Green Bay Packers v. Lions: Gut Reactions & Highlights

As has been the case all season long, it wasn’t pretty but the Green Bay Packers won and secured a first-round bye. Here are the gut reactions and highlights.

Yikes. That was an awful first half, but as they have done for a majority of the season, the Green Bay Packers came away with the win. And as a result, they secured the first-round bye. While it certainly wasn’t always pretty, a win is a win and here our your gut reactions and highlights from today’s game.

• Well, Vince Lombardi said it best: “What the hell is going on out there!” – And that sums up the first half of football quite well.
• From the opening play where Jimmy Graham dropped an easy reception through the rest of the first half, the Green Bay Packers just didn’t come to play.

• Some positive news, however, was that Aaron Jones surpassed 1,000 rushing yards on the season for the first time in his career.
• Tyler Ervin has been a fantastic mid-season addition. He had another big kick return and with Jamaal Williams injured, we saw him getting some snaps with the offense.
• As it looked like the Packers were going to tie the game in the first quarter, Davante Adams was called for a penalty that negated a first down and then they were called for too many men in the huddle that took them out of field goal range.
• We got to see out first glimpse of Dexter Williams today. He didn’t do anything special, but he had a decent run.
• It seemed like a quiet game, but Davante Adams had a nice performance catching 7 of 13 passes for 93 yards with a touchdown.

• Somehow, with all the quarterback turnover for the Lions this season, Kenny Golladay continued to produce and he did the same in the first half today. Unfortunately, for him and Detroit, he had to leave the game with a concussion.
• I certainly won’t sugar coat it, Aaron Rodgers was not good. He overthrew a number of receivers and struggled to find any sort of rhythm. But to his credit, he did play better in the second half.
• With that said, opposing teams can only keep him down for so long and he put together a great drive in the third quarter that went the length of the field for a touchdown.
• Allen Lazard just keeps making plays and he loves playing the Lions!

• For as good as the Packer run defense has been in recent weeks, they really struggled against Detroit as they gave up over 150 rushing yards.
• While the defense gave up some big yards on the ground, overall they limited this Detroit offense.
• Chandon Sullivan, once again, he was low-key good.
• Last year we saw Matt Prater throw a touchdown pass against the Packers and this year we saw Danny Amendola complete a touchdown pass to quarterback David Blough.

• Green Bay suffered some big losses along the offensive line with Corey Linsley and Bryan Bulaga leaving the game. However, Lucas Patrick and Jared Veldheer filled in nicely.
• Rodgers continues to struggle with deep passes but when he’s in rhythm and getting the ball out of his hands on shorter routes, he is so much more effective.
• So, why so many deep passes? Sheesh.
• And while Rodgers had his issues, some of his receivers didn’t help him out either.
• It was another nice day for “The Weapon” – J.K. Scott, as he pinned Detroit twice inside the 10 yard line.
• We had a Blake Martinez interception!

• To put it simply, it wasn’t the best day for Jaire Alexander.
• Geronimo Allison continues to struggle. He had a fumble that luckily went out-of-bounds and he also had a dropped pass.
• For as much pressure as the Packers’ defensive front put on Kirk Cousins last week, they didn’t get after David Blough as often.
• Za’Darius Smith, need I say more?
• Although Mason Crosby missed another field goal in Detroit, he hit the game winner and that is all that matters.
• We saw aggressive Matt LaFleur again and the Green Bay Packers were 2/2 on fourth downs.
• Win. Ugly.

Now that they secured the win and a first-round bye, our focus turns to the Seattle game tonight as they host San Francisco. And with a Seahawks win, the Green Bay Packers will have home field advantage throughout the playoffs.