Five Days to Kickoff: 5 Packers-Lions Keys to Game
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers have reason to be feeling good about themselves after lighting up the Minnesota Vikings 42-33 on Sunday.
“It’s one game,” coach Matt LaFleur cautioned on Monday. “We’ve got to continue. It’s a long road ahead. We’re going to have a pretty angry team, I think, coming into Lambeau this weekend that gave us everything we could handle and then some last year. Shoot, we didn’t lead for a second in either game. We’ve got to hit that reset button and get to work because we know we’ve got a tremendous task in front of us.”
The Detroit Lions, on the other hand, have reason to be filled with doom and gloom.
After that unlikely sweep by the Packers lowlighted their 3-12-1 season, the Lions managed to blow a 23-6 lead in the fourth quarter on Sunday against Chicago. Even still, they had a chance to escape with a victory but rookie running back D’Andre Swift dropped a touchdown pass on the next-to-last play of the game.
“Obviously, last year is last year, and there’s some pieces that are different than where we were last year form that aspect of it,” Detroit coach Matt Patricia said on Monday. “So, we make sure that we’re focusing on the guys that are here now. There’s a lot of guys here who are in key roles that were not part of last year’s team, so they certainly don’t have that mentality at all. For us, we actually have to make sure it doesn’t creep in. Sometimes maybe you hear it too much from the outside world, then you start to think, ‘Is that the case?’ But it’s not the case for us inside.”
The teams’ states of mind – not getting too high on the hog if you’re the Packers and not too down in the dumps if you’re the Lions – are among this week’s keys to the game.
2. Detroit’s Crumbling Corners
In a league that’s driven by quarterbacks and is filled with so many freakishly talented receivers, it’s hard to win games without really good cornerbacks. The Lions got rid of one by sending Darius Slay to Philadelphia, but signed Desmond Trufant and used the third overall pick on Jeff Okudah. With Justin Coleman, the league’s highest-paid slot corner, the Lions hoped they had things, well, covered after finishing 27th in opponent passer rating in 2019 and 30th in 2018.
Against Chicago, Okudah was inactive with a hamstring injury and Trufant and Coleman dropped out with hamstring injuries. With backups forced into action, Chicago’s Mitchell Trubisky threw three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to power a come-from-behind win.
The Lions put Coleman on short-term injured reserve on Tuesday, meaning they’ll be down at least one of their top corners on Sunday. Aaron Rodgers shredded Minnesota’s young corners on Sunday for just his second game of 300-plus yards, four-plus touchdowns and no interceptions since the start of the 2017 season. That makes the Lions’ injury report worth watching this week.
3. Stafford Airing It Out
In last year’s Week 6 matchup between these teams, Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford hit Kenny Golladay on a bomb for 66 yards on the first play of the game and receiver Marvin Hall for 58 on the first play of the next series. In fact, no quarterback threw more deep balls by percentage last season than Stafford.
Green Bay showed some deep-ball problems last week. It was obviously way too little, way too late, but Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins was 4-of-5 for 103 yards and two touchdowns on passes thrown 20-plus yards downfield. Assuming Golladay is healthy after missing the opener with a hamstring injury, Detroit will field a much better receiver corps with Golladay, Marvin Jones and Danny Amendola than the Vikings with Adam Thielen, Bisi Johnson and rookie Justin Jefferson.
4. Run Defense, Again
Green Bay entered the season with obvious questions revolving around its run defense. Those questions did not receive a clear answer one way or the other last week, when Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison carried 18 times for 100 yards (5.6 average).
Up next, it’s old nemesis Adrian Peterson. Less than a week after signing, he carried 14 times for 93 yards (6.6 average) against the Bears. He had five carries of 10-plus yards, tops in the league. Peterson has rushed for 1,975 yards and 16 touchdowns in 19 career games against Green Bay. Only Hall of Famers Walter Payton (2,484 yards in 24 games) and Barry Sanders (2,059 yards in 19 games) rushed for more yardage.
5. Offensive Line, Again
The best offensive lines are the ones that play and practice together week after week. Who knows who LaFleur will line up with on Sunday. Once again, who will start at right tackle? Who will replace Lane Taylor at right guard? Will someone need to replace Lucas Patrick at left guard? Fortunately for the Packers, the Lions’ front lacks pass-rushing horsepower. Their best is Trey Flowers, but he’s more of a right-side pass rusher. If that trend continues, he’ll wind up battling All-Pro David Bakhtiari.
