To say the Green Bay Packers 7-3 loss to the Detroit Lions was a defensive struggle wouldn’t be giving the offenses proper credit for how horribly they played.
The game was 0-0 at the half. The first touchdown of the day didn’t come until midway through the fourth quarter, when Lions tight end Will Heller took a screen pass 13 yards for a score.
The real story of the day was Aaron Rodgers getting knocked out with a concussion in the second quarter. Backup Matt Flynn was ineffective to say the least. The Packers scaled back their game plan for Flynn, but he still looked unsure of himself in the pocket.
Flynn’s longest drive of the game (81 yards) ended when he was picked off by linebacker DeAndre Levy in the end zone. That wasn’t the only offensive miscue by the Packers on the day, though.
On the Packers first drive, rookie tight end Andrew Quarless fumbled after being hit by linebacker Landon Johnson. Rodgers was intercepted as well, although, it wasn’t his fault.
On the interception, Rodgers delivered a perfect deep ball to Greg Jennings — a ball that hit Jennings on the hands, in stride. Jennings bobbled the ball, it went backwards directly into the hands of Lions safety Amari Spievey and Jennings kept running like nothing happened, while Spievey ran the other way.
Then there was the play calling, the biggest gaffe coming with under two minutes, with the Packers driving for the potential winning score. On fourth-and-1, Mike McCarthy called for a deep pass to Jennings.
Jennings was open on the play, but Flynn hadn’t thrown many accurate balls all day. Maybe McCarthy forgot Rodgers was on the sideline.
Meanwhile, when McCarthy wasn’t being a dumbfuck, the Packers offensive line was getting worked by Ndamukong Suh and the Lions defensive line. Not only couldn’t the Packers get anything going on the ground — Rodgers led the team with 25 yards rushing — but the Lions racked up four sacks and consistently collapsed the pocket.
Defensive end Turk McBride (who?) had two of the sacks.
The Lions offense wasn’t any better, but it was good enough on this day.
Quarterback Drew Stanton finished 10-of-22 for 117 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He was more of a threat on the ground than he was through the air, running for 44 yards.
The Lions big-play receiver, Calvin Johnson, was held to only one catch for 44 yards by the tandem of Tramon Williams and Charles Woodson.
In addition to Williams and Woodson, defensive end Ryan Pickett had a big day, finishing with nine tackles and a sack. Desmond Bishop and A.J. Hawk were solid against the run and the pass. Clay Matthews notched a sack, in addition to five tackles and Charlie Peprah got his first interception of the season.
None of that was enough, though, since the Packers offense decided not to show up.
The Packers managed only 13 first downs to Detroit’s 15 and totaled only 258 yards of total offense.
Pathetic.
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