Packers 29, Lions 22

The Packers decided to come out as aggressive as possible to set the tone, and it worked. Christian Watson was a difference-maker in the 1st quarter, allowing the Packers to build a 14-6 lead after Green Bay’s first 2 possessions. On Detroit’s 2nd possession, that’s where the game was decided, a costly turnover that led to 6 points. That ended up being the play of the game. Building Green Bay’s lead to 20-6 (yet another missed extra point), and keeping the momentum on the Packers’ side for the entirety of the game.

Turnovers~ as always stated, the Packers won that department 3-0, yet only scoring 6 points off the 3, those kept points off the board for Detroit and put them in a funk almost all game. The other item that shouldn’t go unnoticed, was Detroit’s 4th down conversion percentage was 20%. The Lions attempted 5 fourth down conversions (fake punt being one of them), and only converted on 1 – those act as turnovers as well due to the momentous impact they have when the defense makes the stop.

Defensive Issues…~ while the Packers were close to holding Detroit’s 6th ranked scoring offense (entering the game) to under 20 points, they still held them to less than their avg. of 27.2 points, which was huge – thanks to those turnovers. However, the defense still gave up 464 total yards, and 140 yards on the ground with 4.5 yards/carry. This allowed Detroit to win the time of possession battle, hence the turnovers helping in this department to win the game.

They were able to sack Jared Goff 3 times only for a total loss of 8 yards…it was a good enough effort to win, with the difference being the fumble return for a TD.

Watson Came to Play

Watson finished with 5 catches for 94 yards and a game-winning touchdown. He showed on the first drive on the game that he was attacking the ball and great things happen when he does this. He’s a matchup nightmare, and does draw the most double-teams in the NFL (as written about in the last blog), but if he’s able to begin coming up with more contested catches, this could really be something in the making. What many are asking, deservedly so, is for Love to lead Watson more on these deep passes as he had both of the Lions d-backs burnt on the play and a good throw is a walk in TD.

Special Issues

The Packers missed two kicks on Thanksgiving, resulting in leaving 4 points on the field, for the 2nd consecutive game. Somehow this did not come back to bite them, but that would’ve made the drive last week vs. the Chargers a lot less nerve-wracking…being up 27-20 is far different than 23-20. Also, this week, the Packers wouldn’t have gone for 2, so it technically was a 5-point difference. Green Bay should’ve been up 34-14 on the Lions’ final possession, making it a 3-score game which is such a crucial difference in the game of football. The one nice thing the Special Teams did was stuff the fake punt late in the 3rd quarter which allowed Green Bay to bust the game open from 23-14 to 29-14 (had the extra point been made prior, Green Bay could’ve kicked the extra point on this TD to make it a 3-score game and essentially ice it).

Lastly, Love…

This was a key play, but he balled out all game. Love finished with arguably the best game of his young career: 22/32 (68.8%); 268 yards; 3 TD; 0 INT; 125.5 RAT. He played so well that maybe his worst ball was still completed for 53 yards…the underthrow to Watson on the opening play of the game. He needs to keep this going and will need to play well next week vs. a very good and opportunistic Kansas City defense.