A primetime night game, under the lights at historic Lambeau Field. Hearing those words conjures up Brett Farve or Aaron Rodgers leading game winning drives and Reggie White sacking opposing QBs. It was all about great teams doing great things. It makes one think about the dominance the Green Bay Packers has displayed in the NFC North. They’ve won the division 12 times since 2000.

The Detroit Lions came into town to do battle on the gridiron with Green Bay and they did just that. Both teams were perched atop the division with a 2-1 record. The winner would take sole possession of first place. It was like a script that we’ve seen before. Everyone except the Detroit Lions read it.

The Detroit Lions, led by fiery head coach Dan Campbell, came into Lambeau Field and dominated the Green Bay Packers.

The final score of 34-20, doesn’t really tell the story of what happened on Thursday Night. It wasn’t a close game that got out of hand late. The Detroit Lions came in and just plain ole whooped their butts, dominating in every facet of the game.

Lions QB Jared Goff went 19/28 for 210 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT with a QBR of 61.2. Packers QB Jordan Love went 23/36 for 246 yards, 1 TD and 2 INTs with a QBR of 7. No that not a typo. He had a QBR of 7.

Love was under pressure all game long from a ferocious Lions defense. The entire left side of the Packers offensive line was out for the game, so the Lions just ran right through LT Walker and LG Newman. Led by DE Aidan Hutchinson who had 1.5 sacks and 3 QB Hits, Detroit had a team total of 5 sacks and 11 QB Hits.

Safety Brian Branch led the team with 7 total tackles but was taken off the field and into the locker room by cart. His X-rays came back negative, and he returned to the game in the 4th quarter.

The Lions were led offensively by HB David Montgomery who had 32 carries for 121 yards and 3 TDs. WR Amon-Ra St. Brown had the only receiving TD for Detroit, a 24-yard catch in the 1st quarter. St. Brown caught 5 passes for 56 yards. Rookie TE Sam LaPorta continued the good start to his career catching 4 passes for 56 yards. Fellow rookie HB Jahmyr Gibbs had 8 carries for 40 yards, a solid 5.0-yard average.

The Packers couldn’t get the run game going. They had a team total of 12 carries for 27 yards. The one bright spot for the Packers offense was WR Romeo Dobbs (who I was high on coming out) catching 9 balls for 95 yards.

On defense, Green Bay was led by an outstanding performance by LB Quay Walker. Walker had 19 total tackles in the game, 10 being solo tackles. The linebacker was everywhere, in the backfield making stops at the line of scrimmage, and using his sideline-to-sideline speed. Walker showed why the Packers took him in the 1st round in 2022.

The Detroit Lions have now won the last 4 games against the Green Bay Packers.

The rematch is scheduled for Thursday, November 23rd at 12:30 on FOX, in Detroit.

– Sean McKenzie

Photo Courtesy of BleacherReport