the green bay packers vefrsus the detroit loins 2019 MNF (week 5): the return of the incomparable tony brown PART DEUX

[Greg C.]

This was the third game in a row in which Aaron Rodgers has played great. For those complaining about him holding onto the ball too long, he got sacked once, folks. ONCE. He played really smart, was accurate with his throws, and found a way to complete passes with a pretty unimpressive group of receivers. On the big throws to Valdez-Scantling and Lazard, the receivers were not even open. 

Jimmy Graham was bad as usual but he deserves props for a great catch in traffic near the end of the game. That was the kind of big time play that unfortunately he seldom makes anymore. Mercedes Lewis made a couple of nice catches downfield and actually looked pretty fast and agile on those plays. Maybe that was an illusion, but he got the job done.  

Kevin King got burned a couple times early but then settled down. Jaire Alexander had a bounce-back game after his poor showing against Amari Cooper last week.

The Lions smartly took advantage of the Savage-less defense on those two big throws early in the game. They also were smart to target Darrius Shepherd by making him return kickoffs. It's a good thing we have a good punter and a good kicker, because other than that, the special teams are about as bad as usual. Trading away Trevor Davis obviously didn't help. 

The hands-to-the-face penalties both looked bad on the replays, but the MNF crew only showed one angle of each play, in slow motion, and I think those plays looked much worse in real time, with Bahktiari's head getting pushed back. Also, I wonder if grabbing a blocker by the collar for an extended time like that may qualify as hands to the face. I really don't know. I've always hated Booger McFarland as an announcer, mainly because he talks too much and overanalyzes, but he reached a new low by actually calling for the league to subject those kinds of plays to replay review. That would be madness. 

It was nice to see the Packers win in spite of not jumping out to an early lead, as they have in most games. They clearly outplayed the Lions for the last three quarters. 

Edited October 15, 2019 by Greg C.
typos

[coachbuns]

7 hours ago, Howler said:

Lazard is a machine.

And the way the other wr's have played, he'd better be on the field a heck of a lot more!

[coachbuns]

7 hours ago, Mazrimiv said:

DET fans have some legit gripes tonight

Maybe ... however, you kick 5 field goals ... score some touchdowns and they win.

[coachbuns]

7 hours ago, PackGymRat said:

Hate to win because of the refs.

But I’ll take it. Doesn’t feel good tho.

Disagree ... it feels great.  Down to undrafted free agents at wr, secondary without starting safety (Redmond, Sullivan aren't Savage), turnovers that killed drives and yet we win.  It didn't feel good when we lost at Seattle (fail Mary, meltdown) ... I'll take this anytime, anywhere without hesitation.

[coachbuns]

7 hours ago, persiandud said:

those were not hands to the face and you know it. we were gifted this game by the refs. they outplayed us and clete blakeman and his crew screwed the lions 

Nope, hands to the neck area  as was stated in the rules is a penalty.  Just going to have to deal with it.  Blame the Lions for kicking 5 field goals ... it's easier.

[coachbuns]

7 hours ago, ThatJerkDave said:

MVS had 2 receptions on 2 targets and 1 rush for 9 yards.  What was he supposed to do? 

Maybe get open a little more so he gets targets?!  He's fast no doubt but his route running has a lot to be desired.

[coachbuns]

7 hours ago, ThatJerkDave said:

But we have seen multiple instances where MVS is open and Rodgers doesn't pull the trigger.  Every time his number was called tonight he did his job.

Not tonight ... don't care about other games.  We needed him tonight and was mostly a no show.  Give him props for coming back in however after getting his leg twisted.

[coachbuns]

7 hours ago, BofaDeez54927 said:

Right, hold on while I get my Homer stills...

Just move on .. homer has nothing to do with it.  Oh wait, Lion's homer maybe?  

[Rainmaker90]

Couple of bad calls against Detroit. Didn't cost them the game though. They had 5 FGs... finish the drive and put it in the endzone. That simple. 

[coachbuns]

6 hours ago, deltarich87 said:

Sup

ow

What part of this isn't a penalty?  Wah, wah, wah.  Show this to Booger, Snotty whatever his nickname is.  He's awful.  

[Green19]

Good teams don’t let refs lose the games for them. Lions had plenty of times in the red zone to score TDs... they didn’t.

Shepard gifted them 2 turnovers... they got 6 pts. 

Just like the refs screwed us against philly... all we can do is look at our inability at the goal line and not stopping the run. Sure the refs aren’t consistent... but it was weirdly avg out over time. Tonight it helped us, next time it wont. What matters is doing everything else to make that not matter.

[Greg C.]

One thing that Booger didn't notice, because he was so busy praising the Lions for running the ball, is that the Packers shut down the Lions running game. This was easily the defense's best performance against the run since week one. On the other side, the Packers offense ran the ball effectively all night. 

[Packerraymond]

The sweet and salty tears of the rest of the fans of the NFL are especially tasty this morning. 

5-1 folks, 3-0 in the NFCN.

[Leader]

6 minutes ago, Packerraymond said:

The sweet and salty tears of the rest of the fans of the NFL are especially tasty this morning.

Agree entirely.

6 minutes ago, Packerraymond said:

5-1 folks, 3-0 in the NFCN.

3-0 Division
MN
CHI
DET

4-1 Conference
MN
CHI
DET
DAL
(PHI)

[{Family Ghost}]

46 minutes ago, Greg C. said:

One thing that Booger didn't notice, because he was so busy praising the Lions for running the ball, is that the Packers shut down the Lions running game. This was easily the defense's best performance against the run since week one. On the other side, the Packers offense ran the ball effectively all night. 

They did ... Lowry seemed to have a really good night.