Detroit — Nolan Bianchi of The Detroit News offers his observations after the first half of the Lions game against the Packers at Ford Field in Detroit.
Beating Rodgers historically
The Lions have done some things that haven’t been to Aaron Rodgers in a long time — or ever. For starters, the Lions had two interceptions just four seconds into the second quarter, marking just the fourth time since 2016 that Rodgers has been picked off twice in the same game. It also marked the first time in his 222-game career that Rodgers has thrown two red-zone interceptions in the same game.
The first saw a bad pass into Derrick Barnes’ helmet bounce up and into the hands of safety Kerby Joseph; the Lions’ rookie safety brought down the pick to make it three consecutive games with a turnover. Then, on fourth-and-goal at the 2, the Packers tried a trick play that would try a touchdown pass to an offensive lineman, but Aidan Hutchinson was not fooled. He recovered off the snap to pull down the underthrown pass for his first career pick.
Barnes, by the way, has shown up positively so far in this game. In addition to the deflected interception — which, in honesty, was more of a “right place, right time” kind of thing — he exploded through the gap moments before Hutchinson’s interception to keep Green Bay out of the end zone, and came up with a huge second-down sack for a 9-yard loss on the following defensive series. And while we’re giving out honorable mentions, another one belongs to Will Harris: He broke up a third-down throw to Lazard near the end of the that was initially ruled a catch but was overturned by a Dan Campbell challenge.
Familiar faults hurting early
Hope you’ve got the under in this one.
The Lions’ offense got off to its typical hot start but couldn’t finish the job, marrying some of its biggest flaws from weeks past: Not being able to convert on fourth down and leaving points on the board. It wasn’t a bad decision to go for it; the Lions averaged 4.8 yards per carry on the opening drive and had moved the ball with relative ease. It was a bad decision, however, to go with an empty shotgun look and not even make Green Bay fear the run. Jared Goff missed a pair of wide-open receivers over the middle and got crushed as he let go of an incomplete pass to the end zone.
And on the second drive, another familiar fault showed its face: A holding penalty backed the Lions up to second-and-17, leading to another wasted possession. The Lions had a false start before third-and-4 just three plays after Aidan Hutchinson picked off Rodgers at the goal line.
The Lions put together an eight-play, 46-yard touchdown drive to end the half, but as we’ve seen pretty routinely this season, that doesn’t mean much for the final two quarters.
Defensive adjustments
It’s hard to find fault with the Lions’ first-half defensive performance, given that they’ve allowed zero points and Rodgers has a passer rating of 44.9.
But they’ve also given up 205 yards, and in the ‘needs improvement’ category for Detroit is the third-down defense. Green Bay converted three third downs on its opening drive, including a 17-yard scramble for Aaron Rodgers on third-and-10 on the first third-down situation. Detroit’s third-down defense would wind up getting beat on the next drive, too, as Rodgers’ throw to Allen Lazard on third-and-10 wound up a 47-yard completion that put the Packers first-and-goal at the 1.
On the flip side, the Lions need to start converting on third downs. They went 2-for-5 on third down in the first half, although one of those conversions was a massive throw to Swift that set up first-and-goal at the 1 on Detroit’s touchdown drive.
Green Bay’s third-down defense ranks second entering Sunday, but the Lions still need to find a way to get the Packers off the field earlier if they want to keep playing with the upper hand.