5 takeaways from the Detroit Lions’ Thursday night win over the Green Bay Packers

5 takeaways from the Detroit Lions’ Thursday night win over the Green Bay Packers.

The Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers are always good for some theatrics, and this edition of “Thursday Night Football” was certainly a performance.

For the second time in 2024, the Lions defeated their NFC North rival and not only maintained their lead in the division, but also booked themselves a playoff ticket. The Lions would love for that to be the first seed, but with a tight playoff race ahead of them, any victory is a good victory.

Let us examine some takeaways from the Lions’ incredible 12th win of the season.

Another week, another defensive starter out

I am genuinely speechless at this point: the Lions lost another starting defender to injury. Alim McNeill briefly left the first half for a concussion evaluation, but returned and finished the half seemingly okay. That proved not to be the case, however, as McNeill was ruled out early in the third quarter before even taking the field. The official ruling is a head injury, but the exact extent of the injury is still unclear.

McNeill was one of the few front seven starters still healthy for this Thursday night tilt, alongside Jack Campbell. We have gone on and on about all of the injured defensive players, but losing McNeill in particular is brutal for Detroit. McNeill was arguably the anchor keeping the defensive front intact. Without him in the lineup and already missing DJ Reader, the Lions were struggling to contain Josh Jacobs up the middle as the running back tallied three touchdowns on the night.

The Lions can ill-afford to lose another key defensive player, so all eyes will be on the upcoming injury report. There is optimism that Reader and others will return before long, but for a team desperate for some health, this was yet another blow.

Patrick stars

It was a long time coming for Tim Patrick. For many weeks, he had been a solid contributor in the Lions offense, from clutch catches to downfield blocking. But he was still missing the elusive touchdown from his Lions resume—his last touchdown in any uniform was back in 2021 with the Denver Broncos.

How about a pair of touchdowns? Instead.

Patrick’s yardage total was modest (43 yards), but he notched himself two critical touchdowns, both in the red zone. The first came on fourth down with the Lions desperate to answer a Packers touchdown when Green Bay took their first lead of the game. The second came on a third down after back-to-back stonewalled runs near the goal line. Patrick also had an important 11-yard reception on the final drive to help Detroit push their way into field goal position.

It was another balanced passing attack from the Lions (six players tallied five or more catches), but there is no question that Patrick was a pivot part of this victory.

The Lions do not win this game without Dan “Gamble”

It’s the nature of football that a team can go four-of-five on fourth down and the one unsuccessful play is a big talking point. Dan Campbell will get plenty of criticism for the failed fourth-and-1 at the Detroit 31-yard line, but it is also that mentality that won Detroit the game. The analytical crowd backed the decision anyway:

Going forward, there should be almost no situation where the Lions are making the wrong call by going for it. They have the play calling to devise a successful play and they have the personnel to make these plays work. Success or failure comes down to execution. On the failed attempt, two or three Lions players missed their block. If even one of those connects as planned, Gibbs likely pushes forward for a first down.

If the Lions had a more conservative coach, then the Lions fall short against the Packers. They turned two easy field goals into touchdowns. In a 34-31 win, just one of those decisions erring on the safe side instead results in a tie at best or loss at worse. The final drive also deserves positive attention. After a questionable holding penalty, the Lions had second-and-17 at the Green Bay 37. Risk-averse coaches run the ball twice and attempt a long field goal and give Green Bay a chance to get the ball back. Instead, Campbell dials up a long-range pass that Amon-Ra St. Brown nearly takes for a first down, falling just shy (though I would be curious to see a clearer replay).

When you have an aggressive head coach, there will inevitably be plays that go awry. Yet the good from that decision-making mindset offsets the negatives that happen—and when you have a talented offense like the Lions, those plays become easier because of the trust they have.

The Dirty Dozen (or so) defenders

For as much as we discuss the injuries, the players setting up deserve even more attention. It was far from a great defensive performance, but there were moments of promise from multiple new faces across the roster. Up front, Pat O’Connor stood out with some bull rushes en route to the most snaps of his NFL career. Jonah Williams was another positive note for a depleted defensive front. Signed just a few days ago, Jamal Adams had some blitzes out of his box role. Ezekiel Turner was arguably the best Lions defender on the day, including a phenomenal third-down tackle of a scrambling Jordan Love. Trevor Nowaske had a beautiful play in which he blew up a Tucker Kraft block.

None of these players were expected to be contributors at the start of the season—in fact, many of them were not even on the roster until recently. Despite plenty of injuries, the Lions are still finding players capable of manning a capable defense.

A rough day from the interior offensive line

It is rare that you see Frank Ragnow struggle like he did against the Packers, and his compatriots inside were not much better. The Lions were struggling to run up the gut throughout the night, leading to many of their dire fourth down attempts. On a pivotal third-and-1 to potentially close out the game, the line got blown up and David Montgomery got stopped. On the very next bold fourth down attempt, Glasgow stepped on Jared Goff’s foot and nearly doomed the whole play, but an incredibly athletic handoff resulted in a first down to seal a game-winning kick.

Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs both had rushing averages well below their typical standards (3.6 and 2.9 yards per carry, respectively). If you play Jeremy Reisman’s favorite game of eliminating a player’s longest rush, Montgomery had 13 carries for 38 yards (minus a long of 13) and Gibbs had 14 carries for 23 yards (minus a long of 20). You can credit the Packers run defense and fault the running backs, but I think as a whole, the offensive line needed more push up front.