By admin 
Green Bay, Wis. – Anytime, anywhere.
That’s been one of the Detroit Lionsmottos under head coach Dan Campbell.
And they lived it to the fullest on Sunday in Green Bay, where they walked into a soaking wet Lambeau Field, decimated the rival Green Bay Packers with the division lead on the line and retained the NFC’s No. 1 seed with a 24-14 victory that was far more decisive than indicated the final score.
“We’re built for this, man. It doesn’t matter. Just because we’re playing indoors, it doesn’t matter,” Campbell said. “We can play anywhere. We can play in the snow, play in the rain, play in the mud; that’s just us, and we’re built to win.”
For the second time in four games, the Lions (7-1) turned a highly anticipated matchup during America’s Game of the Week into a quick victory. Detroit defeated the Dallas Cowboys 47-9 during America’s Game of the Week in Week 6. In those two games, they have allowed just one touchdown.
The Lions have now won three straight games at Lambeau Field – previously a house of horrors for Detroit – for the first time since 1986-88. The Lions are 2-0 within the division to start this season. Still, the Lions wouldn’t be taking victory laps with a rematch between the two teams looming in Detroit on December 5.
After winning 34-20 at Lambeau last season, the Lions were defeated 29-22 on Thanksgiving Day at Ford Field.
“They’ll be ready the next time we play them, but for now this win is big for us,” said Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who entered the stadium Sunday. wearing a sweatshirt that reads: “GREENBAY SUCKS.”
Earlier this week, Packers safety Xavier McKinney said the Lions are “trying to embarrass people,” telling reporters that the Green Bay organization and its players “don’t really take that lightly.”
To their credit, the Packers avoided being blown out after trailing 24-6 entering the fourth quarter. Green Bay added a touchdown and two-point conversion with 3:46 left in the game to cut the deficit and brighten up the scoreboard a little.
But Detroit had its way with the home team despite the steady downpour – conditions that many pundits thought would favor the Packers going into the game – and Green Bay made all the crucial mistakes of the game.
The Packers committed ten penalties to Detroit’s five and made several critical drops, while also failing to capitalize on the majority of their opportunities. With 10:07 left in the game and Detroit leading 24-6, Packers receiver Dontayvion Wicks was wide open and had a third-down pass right through his hands in the end zone, and Green Bay turned it over on downs of the match. next game.
The critical foul came with 32 seconds left in the first half. After Detroit added a field goal to make it a 10-3 lead with 58 seconds left, Packers quarterback Jordan Love made his worst decision of the game. Looking for a sack from Lions linebacker Alex Anzalone, he tried to throw the ball away to running back Josh Jacobs but was intercepted by Kerby Joseph for a pick-six that made it a 17-3 Lions lead, with Detroit the ball to start the third quarter.
While coming up on a blitz, Joseph threw off two blockers, looked up and the ball was right there.
“I just saw Jordan Love throw the ball, so I just jumped up and the ball was there,” Joseph said. “Shout out Levi (Onwuzurike). He got that block for me, and then I knew it was a touchdown, but I just really couldn’t believe it. But I just want to say shout out to my team.”
The Lions made the most of their opportunity, driving down the field with a nine-play, 71-yard drive, culminating in a 15-yard touchdown by Jahmyr Gibbs to make it 24-3.
Gibbs had 65 rushing yards on 11 carries and set the NFL record for most consecutive games averaging over 5.0 yards per carry (seven).
St. Brown got the scoring started for Detroit with a 3-yard touchdown and totaled seven catches for 56 yards. Lions quarterback Jared Goff – often criticized for being much better inside than outside – went 18-for-22 for 145 yards and one touchdown. He nearly had another perfect pass in the first half, but threw an incompletion on his final attempt to finish 11-for-12 through the first two quarters.
Goff, who went 12-for-12 or better in the first half three times this season, joked when he learned the statistic that he should have just dropped on his last attempt of the half.
“I didn’t know that. I should have taken a sack, that probably would have helped,” he said.
St. Brown called Goff’s performance “super impressive.”
“I’m freezing out there and I don’t know how he can bring that back in with the rain and the wind,” St. Brown said. “It seemed like it barely upset him.”
Packers running back Josh Jacobs grabbed 10 carries in the first half for 89 yards, but the Packers were forced to abandon the run game as they tried to come back from a double-digit deficit for the entire second half. He finished with 95 yards on 13 carries. Love finished the game 23-for-39 passing for 273 yards, no touchdowns and an interception, while ex-Michigan State star Jayden Reed led all receivers with 113 yards.
The Packers, who entered Sunday with the league’s 25th red zone offense, marched down the field on a 14-play drive to start the game but settled for a 30-yard field goal by Brandon McManus to up, 3-0. , as he was running back, Chris Brooks dropped a third-down pass over the middle to end the threat.
The Packers went 1-for-4 in the red zone with their only score coming in the final minutes of the game.
“We do a good job of eliminating those points. We prevent people from getting seven, and look, that was one of the biggest differences in the game,” Campbell said.
When the Lions first got the ball, they had an equally tough 13-play drive. After reaching fourth and goal at the 5, Detroit provoked Green Bay with an infraction penalty that made it first and goal at the 3. St. Brown pulled off a ferocious double move on Packers defensive back Keisean Nixon for a Met his toe-tapping catch on a perfect back-shoulder pass from Goff to go ahead 7-3 on the opening play of the second quarter.
“That’s something we’ve worked on in the past and something we thought would be good this week. I thought at the end of the day it was just me and him making a play,” Goff said. “Guy actually covered it pretty well, I backed up, he made a great catch and his celebration was pretty good too.”
After starting their second drive with a 37-yard run up the middle from Jacobs, Green Bay was assessed a brutal false start penalty before going on third-and-3 from the Detroit 32, forcing the Packers to surrender a pass that fell incomplete and led to a punt.
Lions safety Brian Branch was ejected with 6:18 left in the second quarter for a head-to-head goal against Packers receiver Bo Melton. Branch was clearly not thrilled with the decision and was assessed an additional unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for appearing to twist his middle finger toward the Green Bay sideline, leading to a 30-yard penalty. However, the Packers were unable to capitalize on the opportunity and McManus missed a 46-yard field goal to end the drive.
“They just said it came from (the league office in) New York,” Campbell said. “That’s all I have on it. That’s the first time I’ve ever been a part of something like that, since I’ve been a head coach, that somebody got ejected. So I didn’t see it. I don’t know ‘I don’t know .’
Detroit extended its lead with 58 seconds left in the half with a 10-play pass-happy drive. Detroit reached the Green Bay 9-yard line before Goff threw his first incompletion of the game (he went 11-for-11 for 86 yards) on third down and the Lions settled for a 27-yard field goal by Bates to go Up 10-3.
“We have full confidence in (Goff) and it worked out well for us,” Campbell said.
The Lions then took a 17-3 lead before halftime on Joseph’s first career pick-6 and sixth interception of the season. Joseph’s pick-six was the first by a Lions player in Green Bay since 1979.
Green Bay scored a 38-yard field goal by McManus with 48 seconds left in the third quarter to cut Green Bay’s deficit to 24–6.
[email protected]
@nolanbianchi