Packers vs. Lions Big Three Preview for Week 1 Showdown

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers will welcome the Detroit Lions to Lambeau Field on Sunday for the season opener. Here’s everything you need to know in our first look at this highly anticipated NFC North matchup.

Time, TV, Weather

Date and Time: Sunday, Sept. 7, 3:25 p.m.

TV: CBS.

Betting Line: Packers are 2.5-point favorites at FanDuel Sportsbook. According to numberFire, there is a 62.8 percent chance of a Packers victory.

Weather: Sunny with a high temperature of 64 degrees with a 7-mph northwest wind, according to WBAY-TV.

Matchup History: Packers lead the series 106-78-7. The Lions have won six of the last seven matchups, including three in a row at Lambeau Field.

Packers-Lions: Three Players to Watch for Detroit

1. DE Aidan Hutchinson: After a gruesome leg injury ended his 2024 season after just five games, it will be interesting to see how one of the league’s best pass rushers rebounds. He was dominant before the injury with 7.5 sacks and 17 quarterback hits. That’s as many sacks and more hits than Rashan Gary had in 17 games. It is worth noting that after the big payday Micah Parsons received from the Packers, Hutchinson will be looking to show out and earn a similar contract for himself.

2. RBs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery: While Montgomery started all 14 appearances last season, Gibbs emerged as the star last season with 1,412 rushing yards, an NFL-high 16 rushing touchdowns and 5.6 yards per carry. We’ll see if they will still use both players as “RB1a and RB1b” or if Gibbs will get a bigger share of touches and Montgomery moves into more of a true backup role.

3. LT Taylor Decker: After an offseason shoulder injury put Decker on the PUP list early in camp, he was activated in early August and will play on Sunday. The veteran left tackle will have to deal with Micah Parsons, who was acquired by the Packers last week. Parsons will move around the defense but the Packers might prefer to match him against Decker rather than All-Pro right tackle Penei Sewell.

Packers-Lions: Three Players to Watch for Green Bay

1. WR Matthew Golden: All eyes have been on Matthew Golden since he was drafted, and that shouldn’t change in his debut. The receiving room is still a little beat up with Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks returning from injuries but expecting to play. With Golden being one of the healthy receivers in the room and coming off a tremendous training camp, he’ll need to step up and show some of his big-play ability.

2. RB Josh Jacobs: Jacobs barely played in the preseason. With the receivers banged up, running back MarShawn Lloyd on injured reserve once again and quarterback Jordan Love perhaps not dialed in after being limited with an injured left thumb, Jacobs should be back on workhorse duty.

3. The Newcomers, DE Micah Parsons and CB Nate Hobbs: Parsons missed all of training camp in his contract dispute with the Cowboys and Hobbs missed most of training camp following knee surgery. Parsons will be looking to make an impact in his Packers debut and Hobbs, if he plays, will be looking to silence the doubters who believe the cornerback room isn’t good enough for this team to contend.

Packers-Lions: The Three Phases

Lions on Offense: The Lions ranked first in points per game at 33.2 last season, which was nearly a field goal more than the Bills, who were in second place at 30.9. They were also second in the league in yards per game at 409.5.

The Lions feature a balanced attack, with the Jared Goff-led passing attack ranking second in passing yards per game and per attempt, and their thunder-and-lightning rushing attack ranking sixth in yards per game and ninth in yards per attempt.

Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (14) celebrates a touchdown against Green Bay Packers last year. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The passing attack is spearheaded by receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who was a first-team All-Pro for the second consecutive season last year with 115 receptions for 1,263 yards and 12 touchdowns. He has 430 receptions in four career seasons. He also flipped the script and threw for one touchdown, a 7-yard throw to Goff.

A trick-play touchdown like that is a testament to the creative play calling of their former offensive coordinator, Ben Johnson, who is now the coach of the Chicago Bears. He was replaced by John Morton, who was a receiver on the Packers’ practice squad in 1993.

While they were able to retain their core of offensive weapons, which includes St. Brown and Jameson Williams at receiver and Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery at running back, it is yet to be seen if the creative design of Johnson was the real power being that strong offensive output, meaning they might be due for a regression on that side of the ball.

Johnson wasn’t the only loss the Lions endured on offense. They lost two of their five starting linemen, as well. Frank Ragnow, who was a three-time second-team All-Pro center with the Lions, announced his retirement in June at only 29 years old.

The Lions also lost guard Kevin Zeitler, who started 16 games last season, to the Titans in free agency. While the core of that line remains strong with right tackle Penei Sewell, the reshuffled line means there will be first-time starters at left guard (2024 sixth-round pick Christian Mahogany) and right guard (2025 second-round pick Tate Ratledge).

Lions on Defense: Due in large part to an overwhelming number of injuries, the Lions were an up-and-down defensive unit last season. They finished fifth against the run but 30th against the pass.

At the end of the day, they were seventh in the league in points allowed, so they got stops when it mattered. A big key to that was finishing No. 1 in the league on third down.

Their defensive effort is led by arguably the best safety duo in the league in Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph. Joseph led the NFL with nine interceptions and Branch had four interceptions, 16 passes defensed and 109 tackles.

Detroit’s defensive line is led by elite defensive end Aidan Hutchinson. After recording 21 sacks during his first two seasons, he had at least one sack in four of his first five games last season – including 4.5 against Tampa Bay – before a season-ending injury. His projected sidekick is Marcus Davenport, who played in only six games the past two seasons. The defensive tackles are stout veteran D.J. Reader and first-round pick Tyleik Williams.

Alex Anzalone and Jack Campbell lead the linebacker corps. A first-round pick in 2024, Campbell had a breakout second season with 125 tackles. Anzalone had 125 tackles in 2022 and 129 in 2023 but was limited to 10 games last season.

The cornerbacks who will challenge Jordan Love and Green Bay’s receivers are Terrion Arnold, last year’s first-round pick, and D.J. Reed, who was signed in free agency. Arnold took his lumps as a rookie – he had zero interceptions and PFF charged him with a 99.2 passer rating – while the undersized Reed is sticky in coverage but undersized. Both are prone to penalties.

Like on offense, the Lions will have a new coordinator running the show. With Aaron Glenn the new head coach of the Jets, former NFL linebacker Kelvin Sheppard will be calling the shots. He coached Detroit’s linebackers the last four seasons.

Lions on Special Teams: In his first year, kicker Jake Bates was phenomenal for the Lions. He was 26-of-29 on field goals, with two of the misses being from 50-plus yards. His longest field goal was from 58 yards, and he was 64-of-67 on extra points.

For a team as aggressive as the Lions on fourth down, they still have an excellent punter if they ever don’t want to go for it. Jack Fox, who punted a career-low 45 times last season, led the NFL in gross average (51.0 yards) and net average (46.2 yards).

Veteran receiver Kalif Raymond will be the punt returner. The two-time second-team All-Pro has averaged 12.4 yards per runback with two touchdowns in four seasons with the team. Backup cornerback Khalil Dorsey will be the kickoff returner. He only returned four kicks last season but mixed in a 72-yard return in his limited attempts.

Packers-Lions: Three Big Matchups

Lions defensive lineman Aidan Hutchinson tackles Packers quarterback Jordan Love during their game in 2023. | Wm. Glasheen/USA TODAY NETWORK-W / USA TODAY NETWORK

1. Packers RT Zach Tom vs. Lions DE Aidan Hutchinson: This will be a marquee matchup between two of the NFL’s top young players.

In his short time spent on the field last year before his injury, Hutchinson rushed from the left side of the defense 70 percent of the time. That will put him up against right tackle Zach Tom, who had a great 2024 campaign to finish third in All-Pro voting.

Hutchinson missed both games against Green Bay last season. In four career matchups, he has 3.5 sacks, four tackles for losses, six quarterback hits and one interception. Tom allowed only three sacks last season, according to Pro Football Focus. One of them was against Detroit.

2. Packers TE Tucker Kraft vs. Lions S Kerby Joseph: This matchup did not disappoint last season. In the moments leading up to kickoff of their Week 13 matchup, there was a lot of trash talking between Kraft and Joseph, mostly revolving around Kraft believing Joseph to be a dirty player.

In the third quarter, Joseph did what he does – he went low in an attempt to tackle Kraft. Kraft side-stepped him before being hit hard by two Lions defenders. Kraft quickly did a kip up to get back on his feet.

Kraft realized Kerby Joseph has a tendency to hunt knees and punked him. Also nailed the landing pic.twitter.com/d3EtbMPrvr
— Thomas Sullivan (@Yfz84) December 6, 2024

While Joseph got the last laugh with the Lions winning 34-31, Kraft quietly had a solid output with three catches for 41 yards and a touchdown. Kraft had a strong second season, ranking among the position leaders in yards, yards per catch and touchdowns, and is expected to play a bigger role this season.

3. Packers CBs vs. Lions WR Jameson Williams: While most eyes will be on Amon-Ra St. Brown, who will likely be guarded by Javon Bullard when he lines up in the slot, Williams will be a key factor for the Lions, as well.

Williams has elite speed, which allowed him to be a 1,000-yard receiver last season even while missing two games (including Week 9 at Lambeau Field).

For Green Bay, Keisean Nixon spent training camp at left cornerback. Nate Hobbs missed the entire preseason with a knee injury and did not practice on Monday. Either Hobbs or Carrington Valentine will start at right cornerback.

Packers-Lions: Three Keys to Victory

1. The Top of the Defense: Coming off an injury, Xavier McKinney will be a focal point in keeping the Lions passing game locked down. Paired with Evan Williams, they will need to keep the top on the defense and make tackles in the open field against the Lions’ playmakers.

2. Jordan Love Needs Time: The offensive line will need to give Love a good amount of time to work with if they want to utilize the downfield playmaking and breakaway speed of Matthew Golden. If he doesn’t have much time to throw, the offense could stagnate.

3. Second-Level Blocking: The Lions have two standout linebackers in Jack Campbell and Alex Anzalone. Last year, Josh Jacobs emerged as the focal point of Green Bay’s run-first offense. He is going to have his work cut out for him beating this Lions linebacker corps, especially with the potential lack of chemistry on Green Bay’s offensive line, which didn’t get many snaps together during training camp. If the offensive line can create holes, it will make his life a lot easier when trying to create explosive plays.

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