Green Bay Packers v. Lions: Instant Takeaways from Bounce Back Win

It was a slow start and a bit concerning at times, but ultimately, the more talented Green Bay Packers came away with a convincing win to improve to 1-1 on the season.

As I do after every performance, here are my initial thoughts on what we saw from this Green Bay Packers team.

– Well, the good news is that there was certainly more energy overall than last week; however, the Green Bay Packers defense was rough once again.

– Eric Stokes only had eight snaps last week, but to get him on the field more against Detroit, we saw Kevin King taking snaps in the slot — something he has rarely done in his career — with Stokes out wide.

– Stokes is going to take his lumps as a rookie, but he recorded three PBUs this week, with two of them coming on fourth down.

– Speaking of King, what a brutal start to the game as he gave up a big completion to Quintez Cephus (On Wisconsin!) on a third and one pass. Somehow this continues to happen.

– We also saw what looked like to be another miscommunication in the secondary — this time between Stokes and King — on the Lions’ first touchdown to Cephus.

– It’s easy to blame the secondary for some of these plays tonight, but the pass rush was non-existent. I mean, basically nothing for much of the game. The secondary can only do so much if Goff has all day to throw.

– The Detroit offensive line just bullied the Green Bay Packers’ defensive front.

– Without Za’Darius Smith, we were all hoping for a Rashan Gary breakout game, but that didn’t happen at all. In fact, we barely heard his name called until his fourth-quarter sack.

– After the Green Bay Packers scored on their opening drive with a heavy dose of Aaron Jones and the run game, on their next possession they went pass-pass-pass and eventually punted. Why?

– Joe Barry has to be more creative with his play-calling. If the defensive front isn’t generating pressure, dial up some blitzes. Although to his credit, and the defense’s as well, they did play better in the second half.

– Lucas Patrick did clear concussion protocol and was active, but it was Jon Runyan at left guard, and on the initial viewing, he held up well. Patrick may not get his starting job back.

– For the most part, it seemed like the offensive line held up well again. Two of the three sacks given up looked like Rodgers had plenty of time initially.

– After last week’s performance on offense, the Green Bay Packers really needed to get back to run game–and they did just that as Aaron Jones had a terrific evening. As a team, the Packers ran the ball over 25 times.

– Even if the run game wasn’t ripping off these huge runs throughout the game, just the fact that the defense respected that the Packers were willing to run the ball made a huge difference in the passing game.

– After a first half with primarily conservative passes, you could tell that Aaron Rodgers wanted to let the ball fly–even with the run game working well. It led to a questionable decision or two, but against this Lions cornerback room, I get why Rodgers wanted to go after them.

– In addition to getting Jones much more involved, we also saw more of Robert Tonyan and Randall Cobb as well.

– De’Vondre Campbell isn’t going to be a regular game-changer, but once again, I thought he was solid.

– The Green Bay Packers were exceptional in the red zone last season as well as on third downs, and they were once again tonight. Green Bay also won the turnover battle.

– Overall, this was much closer to the offense that we had seen in 2020. Matt LaFleur also had some beautiful play designs for Jones, along with a screen to Robert Tonyan that he stole from Sean Payton a week ago.

– After being big factors in the Detroit passing game a week ago, both Jamaal Williams and D’Andre Swift were fairly quiet in that category this week.

– The start was a little slow, but in that third quarter, we saw the Aaron Rodgers and the Davante Adams that we know. Rodgers finished the game 22/26 for 255 yards and four touchdowns. Meanwhile, Adams caught eight passes for 121 yards.

– Rodgers did, however, overthrow Marquez Valdes-Scantling on two occasions. Both may have gone for touchdowns had they been on the money.

– One name that we haven’t heard in these first two games is Allen Lazard’s.

– As frustrating as the defensive performance was at times, they did make sure that TJ Hockenson didn’t take the game over as many tight ends have in the past against Green Bay. Hockenson still found the end zone and put up decent numbers, but he didn’t control the game.

– The Lions had nine penalties tonight, a few of which really set the offense back.

– I love Kylin returning kicks. On the flip side, Amari Rodgers still looks a bit tentative on punt returns as he did during the preseason.

– Corey Bojorquez still looks legit at punter–which is a great sign.