Packers Report Card: Grades From Statement Victory Over Lions

GREEN BAY, Wis. – “Statement” was a common word used by the players after the Green Bay Packers’ 27-13 victory over the Detroit Lions to kick off their season on Sunday at Lambeau Field.

The Packers were never going to win the Super Bowl based on their performance in Sunday’s game, but to say that it was a big game would be underselling it.

The Packers were 1-5 against divisional teams a season ago. They were 0-6 against top teams in the NFC. Multiple players on the roster had never beaten the Lions at home.

They knew what was at stake, even if it was just the first game of the season.

“It’s amazing. Obviously, the big goal for us was to be able to come in here and start the season off fast and start the season on the right note,” Packers quarterback Jordan Love said. “To come in here Week 1 at home and get a dominant win like that is amazing and exactly what we’ve been working for.”

Another buzzword was “dominant,” and their shiny new toy, Micah Parsons, was a big reason for the success on defense. Green Bay’s pass rush was dominant, indeed, sacking Jared Goff four times and speeding up his internal clock.

“It is a blessing,” said Evan Williams, whose interception was set up by Parsons. “I’ve said it before, just that reassurance you’ve got guys working their tail off to get to the quarterback, and just the talent of guys you’ve got coming off the edge – RG (Rashan Gary), No. 1, D-Wy (Devonte Wyatt), all those guys were eating today. To understand that quarterback’s clock to get the ball out is damn near reduced by a whole second.”

Williams was right. Goff did not have much time to throw. When he did, there weren’t many opportunities down the field.

The result was a performance that was a loud statement to the rest of the league. The Green Bay Packers’ defense is different in 2025.

As a result, the grades on defense in our first report card of the regular season are sky-high, with a nod to Matt LaFleur’s masterful day at the office, as well.

Pass Offense

It’s rare that all eyes are not on Jordan Love when he suits up in a big game for the Packers. That’s just the life of any NFL quarterback. Big games are about quarterbacks, and Love was not good enough in those last season.

Sunday’s game, for all the talk about Micah Parsons and the defense, was as much about Love and his performance.

Green Bay could have the best defense in the NFL, but in today’s world, you’re not getting to the Super Bowl without big-time quarterback play. Love’s first test was passed with flying colors. He didn’t throw for 400 yards – heck, he didn’t even throw for 200 yards – but he was efficient and made big plays when needed.

His first series of the season, he converted third downs with completions to Dontayvion Wicks and Matthew Golden to put his team in the red zone. His next third-down conversion would result in his first touchdown pass of the season, a 15-yard dart to Tucker Kraft in front of Lions safety Brian Branch.

His second touchdown pass came in response to a 16-play scoring drive that pulled the Lions within 10-3. It took the offense all of two plays to extend their lead. First, Love and coach Matt LaFleur dialed up a deep ball to Romeo Doubs, who caught a 48-yard rainbow from Love down the middle of the field to set the Packers up in the red zone. One play later, Love threw a seed to Jayden Reed for a 17-yard touchdown, and the score was 17-3.

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jayden Reed (11) scores a touchdown against the Detroit Lions. | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

Two plays, two beautiful throws, one giant answer to the Lions pulling within one score.

Love’s protection was mostly flawless. Love was rarely under duress. Lions star defensive end Aidan Hutchinson was silent for most of the day, finishing with zero tackles and one quarterback hit.

“It started up front. The O-line did great today,” tight end Tucker Kraft said. “They were passing stuff off early. They were doing great with picks. They were getting their depth. They were using their eyes, their hands. Josh was in there in pass pro. You’ll see – he was a dawg in there today. We were trying to take care of the edge rushers with a lot of chips. It was just the front seven, front eight up there just trying to contribute and keep the quarterback safe.”

Next up? Dan Quinn and his ferocious Washington Commanders defense, which held the New York Giants to six points and sacked Russell Wilson twice.

Grade: A

Rush Offense

If there were one disappointing facet from Green Bay’s performance, it was the run game. Josh Jacobs is coming off one of his best seasons in the NFL but found tough sledding against Detroit’s defensive front. Jacobs finished the day with 66 yards on 19 carries, which was solid production after rushing six times for 8 yards in the first half. Chris Brooks and Emanuel Wilson added two carries for 5 yards.

Ultimately, the biggest run of the game was Jordan Love’s quarterback sneak that converted a fourth-and-1 deep in Lions territory to set up Jacobs for the clinching touchdown.

This facet of the game could be interesting going into Thursday night’s game against Washington.

Right tackle Zach Tom left the game with a hip injury and left guard Aaron Banks with an ankle injury. Coach Matt LaFleur didn’t have any updates after the game; in regard to Tom, Love said, “I don’t think it was anything too major.” If they’re not available on a short week, Jacobs will be running behind an offensive line trying to replace two starters.

For Sunday, however, the run blocking left a lot to be desired.

Grade: C

Pass Defense

The buzzword throughout the facility after the game was “dominant.” Green Bay’s defense was exactly that. It allowed six points while the game was in question; only a desperation heave from Jared Goff that was caught in the back of the end zone by rookie Isacc TeSlaa allowed the Lions to find the end zone.

Apart from that, All-Pro receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown was relatively quiet, catching four passes for 45 yards. Pro Bowl running back Jahmyr Gibbs had 10 catches but only 31 yards. The leading receiver for the Lions was tight end Sam LaPorta, but most of his heavy lifting was done on one catch for 32 yards against a busted coverage.

When Green Bay’s rush was not getting home, the secondary and linebackers covered up Detroit’s receivers.

Keisean Nixon, the team’s new top cornerback with the departure of Jaire Alexander in the offseason, understood the new front would help, but they had to make a statement in their first game.

“We just comin’ for that smoke this year. I had smoke with No. 1 (Lions receiver Jameson Williams) all game, told him he’s got to come see me,” Nixon said.

“Them boys ain’t the same team, anyways. Them boys washed. We ain’t worried about no St. Brown,” Nixon added.

Whether that’s true or not, Green Bay’s pass defense was electric on this day, and a big part of that came from their defensive front.

Micah Parsons' #Packers debut started with an airball but ended with a slam dunk. ⬇️https://t.co/pQshy5N517
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) September 8, 2025

Micah Parsons, Lukas Van Ness, Devonte Wyatt and Rashan Gary combined for four sacks, led by 1.5 for Gary. Goff rarely had time to find plays down the field. Whenever he did have time, those receivers were covered up, forcing him to take checkdown after checkdown.

The biggest part of that, of course, was the debut of Parsons. The stadium erupted in cheers when he was introduced to the Lambeau crowd.

“I told him, get ready to hear the field and see the field shake, because you know that’s how much the fanbase and how much you mean to this team, embrace it,” Gary said. “Make this sh** your house, how I make it for myself.”

Parsons’ house may have gotten even louder when he secured his first sack with the Packers late in the game.

“I see him beat, I think, (left tackle Taylor) Decker, he came from defensive right side, and I was watching him and like ‘Yo, he really a 4.3’, he was really able to hawk him down,” Gary said. “When you see a player like that in person, you get more respect for it and it’s crazy.”

Or perhaps Parsons’ skill-set was translated succinctly enough from Evan Williams.

“He fast,” Williams said with a grin.

Parsons finished with three pressures, including the aforementioned sack. One of those pressures led to Williams’ interception. Parsons beat Penei Sewell quickly with an inside move, and Goff threw the ball hot. Williams broke on the ball and made a diving interception to keep the Lions off the scoreboard and hold the score at 17-3 going into halftime.

When the second half started, however, it was when Brian Gutekunst’s vision came to fruition.

"We've got to be able to get after the quarterback with four," Gutekunst said after the 2024 season ended. "We've got to affect the quarterback more with just four players. It needs to be able to control the game when we need to control the game and finish games off.”

All four of Green Bay’s sacks came in the second half after the Packers took a lead into the fourth quarter.

They controlled the game early to give the offense a chance to build a lead. Once that happened, the game was over because of the control Green Bay’s defense had over the game.

“In a game like that, how it was going, as a defense we just kept telling ourselves to be consistent, get the offense back the ball because the offense was doing a hell of a job moving it,” Gary said.

The Packers got the offense the ball back, and now they have a bigger challenge facing them in Washington’s quarterback Jayden Daniels.

Grade: A

Rush Defense

The addition of Micah Parsons did come with one major price. Kenny Clark, who was part of the Parsons trade, was the second of two stout run defenders to leave Green Bay this offseason. TJ Slaton was allowed to leave via free agency without much of a fight. They started all 17 games last season.

With the Lions coming to town, it seemed obvious what their game plan would, or even should, be. “Sonic” and “Knuckles,” or more formally known as Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, should be given plenty of opportunities to go against Green Bay’s potential soft spot.

The Packers had none of it.

Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery (5) runs the ball against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

Gibbs had one carry for 14 yards. The other 19 carries from the Lions’ backfield went for 30 yards.

That’s an exclamation point from an unheralded group that was breaking in two new starters and getting significant snaps from undrafted rookie Nazir Stackhouse.

The Packers knew the challenge in front of them, and their need to play sound defense at the point of attack.

“One thing that I’ve been doing really good at and have a really great talent of doing, is accepting my role on the team and doing it at the best of my ability,” Stackhouse said.

“Lions is a heavy run team, so they’re going to use my specialty at the best of their ability, so that plays a big factor in just the interior defensive line and the rest of the defense doing what we’re doing in practice and it showing on the field.”

For one game at least, the new-look interior defensive line aced its first test.

Grade: A

Special Teams

Daniel Whelan is a weapon. He had three big punts against the Lions. Two of them were longer than 60 yards. One was a 66-yard punt to flip the field in Green Bay’s favor, the other a 61-yarder to ensure the Lions would not have a chance to put together a drive before halftime. He added a 38-yard punt that pinned the Lions at their 8, which helped Green Bay’s defensive front hunt Goff and forced Jake Fox to punt from the backline of his own end zone.

A short punt by Fox led to a big return by Jayden Reed, which set up Green Bay’s game-ending touchdown from Josh Jacobs.

None of that was possible without Whelan.

The rest of the special teams was solid, including Brandon McManus making all his kicks. If they clean up the penalties – there were two holding penalties on kickoff returns, including one on Savion Williams’ big return to open the game – they would have had a near-perfect day.

Grade: B

Coaching

Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur argues with a referee after a taunting penalty was called against safety Xavier McKinney. | Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

One of the biggest issues the Packers had last season against the best teams in the NFL was that they started slowly, dug a hole and could not climb out of it.

LaFleur talked about emphasizing playing well against NFC North opponents and starting faster in big games. Talk is cheap. The Packers did plenty of talking a season ago but never corrected the issues that plagued them.

Against Detroit, LaFleur had his team ready for a near-perfect start. The offense and defense did exactly what you would have hoped for in a big division game. Love and the offense went right down the field for a touchdown on the opening series. Micah Parsons got a pressure on third down to force a three-and-out punt.

Once the Lions found a bit of a rhythm on offense and kicked a field goal to pull within 10-3, the offense had an immediate answer. Jordan Love threw two passes on the ensuing drive: a 48-yard shot to Romeo Doubs on the first play following the kickoff and a 17-yard touchdown to Jayden Reed to extend the lead to 17-3.

LaFleur also knew when to dial it back at the end of the half. With his team backed up deep inside its 20, Love and LaFleur gained 9 yards on two passes to Matthew Golden and Luke Musgrave. Musgrave fell down inbounds with a little less than a minute on the clock and the ball on the 22.

With Detroit having all three timeouts, LaFleur bided his time. The likelihood of scoring likely wasn’t there. If the Packers hurried up and failed on third down, the Lions would have two timeouts and plenty of time on the clock.

Instead, the clock bled, and the Lions were forced to call a timeout with 21 seconds left following a failed Josh Jacobs run. As a result, the 17-3 lead would stand going into halftime.

The second half was uninspiring from the offense, as it tried to lean into the run game, but Jeff Hafley and Rich Bisaccia’s groups helped the team play complementary football.

Where LaFleur made his biggest adjustment, however, was late in the game.

The Packers led 17-6 with the ball on the Lions’ 10 with less than 10 minutes left in the game. A field goal would have given the Packers a 20-6 lead. After a season of being one of the most conservative coaches in decisions of whether to kick or go for it, LaFleur went for the throat.

On fourth-and-1, Jordan Love was successful on a quarterback sneak. Two plays later, Josh Jacobs was dancing in the end zone after putting the Packers up 24-6.

That aggression should be rewarded, and LaFleur, for this week at least, passed his first test.

Grade: A

Pass Offense

Rush Offense

Pass Defense

Rush Defense

Special Teams

Coaching

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