So the sky isn’t falling.
The Green Bay Packers rebounded from a miserable season opener by continuing their dominance in the NFC North Division by pulling away from the Detroit Lions 35-17 before a welcome full house of 77,240 fans in their Lambeau Field opener Monday night. After another shaky start from the defense, giving up three scores in four first half possessions to trail 17-14 at the break, the unit pitched a second half shutout with a couple of takeaways while the offense found it’s rhythm thanks to the Aarons.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers fired four touchdown passes, three of them to running back Aaron Jones who reached the end zone four times himself as the Packers improved to 5-0 against Detroit under Head Coach Matt LaFleur who is now 12-1 against his Black and Blue rivals.
Jones was the focal point of the offense all night, rushing for 67 yards on 17 carries and catching 6 passes for 48 yards. The only downside to his night was losing his beloved chain with a locket containing ashes of his late father. He thinks he lost it in the north end zone after his second touchdown of the night, a one yard flare route to the corner of the end zone. Aaron said he had members of the grounds crew looking for it after the ball game but said his dad would still be smiling because at least it got lost in the end zone after a score.
Detroit had no answer for Jones, who tied a club record with three scoring receptions by a back. The last time it happened was in Green Bay’s 55-24 rout of the Chicago Cardinals in 1942 when Andy Uram had the big day at old City Stadium.
The Packers needed both first half touchdowns just to keep up with Detroit which moved the ball easily in the first half. Jared Goff hit former Wisconsin Badger Quintez Cephus for 46 yards behind a flailing Kevin King on the opening drive. Cephus then got wide open when rookie Eric Stokes misread a switch for a five yard touchdown and the 7-0 lead in the first five minutes.
Rodgers came out sharp too, hitting Davante Adams for 18 and Robert Tonyan for 19 yards to set up Green Bay’s answer. Jones took a shovel pass in motion around the left end for a four yard score to tie the game at 7.
The Lions committed four penalties and lost 34 yards on their second series and had to punt but the Packers gave it right back with a three and out including the first of three sacks against Rodgers, playing behind a line that started rookies Josh Myers and Royce Newman along with second year pro Jon Runyan making his first career start at left guard. He replaced Lucas Patrick who cleared the concussion protocol after not practicing all week.
Goff threw a perfect pass to tight end T.J. Hockenson who pulled in an 8 yard TD in the back corner of the end zone with De’Vondre Campbell in coverage that gave the Lions a 14-7 lead midway through the second quarter.
Rookie Kylin Hill delivered a spark by taking the ensuing kickoff back 42 yards. Jones went back to work accounting for 44 of the 56 yards on the drive capped by his chain losing TD catch with 1:52 to play in the half.
A pop up kickoff was covered poorly and Godwin Igwebuike returned it 33 yards to the 41. The Lions got in position for Austin Seibert’s 43 yard field goal attempt. He missed wide right just after the Packers called time out to ice him. On his second try, he melted Packer fans with a solid kick giving the Lions the three point lead at the break.
To open the third quarter, Rodgers delivered two outstanding passes which lit the fuse for the entire team’s second half performance. The first was a 50 yard go route to Davante Adams who made the over the shoulder grab up the right sideline. That connection pushed Rodgers past John Elway for 10th place on the NFL’s all-time passing yardage list with over 51,000 yards. Three plays later, Rodgers squeezed a laser to Tonyan with two defenders nearby for a 22 yard scoring strike giving the Packers their fist lead of the season at 21-17.
The defense finally made a big play on Detroit’s next drive when on 4th and 1 from the Green Bay 25, Goff tried to hit Cephus in the left flat but number one pick Eric Stokes was able to break up the pass.
The Packers then drove 75 yards in 11 plays with Jones catching his third TD of the night, taking a flare to the left 11 yards for the score to make it 28-17.
A light drizzle started falling and on the next snap, Goff dropped the center exchange and Krys Barnes recovered at the 23. Five plays later, Jones squeezed through a hole on the left side for his 4th touchdown of the game on a one yard run.
The defense finished strong as Rashan Gary, getting the start for Za’Darius Smith who went on injured reserve late last week with a back injury, sacked Goff for a loss of 10 to force a punt. On the next series, Jonathan Garvin chased down Goff who still tried to get the pass off but it was thrown right to Campbell for the D’s first interception of the year. Campbell would wind up with a team high 13 tackles to go along with his takeaway.
As soon as the game ended, the skies opened up chasing happy Packer fans to their cars for the ride home, knowing all’s almost right with the world again following the head scratching 38-3 loss to New Orleans in week one.
Rodgers, as is usually the case after a bad outing, was terrific. He completed 22 of 27 passes for 255 yards and the four scores for a passer rating of 145.6. Four of the five incompletions were deep shots directed toward Marquez Valdes-Scantling that just missed. Adams caught 8 balls for 121 yards.
When asked afterwards if he heard the critics following his 36.8 passer rating performance against the Saints, Rodgers said, “Even more now than when I started playing, there’s so many over-reactions that happen on a weekly basis, so it’s nice to come out and have a good performance and get the trolls off our back for at least a week.”
LaFleur was a bit more diplomatic in describing his first win of the season back in the confines of a sold out Lambeau Field.
The halftime ceremony, led by Packers president Mark Murphy, welcomed members of the Thompson family, including his brother Jim as the team played a video tribute on the scoreboards and then lifted the curtain on the late General Manager’s name on the stadium facade in the northeast corner.
There didn’t appear to be any injuries of note for the Packers. The inactive players included newly signed linebacker La’Darius Hamilton, along with Shemar Jean-Charles, Vernon Scott, Jake Hanson, Josiah Deguara and Jack Heflin.
The Packers share first in the Division at 1-1 with the Chicago Bears while the Lions join the Vikings at 0-2. It’s a difficult, short week for the Packers as they travel to San Francisco to meet the 2-0 49ers in another prime time matchup next Sunday night.
