After falling behind early this week, there was no come-from-behind performance from the Green Bay Packers, although a third quarter charge made it interesting at least.
Live from the press box, here are my instant takeaways from the Packers’ 34-20 loss to the Detroit Lions on Thursday night.
— You control the trenches, you control the game, and that’s largely what the Lions did in this contest. Detroit ran nearly 20 more plays and held the ball for over 13 minutes longer than the Packers.
— Green Bay averaged only 2.3 yards per rush and on passing plays Jordan Love was under what felt like constant pressure. Love, and whatever the play call was, stood little chance on those plays that, in the first half, happened too frequently. On the other side of the ball, the Packers couldn’t slow the Lions run game at all, allowing their offense to play ahead of the sticks for much of the game.
— Pressuring Jared Goff was going to be a key in this game. As we saw, if he has time in the pocket, he will pick apart defenses, especially with pass catchers like Amon-Ra St. Brown and Sam LaPorta. In part, because the Packers couldn’t slow the Lions run game, their pass rushers weren’t often in position to simply pin their ears back. Goff was also able to rely on the quick game as well, which was an added challenge when it came to trying to pressure him. On the third and longs that the Packers defense did put the Lions offense in, they were able to get home at a good clip.
— Running the ball was never going to be easy and the Lions had some injuries in the secondary, so the Packers came out trying to throw the ball. The issue, however, was that the offensive line was not holding up in pass protection and from the start, Love was under duress. With that said, even with moving the ball on the ground going to be a challenge, being one-dimensional against this Lions pass rush is not a recipe for success.
— Green Bay used a lot of shotgun and pistol formations, I’m guessing to give Love an additional buffer against the pass rush.
— This was always going to be a tough matchup for the Packers. Two things that they don’t do well, run the ball and stop the run, were key aspects to beating this Lions team.
— The Lions came into the game ranked 28th in DVOA at defending running backs in the passing game. I thought this could be a way for the Packers to exploit their defense while relying on the quick passing game to help avoid the Detroit pass rush, especially with Aaron Jones available. However, Jones was not targeted in the first half and had just one target the entire game.
— The Lions defensive backs already play fairly aggressively, but with Love under constant pressure, especially in that first half, they were not afraid of getting beat deep on longer developing routes and were all over the Packers receivers.
— I mentioned this last week, but Keisean Nixon’s aggressiveness on kick returns is hurting the Packers right now. Along with struggling on offense, their average starting field position was not good.
— Speaking of special teams, that phase of the game has not been good for the Packers this season. Too many miscues and penalties.
— After a rough start for the Packers defense, Corey Ballentine took over at outside cornerback for Carrington Valentine.
— Aidan Hutchinson is as advertised. He was giving Zach Tom fits with both power and speed rushes. We saw him running stunts, giving Jon Runyan issues, and he lined up over Royce Newman inside on obvious passing downs.
— Of course, Amon-Ra St. Brown receives a lot of well deserved attention, but Sam LaPorta is a matchup problem. He can impact the game in a variety of ways, including as a blocker and pass catcher, while lining up both inside and out. All of which makes him so difficult to defend. He adds an element of unpredictably because he can do so much.
— We’ve seen it at various times over the last three games, but a lack of first down success just about spells doom for this offense. Playing from behind the sticks and being put in predictable passing situations has been difficult to overcome, often leading to a punt.
— It looked like Rashan Gary was still on a pitch count, being used mostly in obvious passing situations.
— Anders Carlson remains perfect on the season on both extra point and field goal atttempts. After the summer he had, I’m not sure anyone saw that coming.
— Luke Musgrave left the game in the first half to be evaluated for a concussion. He was eventually ruled out with a confirmed concussion.
— With a mini-bye following this Thursday night game and Green Bay’s actual bye following their upcoming Monday night matchup with Las Vegas, the Packers play just one game between now and October 21st. An opportunity for them to get healthy.