The Packers elevated CB Kalen King from the Practice Squad.  Jaire Alexander, Edgerrin Cooper, Corey Ballentine, and Romeo Doubs were inactive due to injury.  Jacob Monk was a healthy scratch.  QB Malik Willis and Kalen King did not play.

OFFENSIVE LINEMEN:

The offensive line met their match against the Lions, which is even more disappointing as a lot of Detroit's preferred defensive linemen did not play. DT Alim MdNeill only played 17 snaps, while Aidan Hutchinson, DJ Reader, Josh Paschal, and others were inactive.   Although Love was hit 7 times and sacked just once, he was frequently pressured.  He never looked comfortable and rarely had time to allow receivers to run routes that take time.  The run blocking was inadequate.  Most of the runs consisted of a lot of very hard running through modest holes.    Tom and Walker gave up multiple pressures.  With Jacob Monk inactive, OT Kadeem Telfort played right guard when Rhyan briefly left the game with an injury.     

RUNNING BACKS:

The offensive line gave the running backs little scope to display any flashy moves and plenty of opportunity to show their toughness.  Emanuel Wilson and Chris Brooks gained 10 yards on 2 carries.  Josh Jacobs gained 66 yards on 18 carries for a 3.67-yard average, with 3 touchdowns and a long run of 19 yards.  The running backs were not targeted in the passing game, which seems odd because the Lions were playing some backup linebackers.  Jacobs missed a blitz pick-up.

TIGHT ENDS:

Kraft caught 3 of his 5 targets for 41 yards with a long of 26.  He caught a bullet from Love for a 12-yard touchdown thrown into a very small window.  Sims caught 1 pass for 2 yards.  FitzPatrick had no targets.  

QUARTERBACKS:

Love completed 12 of 20 passes (60%) for 206 yards (10.3 yards/attempt) and 1 touchdowns.  He had a passer rating of 111.7.  He had to scramble 4 times for 23 yards with a long of 14.  Love was accurate and did well when he was pressured, which was all too often.  I thought he had several excellent throws into tight windows.  There were times when wide receivers got open late but Love was already on the run.  I saw no turnover-worthy passes.  Love had several "big-time" throws, including a pass to Watson after he evaded a blitz by Jack Campbell, and the touchdown pass to Kraft.  Love was a little antsy early in the game, but he settled down.

WIDE RECEIVERS:

With Doubs still out, the Packers again decided to give Dontayvion Wicks starting snaps.  Wicks caught 4 of 5 targets for 49 yards with a long of 26.  The bigger development is the blossoming of Christian Watson into a more polished, and not just a big play, low volume receiver.  Watson caught 4 of 7 targets for 114 yards with a long of 59.  Watson is running more of the route tree.  He seems to be able to get separation when he gets isolated and gets single coverage.  Watson had a fumble when he held the ball with just one hand away from his body. 

Inexplicably, Jayden Reed had no receptions and just 1 target.  Reed had no rushing attempts.  Melton and Heath also had no targets and no rushing attempts.  The Lions have missing players and presumably there are match-ups that should have been exploited.  Everything in this game came hard.  Success generally was the result of the individual prowess of the various players.  There were no plays that I thought the Packers could run and expect regular success.  Since nothing came easy, the Packers only converted 1 of 5 third down opportunities.  In part due to getting some short fields while Detroit had multiple long drives, the Packers only had 50 snaps (Detroit had 80 snaps) and the Packers time of possession was 23:54 while Detroit held the ball foir 36:06 minutes.  This was not LaFleur's best offensive game plan.        

DEFENSIVE LINEMEN:

The Packers held Detroit to 111 yards on 34 attempts, a 3.26-yard per carry average.  Their running backs gained 94 yards on 29 carries, a 3.24-yard average.  Gibbs gained 43 yards on 15 carries with a long of 20, meaning Gibbs gained 23 on 14 carries other than the 20-yard explosive run.  The Packers just could not get off the field.  The Lions converted 11 of 20 third and fourth down opportunities.  The Packers did force 2 punts in the first half, but none in the second half, though they did get a turnover on downs and got off the field when Nixon intercepted a pass.

Clark lived in the backfield despite being double-teamed.  Clark had 8 tackles (5 solo) with one of them being a tackle for loss.  Note that Clark had 23 tackles in the first 12 games.  34 rushes and 41 pass attempts led to 88 tackles by the Packers.  Mr. Clark earned his paycheck.  Wyatt had 4 tackles (3 solo) plus a quarterback hit.  Wooden had 4 tackles (3 solo) with one being a tackle for loss.  Slaton had 3 tackles (1 solo).  Brooks had 1 assisted tackle.  He did hit the quarterback but the quarterback had already handed the ball off to the running back for a big gain.  Brooks was otherwise quiet in this game.

Gary had 3 tackles (1 solo), one of which was a tackle for loss, and 2 quarterback hits.  Van Ness had 3 tackles (1 solo).  Enagbare had just 2 assisted tackles despite leading the DEs in snaps.  Cox had 2 tackles (1 solo) and Mosby had a solo tackle.  Another quarterback completed close to 80% of his pass attempts (32 of 41 for Goff, 78%).  Detroit has a good offensive line which afforded ample time to Goff.  LT Dan Skipper replaced Detroit's Taylor Decker.  Skipper had a 51 PFF grade for pass blocking and a 50 in run blocking, but he held up well and drew a penalty due in part to his acting skills.

LINEBACKERS:

The Packers missed Edgerrin Cooper.  McDuffie had a whopping 15 tackles (11 solo), but that does not mean he had a particularly good game.  He had issues with coverage.  He was often the linebacker who was sent on the blitz due to his coverage limitations.  That make it harder to disguise which linebacker might shoot a gap.  Walker had 10 tackles (6 solo) including a tackle for loss.  Wilson had 3 tackles (1 solo) and was involved in a miscommunication in coverage.  The Lions really targeted the linebackers, just as Miami did, mostly over the middle of the field.  

SECONDARY:

Injuries to Bullard (ankle) and Evan Williams (concussion) forced Nixon to move from the perimeter corner and required Zayne Anderson, who had 8 career defensive snaps over his 4-year career, to play 53 snaps at safety.  Anderson had 4 tackles (2 solo), including a big tackle for little to no gain.  Nixon had 10 tackles (3 solo), 2 passes defensed including an interception.  He also got grabby and was called for pass interference near the end zone.  McKinney had 7 tackles (4 solo). Bullard had 4 tackles (1 solo) before his exit.  Stokes had 3 assisted tackles and difficulty with in-breaking routes.  Valentine had 1 solo tackle.  Williams had no statistics.  

SPECIAL TEAMS:

McManus made a 32-yard field goal and all 4 of his extra point attempts.  Whelan averaged 41.7 net on 2 punts, both inside the 20. 

Photo courtesy of USA Today Network

RB: 1.14

TE: 1.36

WR: 2.50

DT: 1.99

DE: 2.01

LB: 2.53

DB: 4.46