What we learned from Detroit’s 34-31 win

What we learned from Detroit’s 34-31 win

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  1. The Lions secure their playoff spot with a gutsy win. Jared Goff hit 13 straight passes in the fourth quarter and the Lions converted four of their five fourth downs, including a tough one late. In a game tied at 31-31 with 43 seconds left, the Lions could have taken a three-point lead with a field goal. But of course that’s not Dan Campbell’s style. The Lions went fourth-and-1 from the Green Bay 21-yard line, and Goff was kicked by one of his linemen and barely fended him off David Montgomery for a 7-yard gain. That set up Jake Bates‘ Game-winning 35-yard field goal that gave the Lions a 12-1 win for their 11th straight victory – and they are now officially in the playoffs. It felt like a playoff atmosphere and the best Thursday night anyone could ask for. The Packers played very well, but the Lions were just a touch better.
  2. Love got hot late, but the Packers came up short. Jordan love He struggled to get going in the first half, but he made up for it with a strong second half, completing 9 of 13 passes for 175 yards and leading four scoring drives in the second half to score 10 points -to compensate for the backlog. But the Packers called a timeout in the third quarter on a possession in which they ended up punting (on fourth-and-3 from their 37), which hurt them late. Christian Watson had a big game for the Packers, but he was cited for a costly illegal contact penalty while blocking a Josh Jacobs touchdown that was wiped out. Watson also fumbled in Detroit territory after a 20-yard gain in the first half. They were hurt by penalties in the first half and fell behind 17-7. Little mistakes added up all night long, and against the Lions it doesn’t take much to beat one.
  3. The Lions’ undermanned defense was playable, but they are even more banged up. Detroit’s defense was already down Joshua Paschal, Levi Onwuzurike And DJ Reader – not to mention their 18 players on injured reserve – as one of their best remaining defensive linemen, Alim McNeill (Head) was decided in the first half. This stretched the Lions defense as much as possible. Pat O’Connor played the best performance of his career with 37 snaps – and was a threat. Later, Brian Branch came from the field. It was all hands on deck. The Lions allowed four touchdowns, but two of those came on short fields after an interception and a turnover on downs. I can’t blame them when it comes to these two. It wasn’t pretty, and the Lions had some costly penalties in the first half (and some lucky calls that weren’t made against them), but they put in a really tough performance. They forced a late three-pointer and held Green Bay to a late field goal, and the offense took care of business.
  4. Packers can beat anyone out there. Yes, Green Bay just lost a tough division game and watched its rival celebrate a playoff spot. Sure, the Packers come away bitter. There will be some calls directed at the Packers that will be discussed. But they also need to know after this game that they can compete with almost any team out there and can compete pretty darn well. The Lions were struggling, but so were the Packers, who were missing key starters on both sides. I suspect one of the reasons Dan Campbell made his decision late on fourth down was because he didn’t want to give the ball back to Jordan Love again. Love started to divide the Lions a bit. He averaged more than 10 yards per pass attempt; The problem was that the Packers barely had the ball and only played 45 plays. Green Bay’s defense couldn’t contain the Lions in the red zone and on four of five fourth downs, but otherwise this group held together pretty well. Losses are rarely encouraging, but the Packers are a dangerous team.
  5. Goff, Johnson rally after INT, fourth-down stop. The Lions built a 17-7 lead with an impressive first half, but saw it quickly melt away when the Packers scored two touchdowns in the first three-plus minutes of the second half. Jared Goff was good for most of Thursday, but he forced a pass Tim Patrick This was played at the Detroit 16, right after the Packers scored on their first drive of the third quarter. The dynamics fluctuated enormously. But offensive coordinator Ben Johnson called for a cool, smart push for Goff that mixed up the running game and got the Lions back into the end zone. On their next trip, Johnson called for one Jahmyr Gibbs Run on fourth down that was stopped – their only fourth-down miss of the night. But both he and Goff had the go-ahead and game-winning drives under their belts. Patrick (two touchdowns) was outstanding. Dan SkipperDespite an early penalty, he was great Taylor Decker ‘s place. The Lions played with their typical grit and toughness, and their two main offensive forces were late.

Insight into next-gen stats for Packers-Lions (via NFL Pro): Christian Watson connected with Carlton Davis on eight of his 19 routes (42.1%) in Week 14 and had three of his five targets for 108 yards (62.5% completion rate). Watson was targeted only twice on his 11 other routes (target rate 18.1%). Watson recorded a reception of 59 yards in the third quarter, the most reception for air yards (39) that Davis had allowed this season. Watson was pressured in 73.7% of his appearances against the Lions and, despite press coverage, finished the season with highs in targets (five), receptions (three) and yards (94).

NFL Research: It had been 1,082 days — and two serious injuries — for Tim Patrick since his last touchdown. He scored two goals on Thursday.

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