Official Packers vs. Lions Discussion Thread

[Joemailman]

Lions favored by 1.

Lions defense has been outstanding against the run, allowing just 115 yards on 46 attempts.

Lions had 3 fumbles, and 3 turnovers last week.

Lions may again be forced to start a converted Guard Garrett Reynolds at RT.

Lions kicker, rookie Nate Freese, has made just 2-5 field goals.

Offensively, Lions are 4th in the NFL in passing yardage, but 28th in rushing with just 146 yards on 48 attempts.

Packers Wednesday Injury Report:

OT Bryan Bulaga - knee - limited
CB Casey Hayward - glute - DNP
S Micah Hyde - knee - limited
LB Brad Jones - thigh - DNP
LB Andy Mulumba - knee - out

Andy Mulumba is out for the year.

[hoosier]

Clearly Casey Hayward has not been doing his yoga. Good thing the Packers have depth at cornerback, too bad none of the other guys have been very good at creating turnovers. If the Packers can find a way to get Rodgers time he is going to light up the Lions secondary.

[Guiness]

Hayward's hamstring injury is now affecting his glute? Obviously the injury is heading North, he'll be dead of a brain hemorrhage before the year's out!

[3irty1]

If Blocktiari has a kryptonite, it seems to be in the possession of Ansah. In their first two meetings Ansah has 2.5 sacks. That's a matchup to watch.

The Lions have a zillion tight ends. Their move is to bring lots of big sets and pass from them. We'll need good games in coverage from our safeties and linebackers.

Although we're both on our 3rd RT, the Lions situation there is about 3x worse.

Between Stafford and Bells lubed up hands, turnovers vs the lions are a highly likely.

As poor as the last two matchups were, this is finally a great one IMO. Our strengths are passing and stopping the pass. Their strengths are passing and stopping the run.

This game is classic Packers vs Packers. We've just got to not screw it up.

[pittstang5]

Again, for the third time, the Packers face a stout front 7. Packers gotta find a way to get the running game going. Run Lacy between the tackles. I want to see him go north and south, NOT east and west. I don't care if it's for 1 or 2 yards. I'm tired of seeing him run east to west and get nothing or lose yardage. He's not built to do that. Leave the stretch plays for Harris. Throw Starks in there to mix it up. Oh, and run some damn screens with Harris - that will slow down pass rush.

Get the TEs involved!

On defense - Uh, we're pretty screwed if we don't pressure Stafford. He's got two good TEs, Megatron and Reggie Bush, who imo, is dangerous sneaking out of the backfield. You give Stafford time, he's gonna find the open man. The middle of the field, with those TEs is going to be a weakness for the Pack - it always has been since Capers came to town. I expect the Detriot TEs and Megatron to have a big day - hope I'm wrong. Pressure Stafford or at least keep him off balance - maybe we get lucky and grab a pick or two.

One good thing, at least we're not playing a mobile QB again.

[wist43]

45-31 Lions.

We won't be able to stop them - they'll struggle to stop us as well, but it's in their place; they're a much more physical team than we are; their secondary is terrible, but so is ours; their LB's are servicable, our's are complete junk; they can run the ball, we can't - at all.

The Lions have the advantage at the skill positions, and of the 4 lines, i.e. OL and DL's - the only unit that is any good is the Lions DL. They could have 28 pts by the time dunderdummy wakes up.

We need turnovers in able to be competitive with them... if they cough it up 3+ times, we might have a chance, otherwise we're going to be 1-2.

[Teamcheez1]

45-31 Lions.

We won't be able to stop them - they'll struggle to stop us as well, but it's in their place; they're a much more physical team than we are; their secondary is terrible, but so is ours; their LB's are servicable, our's are complete junk; they can run the ball, we can't - at all.

The Lions have the advantage at the skill positions, and of the 4 lines, i.e. OL and DL's - the only unit that is any good is the Lions DL. They could have 28 pts by the time dunderdummy wakes up.

We need turnovers in able to be competitive with them... if they cough it up 3+ times, we might have a chance, otherwise we're going to be 1-2.

Detroit hasn't run the ball any better than we have.
Our secondary is terrible?

Did you have your first cup of coffee before posting this morning?

[Maxie the Taxi]

Again, for the third time, the Packers face a stout front 7. Packers gotta find a way to get the running game going. Run Lacy between the tackles. I want to see him go north and south, NOT east and west. I don't care if it's for 1 or 2 yards. I'm tired of seeing him run east to west and get nothing or lose yardage. He's not built to do that. Leave the stretch plays for Harris. Throw Starks in there to mix it up. Oh, and run some damn screens with Harris - that will slow down pass rush.

Get the TEs involved!

On defense - Uh, we're pretty screwed if we don't pressure Stafford. He's got two good TEs, Megatron and Reggie Bush, who imo, is dangerous sneaking out of the backfield. You give Stafford time, he's gonna find the open man. The middle of the field, with those TEs is going to be a weakness for the Pack - it always has been since Capers came to town. I expect the Detriot TEs and Megatron to have a big day - hope I'm wrong. Pressure Stafford or at least keep him off balance - maybe we get lucky and grab a pick or two.

One good thing, at least we're not playing a mobile QB again.

I disagree completely...

On offense, I say we should rush the ball almost exclusively with Lacy and Harris running wide. You can't run through the Lions' fat guys so it just makes sense to run around them. Our TE's should help with this strategy by being blockers only (decoys). In fact, all our receivers should be decoys except Jordy who should be targeted exclusively for the two or three times Rodgers will have time to throw the ball.

Forget screens, traps and misdirection plays. The Lions' fat guys are smart too. Let's hope Fairley's bad bicep will have him on the bench like our fat guy.

And for God's sake don't activate Jeff Janis. The last thing we need against the Lion's porous but scrappy secondary is speed and Harvin-like option plays. The Lion's will see that coming a mile away.

On defense we should play all of our guys an equal amount of plays except Hawk who is the communicator and therefore needs to play 100% of the time. Besides, we need Hawk to shadow Reggie Bush one on one whenever Bush runs across the middle on slants.

The Lions OL is huge so we should only activate two DLinemen and all of our linebackers, safeties and cornerbacks. Capers should play his 4-3 amoeba defense 90% of the time. Plus, 80% of the time he should have less than 12 or 13 guys on the field. Confusing and out-thinking Stafford and the Lion's offense is our only hope.

To keep Megatron from making big plays, have our fast and quick cornerbacks play off him at the line because Megatron is so big and strong compared to fast and quick. Of course, Morgan Burnett and Ha Ha will play a deep (I mean DEEP) cover two in case Shields and Tramon lose coverage on the big guy.

Stubby has to keep his head in the game and be aggressive. That means he should stay in a secure undisclosed location incommunicado. Seriously, that means all onside kickoffs (the Lions won't be expecting that) and no punting whatsoever. Plus, the first couple of plays no matter who has the ball should be scripted challenges because Stubby's not too good at making challenges at the spur of the moment.

Then it's on to the Bears!

[Guiness]

I disagree completely...

A lot of food for thought there. Although I'm sure I don't know what you mean by 80% of the time he should have less than 12 or 13 guys on the field

An interesting matchup will be the right side of the Detroit OL. Waddle (great name for a 330lb dude!) is hurt and not likely to play. They don't even have someone listed behind him on the dept chart, the backup RG started there last week. Peppers should have a field day, or they're going to have to permanently leave a TE or chip with a back, which should make the rest of the D's job easier.

[3irty1]

Poe's law strikes again.

[denverYooper]

[wist43]

Detroit hasn't run the ball any better than we have.
Our secondary is terrible?

Did you have your first cup of coffee before posting this morning?

Detroit played Carolina last week... probably the best run defense in the NFL; and even though we faced 2 very tough run defenses - except for a stretch here and there, we haven't been able to run the ball for years.

I would have more confidence in our run game if it did not seem that MM had reverted to his norm, i.e. his 3 zone running plays; but alas, it would seem that he has. It will take him half the season to remember what file cabinet he stuffed those power running plays in - until then, we're gonna struggle... especially against a very stout Lions run defense.

As for our secondary - we played a very anemic passing offense in the Jets, and the Seahawks are very ordinary. Eric Decker broke free for an easy TD; Lockett might not score another TD his entire career... so based on past performance, and until our DB's prove they can hold their own - yes, our secondary sucks.

[Guiness]

Poe's law strikes again.

Well, "Any sufficiently advanced troll is indistinguishable from a genuine kook" [sic] and I'm not sure which Maxi is!

[Zool]

They can run the ball, we can't - at all.

Some of your takes are good. Sometimes it seems like you just say things in the hopes that you're right.

Run O
GB 43 att 160 yards
Det 48 att 148 yards

Run D
Seattle 58 att 181 yards 3.0 avg
Jets 37 att 105 yards 2.0 avg

NYG 58 att 200 yards 3.0 avg
Car 35 att 172 yards 4.0 avg

[hoosier]

45-31 Lions.

We won't be able to stop them - they'll struggle to stop us as well, but it's in their place; they're a much more physical team than we are; their secondary is terrible, but so is ours; their LB's are servicable, our's are complete junk; they can run the ball, we can't - at all.

The Lions have the advantage at the skill positions, and of the 4 lines, i.e. OL and DL's - the only unit that is any good is the Lions DL. They could have 28 pts by the time dunderdummy wakes up.

We need turnovers in able to be competitive with them... if they cough it up 3+ times, we might have a chance, otherwise we're going to be 1-2.

They'll struggle to stop us?!?!? What are you talking about, the Packers offense is the worst in the league. Any success it might have is the result of dumb luck or smoke and mirrors. The Packer QB and receivers are worse than its secondary. Oh, and the sky is falling---again!.

[Maxie the Taxi]

Well, "Any sufficiently advanced troll is indistinguishable from a genuine kook" [sic] and I'm not sure which Maxi is!

LOL. I confess to being a sufficiently advanced (in age) kook!

Actually, I agree with pretty much everything pittstang wrote and pretty much the opposite of everything I wrote.

[3irty1]

They'll struggle to stop us?!?!? What are you talking about, the Packers offense is the worst in the league. Any success it might have is the result of dumb luck or smoke and mirrors. The Packer QB and receivers are worse than its secondary. Oh, and the sky is falling---again!.

I think MM should consider diplomacy for this one. Perhaps we can negotiate a tie. Anything to keep the soft delicate bodies of our players out of the ring with those physical Lions brutes.

[Maxie the Taxi]

I think MM should consider diplomacy for this one. Perhaps we can negotiate a tie. Anything to keep the soft delicate bodies of our players out of the ring with those physical Lions brutes.

Better to negotiate than to coach scared!

P.S. 3irty1, did you see Al Harris Jr. play yet for So. Carolina? I watched the game Saturday against Georgia and the kid played pretty good. Made a couple of big plays. He's gonna be a good one. I hope the Pack drafts him when he comes out.

[wist43]

Some of your takes are good. Sometimes it seems like you just say things in the hopes that you're right.

Run O
GB 43 att 160 yards
Det 48 att 148 yards

Run D
Seattle 58 att 181 yards 3.0 avg
Jets 37 att 105 yards 2.0 avg

NYG 58 att 200 yards 3.0 avg
Car 35 att 172 yards 4.0 avg

You can take 28 yds off of our 160 total, b/c those belong to Rodgers on scrambles. So that 160 is actually 132 yds. Lacy is averaging 3.1 yds/carry. I haven't watched every offensive snap this year, but I have yet to see MM run anything but his 3 default zone plays - maybe he has, and I missed them; but people tend to revert to their nature, and MM wants to run his beloved zone plays, and that is the extent of his run playbook. It must really chap his ass when he has to resort to calling power running plays.

And as I acknowledged, we have faced 2 of the toughest run defenses in the league.

As for Detroit... I expect they'll get it going. New coaching staff, don't know exactly what they've changed on offense - but Bush has been awful. I know he's been dealing with some soreness, but from what I saw of the Carolina game, they haven't been using him to his skill set - which Caldwell acknowledged in his presser.

Overall, at home?? Yes, Detroit is probably better than we are. I know that is sacireligous to say, but it is nonetheless a very supportable position.

Rodgers or no Rodgers, the last time we played them there - the stomped the living crap out of us 40-10, and the game wasn't even that close!!

And even if they are only favored by 1 - they are still favored. You guys act like it is insane to think we could lose to the Lions in Detroit

[denverYooper]

Detroit played Carolina last week... probably the best run defense in the NFL; and even though we faced 2 very tough run defenses - except for a stretch here and there, we haven't been able to run the ball for years.

I would have more confidence in our run game if it did not seem that MM had reverted to his norm, i.e. his 3 zone running plays; but alas, it would seem that he has. It will take him half the season to remember what file cabinet he stuffed those power running plays in - until then, we're gonna struggle... especially against a very stout Lions run defense.

As for our secondary - we played a very anemic passing offense in the Jets, and the Seahawks are very ordinary. Eric Decker broke free for an easy TD; Lockett might not score another TD his entire career... so based on past performance, and until our DB's prove they can hold their own - yes, our secondary sucks.

Stretches like 2013, where they were 4th in the league with 4.7 ypc and the running game carried them for most of the season?