Packers visit Detroit in matchup of slumping NFC North teams
Packers and Lions meet with combined 9-game losing streak
From Various Sources
GREEN BAY (3-5) at DETROIT (1-6)
TIME / TV: Sunday, 12:00 p.m. CST; FOX
SERIES RECORD: Packers lead 105-73-7
LAST MEETING: Lions beat Packers 37-30 on Jan. 9 in Detroit
LAST WEEK: Packers lost 27-17 at Buffalo; Lions lost 31-27 at home to Miami
PACKERS OFFENSE: OVERALL (17), RUSH (15), PASS (22), SCORING (26)
LIONS OFFENSE: OVERALL (4), RUSH (10), PASS (7), SCORING (T9)
PACKERS DEFENSE: OVERALL (8), RUSH (29), PASS (2), SCORING (16)
LIONS DEFENSE: OVERALL (32), RUSH (30), PASS (27), SCORING (32)
TURNOVER DIFFERENTIAL: Packers minus-3; Lions minus-5
The Lions (1-6) look like they’re headed for a fifth straight last-place finish in the division, losing five in a row before November for the second time in two years under coach Dan Campbell. “We’re not looking at it as the season is over,” said Detroit running back Jamaal Williams, a former Packer. “We still got games to play and there’s still great players in his locker ready to go to work.”
On Sunday at Ford Field, longtime rivals that have combined for nine straight setbacks will meet and one will earn a desperately needed victory — unless they finish with a fitting tie. “They’ve got their own problems, and we have ours,” Williams said. “We’re just trying to get it done for ourselves, come together as a team and come out with a ‘W.’”
TRADE WINDS
Green Bay did not make a trade before this week’s deadline to potentially bolster its chances of making the playoffs for the fourth time in coach Matt LaFleur’s four seasons. “We didn’t subtract, either, I think that’s a really important point to make,” Rodgers said. “Obviously the organization — the third floor — believes that we have the right guys in place to win. “There’s no tanking. There’s no rebuild.”
Detroit, meanwhile, traded arguably its best player to the NFC North-leading Minnesota Vikings on Tuesday to improve positioning in the next two drafts. Lions general manager Brad Holmes said the dealing 25-year-old tight end T.J. Hockenson made sense for the franchise’s “build phase,” and insisted he would have dealt Hockenson even if his one-win team had a 6-1 record. While the trade might’ve made sense in the long term, it does not seem to help this season. “We’re trying to get over this hump and he definitely could have helped us win,” receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown said. “So, not having him out there is going to hurt.”
RODGERS’ THUMB
Rodgers has been playing through an injury the past few weeks after hurting his right thumb on the final play of a 27-22 loss to the New York Giants in London. The reigning MVP was a limited practice participant Wednesday, an encouraging sign because he missed the previous three Wednesday practices to rest his thumb. “I wish I could tell you it was feeling better,” the 38-year-old Rodgers said.
FORMER TEAMMATES FACE OFF
Green Bay selected Williams out of BYU in the fourth round of the 2017 draft and drafted Aaron Jones out of UTEP one round later. Jones and Williams were teammates in Green Bay for four years. Williams left for Detroit in free agency after the Packers didn’t make much of an effort to keep him. Willliams has eight touchdown runs to rank second in the NFL. Jones has run for 575 yards, ranking fifth in the league.
The Packers need a playmaker to emerge from their injury-riddled receiving corps and that could lead to more opportunities for rookie Samori Toure. Toure, a seventh-round pick from Nebraska, had a 37-yard score in the Packers’ 27-17 loss at Buffalo for his second career catch and first touchdown. The play showed Toure is starting to shed the label he received from Rodgers last summer. “I nicknamed him ‘Captain Casual’ in training camp as a way to maybe encourage him to start practicing with a little different type of tempo, practicing like a pro,” Rodgers said. “I don’t think he really appreciated that nickname. I mean, who would? But it’s gone from a nickname that was legitimate to more of a joke now because his practice habits have really picked up.”
The Packers have been dealing with injuries at receiver all season. Randall Cobb will miss a third straight game Sunday due to a high ankle sprain. Rookie second-round pick Christian Watson suffered a concussion early in the Bills game and didn’t practice Wednesday.
MAKING A CHANGE
Detroit, which ranks last in multiple defensive categories, will have a new defensive backs coach after Campbell fired Aubrey Pleasant and replaced him with safeties coach Brian Duker. “There’s ways that we can really just simplify the tools in their toolbox,” Campbell said.
RB Aaron Jones is coming off a 143-yard rushing performance at Buffalo. He caught two touchdown passes a week earlier in a 23-21 loss at Washington. Jones has rushed for 575 yards this season and is averaging 5.87 yards per carry. Jones has averaged 142.3 combined yards rushing and receiving per game in Green Bay’s past four matchups with the Lions.
LIONS PLAYER TO WATCH
RB Jamaal Williams: This former Packer has eight touchdown runs this season to rank second in the league, behind only Cleveland’s Nick Chubb. Williams has rushed for 464 yards and is averaging 4.5 yards per carry.
KEY MATCHUP
Jones and Packers RB A.J. Dillon vs. Lions run defense. Jones and Dillon ran for a combined 197 yards at Buffalo as the Packers totaled a season-high 208 yards rushing on 31 carries. They could run wild against a Lions defense that is allowing 154.9 yards rushing per game and 5.1 yards per carry.
KEY INJURIES
Packers WR Randall Cobb (ankle) will miss a third straight game. Packers WR Christian Watson left the Bills game with a concussion and LB De’Vondre Campbell left with a knee injury. Packers OL Jason Hanson (biceps) will miss a third straight game. Packers OT/OG Elgton Jenkins (knee/foot) and WR Allen Lazard (shoulder) didn’t play Sunday at Buffalo. Lazard, Jenkins and Watson have practiced on a limited basis this week. Campbell, CB Shemar Jean-Charles (ankle) and OT David Bakhtiari (knee) didn’t practice Wednesday or Thursday… Lions RB D’Andre Swift (ankle, shoulder) and TE Brock Wright (concussion) did not practice Wednesday, though both practiced on a limited basis Thursday.
Detroit’s 37-30 victory in the final week of the 2021 regular season came after the Packers already had clinched the NFC’s top playoff seed, so Aaron Rodgers only played the first half of that game. Detroit’s Amon-Ra St. Brown and Khalif Raymond each had more than 100 yards receiving in that game. That game ended a string of five straight Packers wins in this series… Green Bay’s 103 regular-season victories over Detroit are the most the Packers have against any single opponent… The Packers are 32-12 against the Lions since 2000.
STATS AND STUFF
The Packers have scored at least 30 points in each of their past four matchups with the Lions. Green Bay hasn’t exceeded 27 points in a game this season… The previous time the Packers lost four straight before now, they responded with an eight-game winning streak to reach the NFC championship game. That was in the 2016 season… The Packers haven’t dropped five consecutive games since 2008… Jones ranks fifth in the NFL in yards rushing… The Packers are allowing opponents to convert just 29.9% of their third down opportunities. Tennessee is the only team with a better percentage in third down defense… The Packers are 18-6 against the Lions in games that Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers has started. Rodgers has thrown 52 touchdown passes and eight interceptions against the Lions. The only player ever to throw more touchdown passes against the Lions is former Packers QB Brett Favre with 58… Rodgers has thrown 40 touchdown passes and only one interception against NFC North opponents since 2020… The rebuilding Lions fired DB coach Aubrey Pleasant, replacing him with safeties coach Brian Duker, on Monday and traded standout TE T.J. Hockenson the next day to Minnesota to improve draft positioning in 2023 and 2024… Detroit scored 27 points and had 326 yards and a 10-point lead at halftime last week against Miami, and was scoreless with 67 yards in the second half of the four-point loss… The Lions had a five-game losing streak before November for the second time in two years under coach Dan Campbell and he is 4-19-1 overall with them… in their most recent meeting, Detroit defeated Green Bay, 37-30, in January last season. It was just the eighth game out of 183 all-time matchups played between the two where both teams scored at least 30 points and the first time since January 2012… the Packers have lost four straight games in a single season for the first time since 2016 and for just the fifth time since 2000. Only three teams have had fewer single-season losing streaks of at least four games since 2000 (Seahawks with 3, Patriots and Ravens with 4)… Aaron Jones led the Packers with 143 rushing yards against the Bills on Sunday, bringing his career total to 4,738 yards, which is fourth-most in Packers' history. Among the 14 players to rush for at least 3,000 yards with the team, none averaged more yards per carry than Jones (5.15)… the Lions gained 393 yards on Sunday, just below their average of 394.9 yards per game this season, which is good for fourth in the NFL this year. The Lions have finished a season with more yards per game just twice in their history (408.8 in 2012, 396.1 in 2011)… Jamaal Williams rushed for two touchdowns on Sunday against Miami, his league-leading fourth such game, bringing his total to eight rushing touchdowns in his first seven games this year. Williams is the first Lions player to rush for eight touchdowns in the team's first seven games of any season in franchise history… both Green Bay and Detroit gain at least four yards on rushing plays in over fifty percent of their attempts this season, with the Packers doing so 52.3 percent of the time (second in the NFL) and the Lions doing so 50.8 percent of the time (fifth in the NFL).
GREEN BAY PACKERS at DETROIT LIONS GREEN BAY: OUT: B De'Vondre Campbell (knee), CB Shemar Jean-Charles (ankle). QUESTIONABLE: T David Bakhtiari (knee), G Elgton Jenkins (knee, foot), WR Allen Lazard (shoulder), LB Preston Smith (shoulder, neck), WR Christian Watson (concussion). DETROIT: OUT: CB Chase Lucas (ankle), S Ifeatu Melifonwu (ankle), T Matt Nelson (calf), CB A.J. Parker (hip). DOUBTFUL: WR Josh Reynolds (back). QUESTIONABLE: T Taylor Decker (groin), DE Charles Harris (groin), RB D'Andre Swift (shoulder, ankle), TE Brock Wright (concussion).
Thursday, November 3
Philadelphia Eagles 29, Houston Texans 17
Sunday, November 6
Los Angeles Chargers at Atlanta Falcons, 12:00 p.m., FOX
Miami Dolphins at Chicago Bears, 12:00 p.m., CBS
Carolina Panthers at Cincinnati Bengals, 12:00 p.m., FOX
Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions, 12:00 p.m., FOX
Las Vegas Raiders at Jacksonville Jaguars, 12:00 p.m., CBS
Indianapolis Colts at New England Patriots, 12:00 p.m., CBS
Buffalo Bills at New York Jets, 12:00 p.m., CBS
Minnesota Vikings at Washington Commanders, 12:00 p.m., FOX
Seattle Seahawks at Arizona Cardinals, 3:05 p.m., FOX
Los Angeles Rams at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 3:25 p.m., CBS
Tennessee Titans at Kansas City Chiefs, 7:20 p.m., NBC*
Monday, November 7
Baltimore Ravens at New Orleans Saints, 7:15 p.m., ESPN
