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The Green Bay Packers (9-4) lose 34-31 to the Detroit Lions (12-1) at Ford Field on Thursday night.
The NFC North division title hopes died tonight in Detroit. So it’ll be Wild Card or bust for the 2024 Green Bay Packers.
I’ll have to watch the replay of this game at some point this weekend, which maybe I’ll write another blog after seeing everything for a second time. So enjoy my initial reactions.
There were a few egregious calls & no-calls that did not go in the Packers favor, but Green Bay also had too many mistakes that proved to be costly. Good teams overcome officiating. It sucks because it took a touchdown off the board. It’s frustrating, but that’s the gig, you gotta overcome it.
The offense came out very slow, the offensive line gave JLove no time early on, getting too pass happy early on, Christian Watson’s fumble.
My biggest complaint in this game was Matt LaFleur’s play calling to open the ball game up. I wanted Green Bay to ride the hot hand in Josh Jacobs, why they came out of the gate the way they did? That’s something I don’t have an answer to. Once they got to it & started handing the ball off, they scored, but by that point Green Bay was playing uphill.
I didn’t see many plays designed for Jayden Reed tonight. For as good & talented as he is, you’ve got to find a way to give him the rock.
It was a bit disheartening seeing Watson be so careless with the ball on the fumble. It was a big point of the first half with the offense struggling. I fully understand the competitiveness of wanting to turn up field & get more yards, but you need to secure the ball & not hold the ball out like a loaf of bread.
I thought JLove was good overall, certainly there’s always plays you’d like to have back, some throws you could make better, etc. but yeah, overall I thought he played good. Not sure what everyone expects from the guy when he was under siege almost every play early on, especially when there’s not a lot of options, there’s not a lot of great play calling with they’re going to blitz the shit out of you & there’s nothing underneath, no quick hitters, I don’t know what people expect him to do in that situation. Finally they dial something up on the shallow cross to Watson, big play, promptly fumbled.
The defense didn’t play their best game, but the unit kept the Packers in the game during the first half. They sent plenty of pressure in this game despite being short handed & losing both their safties during the game, & Detroit picked it up well because they’re a pretty good football team. Not sure what people expect them to do when all the dominos fall.
The Lions do a good job of staying ahead of the sticks, they don’t ask Goff to do a ton. There were opportunities for the Packers to get home & the Packers couldn’t get home. But I’m not surprised because the Lions have a pretty darn good offensive line.
For as critical as I’ve been on him this season, I do think Quay Walker played well tonight. That’s three straight games that I think he’s played well in.
Trust me, I get everyone’s frustrations on both the offense & defense tonight. People need to have some context & look at the totality here.
This is a game that the Packers hopefully will learn from.
I really want the Lions in the playoffs. My friend tweeted out after the game that the Lions won’t win a third straight against us this season, & I wholeheartedly agree.
This mini-bye comes at a huge time for the Packers. Hopefully they can hit that reset button, get a bit healthier & get ready for an important game against Seattle next week. I just don’t like that we have to sit with an L for a couple extra days.
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