Packers roar back against the visiting Lions
It’s another manic Monday at Lambeau Field as the Green Bay Packers rallied to defeat the Detroit Lions 23-22 and improve their record to 5-1.
Matthew Stafford and the Lions came out aggressive as Stafford started out his first two drives with long completions downfield. They would jump out to a 13-0 lead before Aaron Rodgers and the Packers answered with 10 points of their own, cutting the deficit to 13-10 at halftime. The Packers would tie the game in the third quarter before the Lions added 9 more points to take a 22-13 lead in the fourth quarter. Rodgers would rally the Packers, who won the game on the final play on a Mason Crosby 23-yard field goal with 2 seconds left on the game clock.
My thoughts on this game:
Stafford was on fire in the first half. It seemed like he couldn’t miss, but they failed to capitalize on a lot of their drives. In fact, they only scored one touchdown, and there were questions on whether Kerryon Johnson made it in on fourth down. Perhaps he did, but had they ruled him short of the goal line, that call might not have been overturned either.
Aaron Jones had family at the game, but he had a difficult first half. He fumbled the ball during a promising drive by the Packers, and then in the second quarter, he dropped a pass that would have gone for a touchdown. Thankfully they got a touchdown anyway, helped in part by Detroit having too many men on the field during a field goal attempt.
Darrius Shepherd probably had the roughest night of any Packer. After they tied it at 13-13, they stopped Detroit and Shepherd fumbled the ball away after fielding a punt return and getting hit. In the fourth quarter, the Packers were trailing 19-13, but they were driving and Rodgers threw to Shepherd near the goal line, but Shepherd slipped and the ball hit his face mask, bouncing in the air and into the hands of Justin Coleman, who ran it back 55 yards to the GB 43.
Trailing 22-13, Allen Lazard couldn’t come up with a deep throw by Rodgers on second down. On the next down, Lazard made an excellent catch for a 35-yard touchdown, cutting the deficit to 22-20.
The Packers stopped Detroit and took over at their own 18 with 6:42 left. They used every bit of that time, and Jamaal Williams slid to a stop near the goal line with Detroit out of timeouts late in the game. Rodgers knelt down twice and Crosby came into the game with 2 seconds left for the winning kick.
This is the second time in two years that Crosby kicked the winning field goal on the final play on a Monday night at Lambeau. You may remember his winning kick last year when the San Francisco 49ers were in town.
With a lot of talk about the Packers, Bears, and even the Vikings in the division, the Lions are right there as well and are a team to be taken seriously. They also have won 4 straight vs the Packers entering this game, and have won the last 2 games and 3 of the last 4 at Lambeau Field. They outplayed the Packers for much of this game.
This game was not without controversy though. Unfortunately, much of the postgame talk centered around the officiating instead of how the Packers rallied to win this game. The Lions’ Trey Flowers twice got called for illegal hands to the face in the fourth quarter when replays showed otherwise. Also, Will Redmond appeared to commit a pass interference penalty on Marvin Jones Jr. during Detroit’s final possession. It was not called and the Lions did not challenge the no-call.
The second penalty on Flowers gave the Packers a first down with 1:36 left and the Lions out of timeouts. Detroit was going to let Jamaal Williams score in hopes of getting the ball back, but Williams slid down before he got to the goal line, and the Packers ran the clock down to 2 seconds before Crosby hit the game-winner.
So was the Packers’ win tainted because of the officiating? I don’t think so. Without these calls, perhaps the Packers don’t win the game, although we don’t know how it would have played out. Besides, Detroit had numerous opportunities to put this game away, but they settled for field goals instead of getting touchdowns.
We can look at past games. Was the victory by the Eagles tainted? There were calls that went against the Packers in that game, including on the decisive interception. Clay Matthews got a bogus roughing the passer penalty against the Vikings last year, ultimately giving the Packers the tie instead of the win. There was also the Jerry Rice fumble in a playoff game at San Francisco that wasn’t called, and we all know about the “Fail Mary” at Seattle.
I believe that the officiating has been terrible this year, especially with the pass interference penalties or non-penalties. The Packers just seemed to have benefited from it in this game, although there were likely some calls earlier that didn’t go their way. I already talked about Detroit’s lone touchdown.
Everyone else can say what they want to say. I am not apologizing for this win. However it happened, the Packers found a way to win a game where they didn’t play anything near their best game. They are now 5-1 and are in first place in a tough NFC North division. This victory could be very huge going into the final weeks of the season.
The Packers have a short time to enjoy this win before they have to prepare for their next game, another matchup at Lambeau Field as the Oakland Raiders pay a visit next Sunday. Have a great week Packer fans and let’s enjoy this win!
Go Pack Go!
@DieHardPackrFan #DHPF #GregGoshaw @gg901
