Mash Unit vs Trash Unit. Gameday Thread. packers at Lions 12/5/24

[Iron Lion]

Now... if the Packers would be nice and beat the Vikings in a couple weeks, that'd be swell.

I'm not so sure about that. I'd rather GB has to go through Philly than the West or South winner. Also, if Lions and Vikings win out to week 18, then Lions already clinch the division because the loss to TB is not a common game with MIN, but MIN's loss to the Rams is a common game with the Lions.

[froot loops]

On Twitter there are a bunch of people who have pointed out that the NFL has resorted to a referee conspiracy to help the Lions beat the Packers. I must say at that moment I know how George Bailey felt right before Ernie the Cab Driver reads Sam Wainright's telegram. Hee-haw, Merry Christmas George!

[DanO]

I’m not sure Branch would have been available on that last drive and…

YEP!!!!! Great job by the defense. The Lions scored 34 points and no one had crazy stats. What a balanced and great offense. Congrats to Patrick on his first coupld's TD's in a few years.

[DanO]

Okay, someone correct me if I'm wrong. On the play before the failed 4th-down attempt, they gave the Lions a terrible, incorrect, spot.

If you go to 5:41 on the replay video, you can see Patrick get the ball to the 31.8 yard line before he gets touched by a GB player. On the ensuing 4th down play, the ball is nearly a yard further away, just short of the 31. 4th and a quarter-yard is different than 4th and a long full yard.

I thought he made it before he was touched. They never even attempted to show if it was a first down or not. I was dumbfounded.

[whatever_gong82]

Locker room buzz: Lions defense leans on 'savages' to upend Packers

Justin Rogers
Dec 6



Detroit — Here’s what I learned bouncing around the Detroit Lions’ locker room following the team’s 34-31 victory over the Green Bay Packers.


All hail the Northern Savages

The biggest story coming into the game was the number of new additions the Lions were incorporating into their defense. Despite surrendering 31 points because they were saddled with some short fields, the patchwork group held the Packers to fewer than 300 yards of offense and under 100 yards rushing in the win.


“(Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn) AG said it best,” defensive tackle Brodric Martin said. “We already had savages here and we just brought in more savages. That's how we do it. We're built one way. We're coached one way, that's to be savages, to be dominant at what we do.”

Coach Dan Campbell elaborated in his postgame comments that the nickname they’d been using to describe the defensive line this week was “Northern Savages.”


Martin isn’t new, but he was new to the lineup. A 2023 third-round pick, he’d played just 30 career defensive snaps before being asked to start on Thursday.

Another player seeing a far bigger role than usual was Pat O’Connor, who was announced as part of the pre-game introductions, joined the captains at midfield for the coin toss, and logged the most defensive snaps of his seven-year career.


“I'm always prepared to do anything. I just appreciate (defensive line coach Terrell Williams) T, (assistant defensive line coach) Cam (Davis), AG for having the confidence to put me in there when it counted. I took advantage of the reps. …Make the plays count, don't count the plays.”

The unit absorbed another hit when defensive tackle Alim McNeill was forced from the lineup in the second half with a concussion. That resulted in a bigger workload for two players signed late last week, Jonah Williams and Myles Adams.


“I think the initial plan was to have me and Jonah play the big end position,” Adams said. “But I did learn (defensive) tackle at the beginning of the week, so it wasn't anything I wasn't prepared for.

“…I was talking to Jonah, I felt young again,” Adams said. “I felt hungry, like a rookie. We got in Friday, had to learn a playbook, then get out there and play on a Thursday night primetime game. What else could you ask for as an NFL football player?”


Adams praised how well the coaching staff had prepared him for the workload, despite the short turnaround.

“Honestly, I think they did a great job with the onboarding process, if you can call it that. It was smooth,” he said. “I wouldn't have it any other way.”


Near misses frustrating

Cornerback Carlton Davis had an interesting night, which started with a forced fumble the Lions recovered and turned into points.

“I was just really playing ball, for real,” Davis said. “I seen him put the ball out like this and I just struck the ball.”


The cornerback also nearly had an interception in the first half, but it was called back due to teammate Terrion Arnold getting flagged for pass interference before Davis corralled the deflection.

The second half didn’t go nearly as well for Davis. He got beat on a deep ball to open the third quarter and gave up not one, but two completions where he undercut the route and made a diving effort to deflect it away, only for the ball to sneak past his fingertips into the waiting hands of the intended target.


That left Davis frustrated beyond belief.

“That s___ sucked,” Davis said. “That s___ f______ sucked, bro. It's a game of inches, but f___ man, it's a hard pill to swallow. It's a hard pill to swallow.


“I thought I played (them) good,” Davis said. “I f______ played it right. I just have got to get my hand through. I had on a big-ass cast, I don't know, whatever, I don't want to make excuses.”

Davis has been playing with a cast on his hand since breaking his thumb last month.


Not getting too comfortable

That fumble Davis forced was recovered by linebacker David Long Jr., another of several defenders who recently landed in Detroit.


“What's crazy is it was man coverage and I fell off my man,” Long said. “I was hoping he wouldn't throw it to him. I just stayed in the play and hustled to the ball. They say when you hustle to the ball, good things happen. The ball ended up coming out and I was right there.”

In addition to the fumble recovery, Long delivered a punishing hit in the fourth quarter that knocked Packers receiver Dontayvion Wicks from the game. Long’s violent striking feels like an ideal fit for what the Lions ask for their defenders.


He’s felt that immediate connection, but after recently being released in Miami, he’s not allowing himself to feel at home.

“Yeah, most definitely, but you can't get too comfortable in this league,” Long said. “I've learned that throughout the years. I'm just taking this one day at a time, one moment at a time. I'm just enjoying the moment.”


Delivering in opportunities

As detailed in a Detroit Football Network feature about the linebacker, Ezekiel Turner left a cushy gig as a special teams standout in Arizona in search of a bigger defensive role. He’s found that in Detroit and with it he delivered one of the game’s biggest plays, securing an open-field tackle of quarterback Jordan Love on third down that forced the Packers to settle for a tying field goal in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter.

“It was surreal,” Turner said. “I knew I was trusted with a big role and in that critical situation. And the standard is the standard. No matter who is in there, we know, we play how we play in Detroit. I knew I had to bring my A-game and do my job to the best of my ability. That's what I was trying to do.”


On the tackle, Turner said he was put in conflict between sticking with his assignment or trusting his instincts.

“If you look at the play, the (running) back was right there, too,” Turner continued. “That's technically who I had (in coverage), so I had to make a decision. If left the back and he dumped the ball off to the back — it's like, is he running or is he not? I made a quick decision, he turned into a runner, so I was like, tackle and get him to the ground.”


Deflecting praise

You’d think kicker Jake Bates has been doing this for a decade with how nonchalant he's been about his wild season. Coming over from the UFL, after never kicking field goals in college, he’s been nearly perfect in his debut season for the Lions, making 21 of his 22 field goal tries, including his third game-winner on Thursday.

After some prodding, Bates acknowledged how crazy things have been while clutching a game ball awarded to him by coach Dan Campbell.


“Absolutely, it's crazy,” Bates said. “I say it all the time, I have so much gratitude in my heart for where I'm at, the people who are around me, and the people who have been with me for so long. My parents, they're behind the scenes and don't get a lot of credit, but they deserve a lot more credit than they get and more credit than I'm getting. They deserve it all.”

“It's really cool to see the way this game has brought together my family and they get excited for football games,” he said. “It's not the Cowboys anymore, it's the Lions.”


I asked Bates if he planned on giving away his growing collection of game balls to his parents.

“Maybe that's their Christmas present,” he said with a smile.


Non-athletic athleticism

Jared Goff was able to laugh about it once the game was over, but it wasn't funny in the moment, as he was stumbling to the turf after getting his feet tangled with left guard Graham Glasgow during a fourth-and-1 handoff in the closing minute.


Campbell called it an athletic play, but the quarterback scoffed at that idea.

“Yeah, real athletic to fall down on a routine handoff, but I’m glad we made it happen,” Goff said.


The quarterback said his initial thought while tumbling was to pitch it to running back David Montgomery, before realizing he was close enough to execute the handoff from his knees.

“Bad feeling when you’re a quarterback,” Goff said. “Not the first time that’s happened in my career. You try to like stretch out and give it to them, I was even probably going to flip it to him if I couldn’t hand it to him but made it happen, made it work, and David did the rest.”


Packers coach irked

Packers coach Matt LaFleur and a handful of Packers players were involved in a verbal altercation with a Lions fan during pregame activities.


“Yeah, I’ve never been a part of something like that,” LaFleur said. “He was talking junk to our players, giving them the throat slash sign, and you’re trying to de-escalate it and then he gets in my face.

“I thought it was pretty unsportsmanlike,” he continued. “I’ve never seen that. I’ve been on many fields and usually they police that much better. I just thought it was an arrogant fan that wanted to get a part of the action and just — I would like to see security or something step in there and get them out of there.”


A quiet debut

Late in the first quarter, right guard Kevin Zeitler had to exit the field to tend to an injury. That required rookie Christian Mahogany to sub in for the first offensive snaps of his career.


As the next interior lineman on the depth chart, Mahogany was mentally prepared to go in, but when the Packers challenged the previous play, causing a lengthy delay between snaps, the rookie lineman got in his head.

“They just said, 'Hey, Christian!' and I kind of blacked out,” Mahogany said. “I ran in there and then they called a challenge. That really got my heart racing. I wanted them to call the play and just go. The longer I had to wait, the more nervous I got.”


The Lions wound up punting three plays later when a third-down run was blown up in the backfield. Zeitler returned to action for the next series.

It’s been a strange debut campaign for Mahogany, who missed all of training camp and the first several weeks of the season after being diagnosed with mono. The sixth-round pick recently passed Kayode Awosika on the depth chart to become the first guard off the bench. Before Thursday, his playing time had been limited to special teams.



Email: jrogers@detroitfootball.net

X: Justin_Rogers

Bluesky: Justin-Rogers

[whatever_gong82]

https://x.com/Lions/status/1864913239366062245

[CGVT]

[kayrone]

[Mainevent]

I love all the memes, but that last 4th down call was more like if it succeeds, you also win the Showcase Showdown.

[froot loops]

Skipper losing his lunch is awesome. That dude is always spent by the end, taking IVs and oxygen. That guy wants Decker back more than anyone else!

[Dan V]

It was a crazy ballsy moment.
Initially, I thought he was nuts, but then I looked at it from a distance and realized I’d rather have my offense run the ball 1 yard despite being stopped previously than put our defense back on the field

[Cody_Russell]

I love all the memes, but that last 4th down call was more like if it succeeds, you also win the Showcase Showdown.

IF(big if) the Lions make the Super Bowl and matchup against Allen or Mahomes, I hope Campbell coaches the same exact way in a close game. Put the game in your hands/ the trusted Lions offense. Don’t let their magical BS escape with a win… as we have seen with those QBs countless times.

Though my one hesitation is the Lions defense will look completely different in the playoffs. Getting a ton of reinforcements in the near future.

18 players on IR, 13 on defense, losing McNeill and Branch for a bit… rough spot for the Lions defense last night. Yet they won the game.

[CGVT]

Campbell's nuts have their own gravitational pull.

[Mainevent]

IF(big if) the Lions make the Super Bowl and matchup against Allen or Mahomes, I hope Campbell coaches the same exact way in a close game. Put the game in your hands/ the trusted Lions offense. Don’t let their magical BS escape with a win… as we have seen with those QBs countless times.

I think he already proved he’ll do that with the SF game last year.

[mason reese]

It was a crazy ballsy moment.
Initially, I thought he was nuts, but then I looked at it from a distance and realized I’d rather have my offense run the ball 1 yard despite being stopped previously than put our defense back on the field

It was the fact that the distance was shown as “inches” that did it for me. Has Goff ever done the Stafford “jump up, extend your arms, then pull the ball back” move?