Week 14 started with a bang as one of the biggest games of the week started with an NFC North battle between the Detroit Lions hosting the Green Bay Packers.
Despite a solid performance from Packers quarterback Jordan Love, the Lions came through with a win to clinch a spot in the NFC Playoffs.
The Lions outscored the Packers 17-7 in the first half, but they were about to come back to outscore Detroit 24-17 in the second half. Detroit finished with a 34-31 score to win their 12th of their 13th game of the season.
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Tale of two halves for Jordan Love and Packers
The Packers’ offense was limited against the Lions’ defense through most of the game. Green Bay only ran 45 offensive plays for 298 total yards. Detroit’s offense ran 76 plays for 391 total yards.
Green Bay attempted a more offensive-focused mindset in the second half. The offense was more effective at the start of the second half as they established two quick scores. Love found more explosive plays in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to complete the comeback due to being behind in the first half.
ESPN NFL analyst Mina Kimes noticed a big difference in the aggressive play between the halves of Green Bay.
“You can’t really look at stats from the entire game and use that to capture Jordan Love’s performance because it was such a tale of two halves.
“The first half, they struggled so much to deal with the blitz in particular, it looked like frankly they were unprepared.”
Kimes on the importance of key receiver
Love played well, but not perfect as his pass-catchers could only give him so much. Love completed 12-of-20 of his passes for 206 yards, one touchdown, a QBR of 92.4 and a quarterback rating of 111.7. His receiver experienced some drops and wide receiver Jayden Reed was targeted only once. This was a game where Romeo Doubs was missed significantly as he is an efficient short-yardage receiver.
Kimes noticed that Doubs was a player that Love and the Packers’ offense missed the most.
“I also thought, I underestimated the absence of Romeo Doubs in this game. That was something that stood out to me at first. I went back and looked, Romeo Doubs has 11 first down against the blitz. No other Packer has more than five. He’s their answer against pressure.”