Lions can’t wait to wipe away bad loss memory
Green Bay Packers come to town
DETROIT, Nov 27, (AP): To the Detroit Lions, the four-day turnaround between NFL games this week is a good thing.
With the division rivals the Green Bay Packers coming to town on Thanksgiving Thursday, the Lions can quickly wash away the taste of their worst defeat of the season.
The Lions’ 24-21 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday was their second in a row since taking over sole possession of first place in the NFC North. The Lions are now tied atop the division with Chicago.
“We all need to remind ourselves there’s five games remaining, and we’re in first place,” coach Jim Schwartz said. “We need to conduct ourselves accordingly, and we can’t worry what happened last week, we can’t worry about what happened yesterday. We need to worry about what’s going to happen in the future. I like our team’s mindset.”
As soon as Sunday’s game ended, some players were already eager to move on to the Packers.
“We had a ton of mistakes and we had a chance to win,” receiver Nate Burleson said. “Be mad about that, but we’ve got a chance to win the division. There’s so much more to be happy about than to be overly frustrated.”
The Lions have lost nine in a row on Thanksgiving. Detroit’s last victory on Thanksgiving was in 2003 — against the Packers.
Matt Flynn looks set to carry on as the Packers quarterback, four days after helping them come back from a 16-point deficit in the fourth quarter to tie the Minnesota Vikings 26-26 in overtime. Flynn is the team’s fourth quarterback this month, and third replacement since Aaron Rodgers broke his hand on Nov. 4. Green Bay, with a 5-2 record at the time, has been winless since then.
Working in Flynn’s favor is he’s famil- iar with the Packers’ system after having been drafted by the team in 2008 and serving as Rodgers’ backup for four seasons before leaving as a free agent in 2012.
“I think we’re so much further ahead than we were last week,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “I feel a lot better.”
Also on Thursday, the Dallas Cowboys play the Oakland Raiders, and the Baltimore Ravens welcome the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Matt McGloin’s rapid ascent from undrafted rookie to starting NFL quarterback will be viewed by a national television audience when he makes his third career start for the Raiders.
McGloin became the fourth quarterback since the 1970 merger to throw three touchdown passes and no interceptions in his first start, a 28-23 win at Houston. He then threw the go-ahead touchdown pass with 6:10 remaining last week against Tennessee before watching the defense give up the late lead in a 23-19 loss to the Titans. Now he will try to get the Raiders back on the winning track against a Dallas defense that has allowed the second-most yards passing this season.
“It’s a great opportunity for us,” McGloin said. “Everybody has grown up watching that game with their families and to be a part of it is something special. We’re all looking forward to it. We’re excited about it. It’s going to be a tough atmosphere for football, but we’ll handle it.”
For the second time in his three starts, McGloin will be opposed by another undrafted quarterback, albeit one with much more experience and pedigree.
Tony Romo came into the NFL as an undrafted rookie in 2003 and spent his first two seasons on the bench before replacing Drew Bledsoe as starter midway through the 2006 season. He quickly established himself as one of the league’s top quarterbacks and parlayed that success into a $108 million contract extension last offseason and he takes pride in the success of other undrafted quarterbacks.