The Green Bay Packers spoiled Thanksgiving for the Detroit Lions and their fans with a resounding 29-22 win in Detroit. It was sweet revenge for the butt-kicking the Lions put on the Packers in Lambeau in September and it put the Packers right back in the playoff hunt in the NFC. Holy cow.
The Packers set the tone from the beginning when they won the toss and elected to receive. I was shocked. I always want the ball first. Always! The reason I do is because you have a chance to go out and take the lead and that is exactly what the Packers did. A bomb to Christian Watson opened the game and the Packers were off and running. Quarterback Jordan Love was simply on fire from the start. Leading touchdown drives on the Packers’ first two possessions.
The Packers led 23-6 at halftime and did just enough on offense to keep the Lions at bay in the second half. The got a TD when they absolutely had to when given a gift by Lions’ head coach Dan Campbell’s failed fake punt attempt. And they picked up big first downs late to run valuable time off the clock.
Defense gets the job done again
On defense Joe Barry’s unit forced two first quarter turnovers and kept constant pressure on Lions quarterback Jared Goff. Linebacker Rashon Gary had three sacks and two forced fumbles and showed why is getting the big bucks. It was especially sweet considering this was where his season ended last year with a knee injury.
The Lions gained 447 yards but the didn’t pull back within one score until there were 41 seconds left in the game. On the Lions last drive the Packers forced the Lions into short pass after short pass until they scored with 41 seconds left. Once the Packers recovered the onside kick it was game over.
The Packers now have ten days to prepare for the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and then have five very winnable games after that. This is a young team that doesn’t know what it doesn’t know. Hopefully that bodes well down the stretch.