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    • Lions control NFC North after splitting Packers, 24-14
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    Lions control NFC North after splitting Packers, 24-14

    Umito Posted on

    Green Bay, Wisconsin. — Anytime, anywhere.

    This was one of the Detroit Lions” Mottoes under head coach Dan Campbell.

    And they experienced it to the fullest on Sunday in Green Bay, where they walked into a soggy Lambeau Field, decimated their rival Green Bay Packers with the division lead on the line and held on to the No. 1 seed in the NFC with a score of 24. -14 victory much more decisive than the final score indicated.

    “We’re built for this, man. It doesn’t matter. Just because we play inside doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter,” Campbell said. “We can play anywhere. We can play in the snow, we can play in the rain, we can play in the mud; it’s just us, and we’re built to win.”

    For the second time in four games, the Lions (7-1) turned a highly anticipated USA Game of the Week matchup into a quick victory. Detroit defeated the Dallas Cowboys, 47-9, in America’s Game of the Week in Week 6. In those two games, they only allowed one touchdown.

    The Lions have now won three straight games at Lambeau Field – once Detroit’s house of horrors – for the first time since 1986-88. The Lions are 2-0 in the division to start this season. Still, the Lions weren’t going to take any victory laps with a rematch between the two teams looming in Detroit on December 5th.

    After winning at Lambeau last season, 34-20, the Lions were defeated, 29-22, on Thanksgiving Day at Ford Field.

    “They’ll be ready the next time we play them, but for now this win is important to us,” said Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who entered the stadium Sunday. wearing a sweatshirt that read: “GREENBAY SUCKS“.

    Earlier in the week, Packers guard Xavier McKinney said the Lions were “trying to embarrass people,” telling reporters that the Green Bay organization and its players “don’t take this lightly.” .

    To their credit, the Packers avoided getting blown out after trailing 24-6 early in the fourth quarter. Green Bay added a touchdown and a two-point conversion with 3:46 left to cut the deficit and make the scoreboard a little prettier.

    But Detroit pulled through with the home team, despite persistent rain – conditions that, entering the game, many experts thought would favor the Packers – and Green Bay made every critical mistake in the game.

    The Packers took 10 penalties to Detroit’s five and had several critical drops, while failing to capitalize on the majority of their opportunities. With 10:07 left and Detroit holding a 24-6 lead, Packers receiver Dontayvion Wicks was wide open and had a third-down pass go through his hands in the end zone, and Green Bay turned it over during downs. next piece.

    The critical error came with 32 seconds left in the first half. After Detroit added a field goal to take a 10-3 lead with 58 seconds remaining, Packers quarterback Jordan Love made his worst decision of the game. Looking to avoid a sack by Lions linebacker Alex Anzalone, he attempted to pass the ball back to running back Josh Jacobs, but was intercepted by Kerby Joseph for a pick-six that gave the Lions a 17-3 lead, Detroit getting the ball. start the third quarter.

    Coming up on a blitz, Joseph cleared two blockers, looked up and the ball was right there.

    “I just saw Jordan Love throw the ball, so I jumped up and the ball was right there,” Joseph said. “Shout out to Levi (Onwuzurike). He made that block for me, and then I knew it was a touchdown, but I really couldn’t believe it. But I just want to say, shout out to my team.”

    The Lions took advantage of their opportunity and drove down the field with a nine-play, 71-yard drive, culminating with a 15-yard touchdown run down the gut from Jahmyr Gibbs to make the score 24-3.

    Gibbs totaled 65 rushing yards on 11 carries and set the NFL record for most consecutive games averaging more than 5.0 yards per carry (seven).

    St. Brown kicked off the scoring for Detroit with a 3-yard touchdown run and totaled seven catches for 56 yards. Lions quarterback Jared Goff — often criticized for being much better inside than outside — completed 18 of 22 passes for 145 yards and a touchdown. He nearly completed another perfect pass in the first half, but threw a miss on his final attempt to finish 11 of 12 in the first two quarters.

    Goff, who went 12 for 12 or better in the first half three times this season, joked upon learning the statistic that he should have taken a sack on his final attempt of the half.

    “I didn’t know that. I should have taken a bag, it probably would have helped,” he said.

    St. Brown called Goff’s performance “super impressive.”

    “I’m out there freezing my ass off and I don’t know how he can cope with this weather with the rain and the wind,” St. Brown said. “It seemed like it barely fazed him.”

    Packers running back Josh Jacobs had 10 carries in the first half for 89 yards, but the Packers were forced to move away from the running game while trying to claw back from a double-digit deficit throughout the second half. time. He finished with 95 yards on 13 carries. Love finished the game 23-of-39 passing for 273 yards, no touchdowns and one interception, while former Michigan State star Jayden Reed led all receivers with 113 yards.

    The Packers, who entered Sunday with the league’s 25th-ranked red zone offense, drove down the field with a 14-play drive to start the game, but settled for a 30-yard field goal from Brandon McManus to go up, 3-0. , when running back Chris Brooks dropped a third-down pass over the middle to end the threat.

    The Packers were 1 of 4 in the red zone, with their only score coming in the final minutes of the game.

    “We’re doing a good job of eliminating those points. We stopped people from scoring seven, and look, that was one of the biggest differences in the game,” Campbell said.

    When the Lions first got the ball back, they had a similarly tough 13-play drive. After going fourth-and-goal at the 5, Detroit gave Green Bay an encroachment penalty that gave them first-and-goal at the 3. St. Brown launched a fierce double move on Packers defensive back Keisean Nixon and made a he footed a perfect pass from Goff to go up, 7-3, on the opening play of the second quarter.

    “We’ve worked on this in the past and we thought it would be good this week. I thought at the end of the day it was just me and him playing,” Goff said. “Guy actually covered it pretty well, I stepped back, he made a nice catch and his celebration was pretty good too.”

    After starting their second drive with a 37-yard run up the middle by Jacobs, Green Bay suffered a brutal false start penalty before third-and-3 from the Detroit 32, forcing the Packers to throw a pass that fell incomplete and led to a punt.

    Lions safety Brian Branch ejected with 6:18 left in the second quarter for a face-off against Packers receiver Bo Melton. Branch was clearly not thrilled with the decision and received an additional unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for appearing to flip his middle finger on the Green Bay sideline, resulting in a 30-yard penalty. However, the Packers were unable to capitalize on the opportunity and McManus missed a 46-yard field goal to end the drive.

    “They just said it came from the league office in New York,” Campbell said. “That’s all I have. It’s the first time I’ve been a part of something like this, since I’ve been a head coach, that someone’s been kicked out. So I haven’t seen it .I haven’t seen it, I don’t know.”

    Detroit extended its lead with 58 seconds left in the half thanks to a 10-play sequence and a lucky pass. Detroit reached the Green Bay 9-yard line before Goff threw his first incompletion of the game (he started 11 of 11 for 86 yards) on third down and the Lions settled for a 27-yard field goal from Bates . up to 10-3.

    “We have a lot of confidence in (Goff) and it’s worked out well for us,” Campbell said.

    The Lions then took a 17-3 lead before halftime on Joseph’s first career pick and sixth interception of the season. Joseph’s pick six was the first by a Lions player to Green Bay since 1979.

    Green Bay kicked a 38-yard field goal from McManus with 48 seconds left in the third quarter to cut Green Bay’s deficit to 24-6.

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