Two Days to Kickoff: Two Packers at Lions X-Factors

Looking beyond the obvious, here are two players who could be X-factors when the Green Bay Packers visit the Detroit Lions on Sunday.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Dec 11, 2020 12:06 PM EST

GREEN BAY, Wis. – You know the big names for Sunday’s game between the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions at Ford Field. For the Packers, it’s the offensive triumvirate of Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams and Aaron Jones. For the Lions, it’s quarterback Matthew Stafford, running back Adrian Peterson and tight end T.J. Hockenson.

Digging a bit deeper, here are two X-factors – one for each team – for the annual NFC North showdown in Motown.

Packers: LB Kamal Martin

With safety Raven Greene likely out for the rest of the season with a shoulder injury, defensive coordinator Mike Pettine might have to change how he plays defense.

Pettine, of course, loves to line up with his dime defense. The last four games, Greene has played about 60 percent of the defensive snaps as a quasi-linebacker. Compare that to rookie linebacker Kamal Martin, who played about 21 percent during that same span.

This game likely would have been a high-volume game for Greene – especially if running back D’Andrew Swift is back in the lineup. In the rookie’s nine games, he’s caught 31-of-39 targeted passes. That includes going 5-for-5 for 60 yards against Green Bay in Week 2.

“In a lot of situations, I would prefer to play with two linebackers but, at the same time, you’re weighing that with how you are in pass coverage versus defending the run and also where you stand with, ‘Hey, we want to get our best 11 players on the field,’” defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said. “We want to find a way to get that combination out there. And for a stretch of time, there was only one linebacker that we felt was in that group relative to the other players—whether that was an extra safety or even an extra lineman or outside ‘backer when we’d get into the 5-1 stuff. But we’re feeling much more confident about that group now, and with Raven’s unfortunate situation with the injury, we feel like we’ve got three guys there that we can roll.”

Lions: RT Tyrell Crosby or Matt Nelson

This past offseason, the Lions dumped veteran right tackle Rick Wagner and signed Halapoulivaati Vaitai to a robust five-year, $50 million contract. However, Vaitai was plagued by a foot injury during training camp, so the Lions plugged 2018 fifth-round pick Tyrell Crosby into the lineup. Crosby’s started all 12 games and played well, but he dropped out of last week’s game at Chicago with an ankle injury.

The next man up? Former Iowa defensive lineman Matt Nelson, an undrafted free agent last year. That seemed like a recipe for disaster, with Nelson tasked to go up against Chicago Bears star Khalil Mack. It was an overwhelming victory by … Nelson. While the Lions provided the requisite amount of help, Mack was kept completely off the defensive stat sheet. No sacks, no hits, no tackles.

“Yeah, it was definitely a huge confidence boost to me,” Nelson told reporters in Detroit. “It was a kind of ‘OK, I can do this.’ Khalil Mack’s a great player, he has been perennially an All-Pro, Pro Bowler, a future Hall of Famer. So, to go out and compete with him was amazing, and being able to keep Matthew clean was awesome.”

Whoever lines up at right tackle for the Lions will face a tall task against Green Bay outside linebackers Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith and Rashan Gary. Led by Za’Darius Smith’s 10.5 sacks, they’ve combined for 17.5 sacks. Of that total, 8.5 have come during the last four games.