Green Bay feasts; Detroit fumbles
PACKERS 29, LIONS 22
DETROIT — Jordan Love dropped back and threw deep on his first snap, taking advantage of what the Green Bay Packers thought the Detroit Lions defense would give them.
They were right. Love set the tone with a 53-yard pass to Christian Watson on the game's first play and finished with a career-high-tying three touchdowns, leading Green Bay to a 29-22 win over the NFC Northleading Lions on Thursday.
“It was something we put in this week that we thought was going to work,” said Love, who had to reassure coach Matt LaFleur to stick with the first call when he had second thoughts about it on the morning of the game. “We were confident in it.”
The Packers (5-6) were in control of a game they never trailed, taking advantage of Jared Goff's career-high three fumbles — returning one for a score in the first quarter — and Dan Campbell's aggressiveness on fourth down.
The Lions (8-3) went for it five times on fourth down and only converted once on the final touchdown drive. One of the failed attempts was a risky decision to fake a punt with a run from their 23 in the third quarter down by nine points.
Three plays after the failed fake, Love threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Watson to give Green Bay a 29-14 lead. Campbell later lamented that decision.
“It’s a bad call,” Campbell said. “I shouldn’t have done that to those guys.”
Goff pulled Detroit within seven points with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Josh Reynolds and 2point conversion pass to Sam La Porta with 41 seconds left, but couldn't get closer four days after rallying from a 12-point deficit in the last few minutes in a comeback win over Chicago.
The Lions were called for an illegal formation when they attempted an onside kick, a fitting end for them on an afternoon that started poorly and didn't get much better to deflate what was a firedup crowd.
Love was 22 of 32 for 268 yards with three touchdowns, including two in the first quarter to rookies Jayden Reed and Tucker Kraft.
Love also had a careerlong 37-yard run on a read-option play on third down late in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
Rashan Gary forced a career-high two fumbles, recovering one of them, and tied a career high with three sacks and seven tackles.