It's another Thursday night game for the Packers, this time taking on the Detroit Lions at Ford Field tonight for the second of the two teams' divisional match-ups this season. This is only the second time in team history that the Packers have played in back-to-back Thursday night games. The first time was in 2015 when coincidentally the Packers visited Ford Field after hosting the Bears on Thursday night football. At first, when the schedule was slowly being leaked for this season, I had seen this game before seeing we were playing on Thanksgiving, so I was ready to flip a table thinking the Lions got a week's rest while we had three days. So, it was a relief to see we were hosting on Thanksgiving as well, the teams will be on the same amount of time off, and the Packers will get a much-deserved extended rest period before heading into the final stretch of the season. 

The 9-3 Packers are coming off another big victory on Thanksgiving where they defeated the Dolphins 30-17 putting together a pretty good game on all sides of the ball. Perhaps the most impressive part was the defense holding a pretty dynamic Miami offense to only 17 points. Detroit is sitting at 11-1 and is coming off their own Thanksgiving victory over the Bears where poor clock management from the Bears may have saved them from overtime. Detroit's defense came out of that game pretty banged up and the Packers will absolutely look to take advantage of that tonight. 

These two teams last met only a little over a month ago in week 9 at Lambeau Field where the Lions were victorious pulling off a 24-14 victory. The Packers outperformed Detroit in all aspects of the game. They had more rushing yards, and passing yards, they had out-performed Detroit on offense by 150 total yards. But they just kept shooting themselves in the foot. Penalties push the Packers backwards and an inability to get in the end-zone until late didn't help either. The turnover battle was won by Detroit as well after Jordan Love made a bit of a bone-headed mistake in just chucking the ball into the air to avoid a safety but it wound up in the hands of Kerby Joseph who all but walked into the endzone for the touchdown just before halftime. This made a 10-3 Detroit lead 17-3 and then a touchdown after the half putting Detroit ahead 24-3 basically sealed it as Green Bay was unable to recover from their mistakes in the second half. 

Last Thursday, the Packers put together one of their best games of the season against Miami. Jordan Love had a good game through the air with 274 yards passing and two touchdowns, both to Jayden Reed who made himself a red-zone target in this game hauling in the two scores. Tucker Kraft and Josh Jacobs also stood out in the passing game with Kraft catching 6 targets for 78 yards and Jacobs hauled in four for 74 yards which included a big 49-yard scamper in which his elusiveness just about broke the ankles of Miami defenders. When you look at the stat sheet for the defense, at first you'd think Tua Tagovailoa really diced the Packers' defense throwing for 365 yards and two touchdowns, but a good portion of those yards were in the second half of the game with the Packers already up by three scores. The defense did an outstanding job of limiting a dynamic Dolphins offense in the first half which paved the way to victory. 

Tonight against Detroit will be a big battle that will determine whether or not the Packers are true contenders. This is a different Packers team this time around than when they first faced the Lions, hopefully, they will prove that true tonight. 

What to see on Offense

The last time these two teams met, it was obvious that Jordan Love wasn't 100% after exiting the previous game with a groin injury. His mobility hadn't quite been there at all, not until after the Bye week against Chicago. As a result, it seems like the offense is back on track. Wide Receiver Romeo Doubs is still in concussion protocol after sustaining the injury against San Francisco but has been practicing in a limited fashion. Unfortunately, he will be OUT tonight. It would be nice to have him in the lineup as he is one of the most reliable targets Jordan Love has at his disposal. But, Love could still assemble a viable threat in his absence last Thursday. Hopefully, tonight will be the same. 

Doubs' presence would be nice this week though as Detroit's secondary is a much greater threat than Miami's. If you thought Xavier McKinney's interception total this season was impressive, well, take a look at Lions' Safety, Kerby Joseph. Joseph is currently tied with McKinney for the league lead in interceptions with seven. Followed behind Joseph is Safety Brian Branch with four. If you follow the Packers' social media at all, you're probably very familiar with Branch as he was the player the Lions drafted after the Packers traded back in the 2023 draft. Yes, Branch has gone on to have a good first two seasons so far, but so has Jayden Reed whom the Packers drafted with that traded pick after trading back with the Buccaneers again and the two picks they gained in the process from those two trades ended up being Dontayvion Wicks and Karl Brooks. So, it kind of worked out for both teams I'd say.  After the Safeties, the corners, Carlton Davis III and Terrion Arnold have had decent seasons so far as well as Amik Robertson in the slot. Jordan Love will have to be careful with the ball as usual as this secondary will be ready to hop on any mistake he makes. 

Looking at the pass rush, once again the Lions are without Aidan Hutchinson who will at least miss the remainder of the regular season, but in his place, the Packers get to see a familiar face in Za'Darius Smith. Smith has made the most of his time after the trade that brought him to Detroit collecting two sacks and six QB hits in three games. Outside of Smith, the Lions are pretty thin for rushing the Quarterback. Injuries have decimated the defensive line and linebackers with DT Mekhi Wingo and LB Malcolm Rodriguez being lost to knee injuries against Chicago last week and placed on IR. DE Josh Paschal DT's Levi Onwuzurike, and DJ Reader are also banged up and will not play tonight. Usually, I pick the Packers' offensive line against anyone as they've done an outstanding job of keeping the Quarterback clean this year, and this game is no different. Just don't give Za'Darius Smith a reason to show off, no one cares to see that. 

On to the running game. The last time the Lions and Packers met, the Packers had around 100 yards rushing in the first half. Unfortunately, since they were playing from behind, the rushing attack kind of took a back seat in the second half and only amassed around 38 yards. Josh Jacobs still had a good game though running for 95 of those yards averaging 7.3 yards per carry. Detroit has been one of the top teams this season against the run. But, the personnel that took them there will likely not be on the field tonight. Due to the banged-up nature of Detroit's defense, I think this could be a good game for the rushing attack to take over. 

With all of the injuries along the Lions' front seven, this could be a game where Matt LaFleur runs Josh Jacobs, Chris Brooks, and Emanuel Wilson at them until they scream "uncle." The Packers have been flirting with the physical offense identity for some time now, and they may have finally reached that point. What better time than now to show off that physicality than now to take advantage of a team reeling with banged-up defenders? 

If the running game becomes a big positive in this game for the Packers, that could weaken the ball-hawking secondary just a bit to take advantage of them using play-action. The Packers' offense may have a clear path to success in this one, but they need to execute properly and avoid dumb penalties to make it work. 

What to See on Defense

Let's get to the injuries first to the Packers defense. Looks like the PCL injury will sideline Jaire Alexander for yet another week. We received a glimmer of hope with him practicing in limited fashion this week but it seems like he is not quite ready to go yet. It's a tough loss considering the Lions are absolutely a big passing threat, but I'd rather not risk him getting hurt even further just for one game. Hopefully, he's back for Sunday night football against the Seahawks in 10 days. CB Corey Ballentine is also OUT tonight as well as LB Edgerrin Cooper. Cooper would be nice to have tonight against the Lions' rushing attack, but the rest of the Packers' defense has held the running game in check in his absence so I think they can do it again if needed. 

On the Lions' side, they will be without Offensive Tackle Taylor Decker tonight. For a Packers pass rush that needs to get to Jared Goff tonight and help out the secondary, this could help a bit that their line is banged up. 

Detroit's passing attack is at full force this time around. The Packers had the luxury of not facing Jameson Williams the last time these two teams met as he was out on suspension. Williams is a speedy receiver who could take the lid off a defense if not contained. Couple him with Amon-Ra St. Brown and then TE Sam LaPorta alongside a great rushing attack and it's no wonder the Lions have averaged 31 points per game and have put up over 50 on two occasions. 

There's one difference between now and five weeks ago though. This is not quite the same Jared Goff. The rush has rattled Goff a little more, and he's also become a bit more mistake-prone. The last time the Packers and Lions met, Goff was averaging a 78% completion percentage. Since then, he's hit about 66%. Given the fact the Packers are missing a few pieces in the secondary, the pass rush is going to be key in this game. The Packers need to get to Goff and force him to make mistakes, put him off his game so that top passing game is limited. Luckily it seems like the Packers pass rush is finally coming around as Lukas Van Ness, Brenton Cox Jr, and JJ Enagbare have been getting to the QB more often and Rashan Gary has been a little more effective as well. But we don't need "a little more effective." We need a lot more. This pass rush has the potential to be a strength, they just need to start producing like it. Quay Walker has also stepped up in the last few games and would be excellent to see him step up in rushing the QB as well. 

On to the running game. You know, when the Lions drafted Jahmyr Gibbs 12th overall, in 2023 I honestly chuckled a bit. I felt like they reached for him and he wouldn't be worth that high of a pick. I guess it's debatable if he's worth 12th overall but I think now that picking him in general was a good move for them. With five games left in the season, Gibbs is already 27 yards away from a 1K yard season on the ground and 28 yards ahead of his total last year. He also has 10 touchdowns on the ground. His counterpart, David Montgomery, isn't too far behind with 720 yards on the ground and 11 touchdowns. 

Both backs combined for 138 yards on the ground the last time the Packers and Lions met at Lambeau. Since then, the Packers' defense has only allowed 63 yards average per game on the ground to opposing offenses. Granted part of that could be due to teams playing from behind, but for a team that seemed to make a tradition of getting gashed on the ground for so long, we have to take what we can get. The Lions will try to run the ball at us early and often, but this Packers defense may be up to the task a little more now than before so it's sure to be a great matchup. 

Extra Notes

The legs on Special Teams for the Packers continue to be a strength. Brandon McManus is coming off a perfect game against Miami in the cold in which he went 3/3 on both Field Goals and Extra Points with a long of 46 yards. Daniel Whelan was once again a weapon averaging 43 yards on four punts with a long of 50. We don't really want Whelan to see the field other than for holding kicks, but it's nice to know we're in pretty good hands when he does need to punt it away. 

After the Packers' first possession against Miami last week, a muffed punt led to a recovery by Robert Rochell and a Packers touchdown shortly after. This is more on Miami's return man than the Packers but it's always good to see the coverage team get down there quickly so they can capitalize on those mistakes. 

Dan Campbell is never shy to call a fake punt or field goal. The Packers are very familiar with that after he attempted a fake punt on the Thanksgiving game in Detroit last year, but it was snuffed out by the Packers and stopped before it could go anywhere. If the Lions get into a situation of punting around mid-field, the Packers will definitely be on their toes ready for a fake if one is called. 

In the End

A few weeks ago, I would be walking into this game prepared to lose. Not that I'd want the Packers to lose or think they had no shot, but I'd set my expectations that we're against a team that's possibly better than us in many aspects so while I'm still pulling for a Packers W, I'm not going to get frustrated if it doesn't happen. Tonight, however, I think this could be a winnable game for the Packers. Detroit has exposed a little more weakness these last few weeks that the Packers may have the ability to take advantage of. Also, the Packers offense is chugging along much better than they were last time they saw Detroit. 

I'm pulling for an upset tonight. Last year the Packers walked into Ford Field and pulled off a Thanksgiving upset, well this year it could be a one-week post-Thanksgiving upset. Both teams are banged up but I think Detroit could be just a little more than Green Bay and it's time for the Packers to take advantage. We win this game and we could have a shot at winning the division and a playoff home game. So we have to get it done. Hopefully, the Packers pull off a W today and come away healthy ready to take on Seattle in a little over a week. Go Pack Go.