Crosby woe: 4 FG misses doom Pack
Lions don’t let 24-0 lead vs. Rodgers get away
DETROIT — The Lions took advantage of some mistakes they forced the Packers to make and were fortunate some breaks went their way.
Matthew Stafford threw two touchdown passes and LeGarrette Blount ran for two scores, lifting the Lions to a 31-23 victory over the Packers on Sunday.
The Lions (2-3) earned a win they desperately needed under first-year coach Matt Patricia going into their bye week.
“We get two weeks to 10 days to sit on whatever happens,” said Stafford, who was 14-for-26 for 183 yards with no turnovers. “And it feels a whole lot better with a win.”
The Packers (2-2-1) were doomed because veteran Mason Crosby had the worst game of his life and two-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers lost two fumbles for just the third time in his 14-year career.
“We just couldn’t overcome all the things we did wrong,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. “We did some good things in the second half, but you can’t dig yourself that kind of hole.”
Crosby missed a career-high four field-goal attempts in one game and failed to make an extra point to boot. He connected on a field goal with two seconds left, but that wasn’t much consolation after his poor performance.
“I look back, and I’m thinking, in my childhood, in high school, this is definitely one of the worst ones,” said Crosby, the first NFL kicker to miss four field-goal tries in a game since 2010.
The Lions recovered an onside kick to seal the victory, preventing Rodgers from getting another chance at a game-winning Hail Mary in Detroit like the one he threw in 2015.
The Lions built a big lead in the first half, picking up where they left off in their last home game, a 16-point win over the Patriots.
Blount had two one-yard touchdown runs in the first quarter, and Stafford’s eight-yard pass to Marvin Jones late in the second quarter put the Lions up 24-0.
Patricia, though, didn’t think the Lions’ cushion was comfortable.
“Unfortunately, I’ve seen that quarterback on the other side there crush a lot of leads pretty quickly and come back,” said Patricia, a former Patriots defensive coordinator.
Rodgers, missing injured receivers Randall Cobb and Geronimo Allison, threw short touchdown passes to rookie Marquez ValdesScantling and Lance Kendricks in the third to pull the Packers within 10 points.
Stafford answered with a fiveyard touchdown pass to Kenny Golladay early in the fourth quarter to give the Lions a 31-14 lead.
“It was big to chew up some time to give our defense a little bit of a rest and come away with some points,” Stafford said.
Rodgers connected with Davante Adams on a 12-yard throw for a third touchdown pass, but Crosby hit the left upright on the extra-point attempt to let the Lions keep an 11-point lead midway through the fourth. Adams has scored in 10 straight road games, equaling a league record set by Tommy McDonald of the Eagles from 1959 to 1961.
Rodgers was 32-for-52 for 442 yards, the second-highest total of his career.
“We’ve been a one-half team all year,” he said. “We need to do something about that.”
The Lions were successful pressuring Rodgers with just four players and dropping seven into coverage. Rodgers held on to the ball to wait for receivers to get open, but they couldn’t, and it led to three sacks and his two fumbles.
“They gave up rushers in order to extend plays, and they got some turnovers out of it,” McCarthy said. “We’re usually successful in those situations, but they did some good things.”
The Lions, who didn’t face Rodgers last year, have won three straight in the series for the first time the 1990-91 seasons.