Campbell and his usual courageous 4th-down decisions could have been mentioned here, because they came to nothing today.
One of the main reasons was always the Lions’ O-line, which couldn’t get the Packers’ pass rush under control at all. Goff hardly had any time in the pocket, was repeatedly surprised by the blind side and received twelve QB hits.
The scene of the game
Here you could point to the Lions’ bitter fake punt, which certainly had a bearing on the course of the game. However, that also happened on the very first play of the game, when Love went deep and emphasized that the Packers had a lot planned today. Christian Watson caught the ball and laid the foundation for a strong opening phase with this big play.