GREEN BAY, Wis. – Despite a late-game surge, the Detroit Lions went into Lambeau Field and shredded the Green Bay Packers 34-20 behind a plethora of weapons on Thursday Night Football to stay atop the NFC North.
With the victory, Detroit improved to 3-1 on the season, and they tied their second-longest streak in the 93-year history of the rivalry as they’ve won four straight games set during the 2017-2018 season.
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If you’re wondering what the longest Lions streak is, it’s 11 games in a row, which was set during the seasons from 1949-1954.
With the victory, head coach Dan Campbell became the first Lions head coach to win four straight games against the Packers since Monte Clark did it during the 1982-1983 season.
“It was outstanding for the guys as it was a total team effort,” said Campbell. “It’s actually not easy to go through here and start picking out individual players as there’s a ton of guys who played really well.”
Defense
The Lions defense stepped up once again as they allowed 21 total yards to the Packers in the first half, which was the fewest in a half since 1982 against the team in Honolulu Blue.
“Every area, there’s a lot of improvement out there for us,” said Packers head coach Matt LaFleur. “I think anytime that you go out there and you can’t effectively run the football and conversely can’t stop the run, that’s a recipe for losing football, and that’s what happened tonight.”
The Lions defense finished the game with 57 total tackles, five sacks, and two interceptions, which landed in the hands of third-year cornerback Jerry Jacobs.
“Outstanding performance by Jerry, man, he got us two takeaways today,” Campbell said. “That’s two weeks in a row that he’s playing good. He had a little bit of a rough one against Seattle (Seahawks). Everybody does, but he’s bounced back, and this is what we all expected from Jerry as he’s a competitor. It means something to him, and he works at it. He’s extremely competitive, and I thought it was great to be able to get two of those.”
Jacobs became the only Lions cornerback in the franchise’s 90-year history to have two interceptions at Green Bay since cornerback Dick LeBeau in September of 1968.
“We weren’t executing, and we weren’t moving the ball, and we weren’t taking advantage of the opportunities that the defense was giving us early,” said first-year starting quarterback Jordan Love.
Love finished the game completing 23-36 passes for 246 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions.
Although Jacobs was the recipient of those picks, a significant part of his success was thanks to linebacker Alex Anzalone, who tipped a ball that landed in his palms.
Anzalone was all over the field Thursday (Sept. 28) night as he produced five total tackles, three of which were solos.
The seventh-year linebacker produced five-plus tackles for the 21st straight game, becoming the first player in franchise history to achieve such success since 2000.
Anzalone was flying all over the field, but that was thanks in part to the defensive line and former Michigan Wolverines stud Aiden Hutchinson, who showed dominance all night long.
The ambidextrous pass rusher finished the game with two total tackles, one solo tackle and 1.5 sacks on the night. He got held when Love was running for his life in the endzone as he threw a left-handed pass to avoid another sack and safety by Hutchinson.
Hutchinson placed himself in the NFL history books as he is one of the players who achieved 1.5 sacks at Green Bay in consecutive games, joining Doug Martin (1982-1983), Warren Sapp (1998-1999), and Shea McClellin (2012-2013).
The atmosphere was crazy on the road. It was a big fight that felt like a heavyweight bout as legendary philosopher Lil Wayne ran out of the tunnel with the cheese heads ahead of the matchup.
Offense
But instead of a boxing match, it became more of a UFC bout as they decided to do a little ground and pound with newly acquired running back David Montgomery, who returned from injury at the right time.
Montgomery toted the pigskin 32 times for 121 yards and a whopping three touchdowns, becoming the first Lion to rush for three plus touchdowns at Green Bay in franchise history.
Montgomery also became the only Lion to rush for 65 or more yards and a touchdown in each of their first three games with the franchise.
He is also the first Lions player to amass 100 or more yards and three touchdowns in a game since James Stewart did it back in October of 2000.
Montgomery is also the only player to rush for 100 or yards as a visitor at Lambeau Field with multiple teams, as he did it twice as the Chicago Bears lead dog.
“I’m happy for David Montgomery as the victory was his first against the Packers, which is pretty impressive,” Campbell said. “Three touchdowns, that’s the first time that a Lions runningback has gotten that here at Lambeau (Field), so that’s pretty impressive.”
Jared Goff came out the gates throwing an interception in the Lions own territory, spotting the Packers three points on the opening drive of the game, but he bounced back as he completed 19-28 passes for 210 yards, one touchdown, and the pick.
But he remained unrattled as he connected with rookie tight end Sam LaPorta on the next drive for 35 yards and capped off the second series of the game with a 24-yard dime to Amon-Ra St. Brown to take the early 7-3 lead and not looking back.
“It’s complimentary football,” said Goff. “That’s what the good teams do. I make a bad play, they (defense) hold them to three (points). They get a turnover, and we (offense) score points. That’s what the good teams do, and our defense played great. You’d like to stop talking about responding to stuff and getting over the hump, but our defense kept us in it, and it made it really easy for us on offense to continue to run the ball the way we were, and it’s because they made stops.”
Dating back to 2022, the Lions are now winners of 11 out of their last 14 games, and they are now 2-2 on Thursday Night Football this season.
What do you think about the victory and improving to 3-1 on the season? How do you like the view atop the NFC North? Are you officially on the bandwagon?
Detroit will now get a mini-bye as they don’t play until Oct. 8 when they return home to Ford Field, where they will host 2023 No. 1 overall draft pick Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers.
