Free Press sports writer Dave Birkett grades the Detroit Lions’ performance in their 20-17 win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Oct. 25, at Ford Field.
Quarterback
Jared Goff had a solid day, completing 22 of 32 passes for 303 yards and two touchdowns. He led the Lions on a game-winning drive and made his best throw of the day with 2:45 to play when he stayed in the pocket in the face of pressure to hit Sam LaPorta with a bullet of an 18-yard pass. I don’t think Goff was quite as steady as had been the first five weeks, though. He missed a wide open LaPorta earlier in the game when he was bailed out by a questionable roughing call, had one interception called back on a legitimate penalty and was lucky to have a second dropped. Goff said the fumbled
center-quarterback exchange was his fault (center Cade Mays took blame for it as well) and Goff nearly lost a second fumble. Grade: B
Running backs
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Jahmyr Gibbs had his third 30-plus touch day of the season, rushing for 116 yards on 29 carries and catching five passes for 27 yards. He didn’t have a gain longer than 15 yards, but he ran with impressive power, trucking Xavier McKinney on one 9-yard run in the third quarter and breaking countless tackles. Gibbs made the first defender in backfield miss to avoid at least two lost-yardage runs, and his fumble came when Mays inadvertently knocked the ball out of his hand from behind while fighting for extra yards. Gibbs had a great blitz pickup on the Lions’ opening touchdown drive, picked up a key third-and-5 with a 7-yard run and was the team’s workhorse on the game-winning drive. Grade: A
Receivers/tight ends
Amon-Ra St. Brown had a huge bounce-back performance after a sluggish game against the Arizona Cardinals. He caught nine passes for 153 yards and spent most of the afternoon roaming free against the Packers' secondary. St. Brown and Jameson Williams (five catches, 91 yards) dominated the target share – Gibbs was the only other Lion with more than one catch or two targets – and Williams scored both Lions touchdowns. St. Brown, Isaac TeSlaa and Blake Miller had the key blocks on Gibbs’ third-and-5 pickup on the opening drive. LaPorta had a quiet game four days after venting frustration about his contract. Grade: A
Offensive line
The Lions were excellent in pass protection against a Packers defense that didn’t have Micah Parsons in the lineup. Green Bay had one sack, when Goff pulled down a pass and lost the ball off a teammate’s helmet, one quarterback hit, and the Fox broadcast of the game said the Lions allowed just five pressures on Goff’s first 30 dropbacks. I don’t think the line was quite as clean in the running game. Gibbs lost 5 yards on a play with an unbalanced line, when Christian Mahogany missed his block and Larry Borom couldn’t hold his on the edge, had a 3-yard loss when Mahogany and Penei Sewell let Anthony Campbell come unblocked up the middle, and lost yards on a fourth-and-1 play because of what Gibbs said was a miss-ID. Mays and Goff also had the botched exchange, and Sewell and Mahogany were called for false start penalties, though I thought Mahogany’s came after a Packers player moved first. Grade: B
Defensive line
The Lions have been outstanding against the run the past two games. They held the Packers to 60 yards rushing and a 3.2-yard-per-carry average Sunday and Aidan Hutchinson set a hard edge on Green Bay’s first play after the Lions’ failed fourth-and-1 attempt in the fourth quarter, when Jack Campbell dropped Josh Jacobs for no gain. Hutchinson had five quarterback hits, the Lions’ only sack, drew a holding penalty on Anthony Belton and had back-to-back pressures on one Packers drive in the first half, but also dropped a would-be interception on a screen to Jacobs. Derrick Moore got push into the backfield on a second-and-goal run that went for no yards on Green Bay’s opening drive and Tyleik Williams forced an incomplete pass when the Packers offensive line turned him loose on third down. Grade: A-minus
Linebackers
Campbell had a team-high 11 tackles but got beat for the Packers’ first touchdown when he stumbled in coverage against Tucker Kraft. Campbell and Derrick Barnes appeared to have a miscommunication on a fourth-and-2 conversion on the same drive when the Lions left Kraft open for a 22-yard gain. I thought Barnes played well in coverage most of the day. He lost his footing on Jacobs’ touchdown catch, when Jacobs also broke a tackle by Keith Abney on his way to the end zone, he had tight coverage on an incompletions to Kraft in the third quarter, Mark Redman in the fourth quarter and Jacobs on Green Bay’s final play from scrimmage. Barnes also was called for a questionable personal foul penalty. Grade: B-plus
Defensive backs
The Lions rotated personnel in the secondary throughout the game to keep their cornerbacks fresh against Green Bay’s deep passing game and with Brian Branch returning from a torn Achilles. Branch had an interception on a heave downfield by Jordan Love and was good against the run, and D.J. Reed and Khalil Dorsey made big plays in coverage. Reed made a huge open-field tackle on Matthew Golden to force a turnover on downs and broke up a deep shot to Golden on Green Bay’s opening drive of the second half. Dorsey had a pass breakup on a deep shot to Bo Melton and blanketed Golden on another deep shot incompletion. Abney did drop an interception, and Love finished with 274 yards passing. But the Packers had one pass play longer than 10 yards in the second half and no Green Bay receiver reached even 60 yards receiving. Grade: A
Special teams
The Lions came up with two huge special teams plays in the game’s final four minutes. DJ Wonnum tipped Trey Smack’s missed 35-yard field goal and Jake Bates hit the game-winning 22-yard kick. Bates made both his field goal attempts, but also had two touchbacks on his first three kickoffs and Jack Fox had a rare touchback on a second quarter punt. DeAndre Carter was a shoestring away from breaking big kick and punt returns for the Lions, but Malcolm Rodriguez (holding) and Carter (illegal double team) were flagged for special teams penalties. Grade: A-minus
Coaching
I’m probably on an island, or close to it, when it comes to defending Dan Campbell’s decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 from his own 24-yard line with 4:53 to play. I like the Lions trying to keep the ball in their hands in that situation to go win the game, though I would have preferred a play that forced Green Bay to defend more of the field. Campbell’s logic makes sense; the Lions were going to get the ball back even if they got stopped. And his aggressive approach has a positive effect on the team. By contrast, the Packers got conservative when they got the ball back and it cost them. Give Lions offensive coordinator Drew Petzing points for creativity for using Sewell as a receiver in the red zone on Williams’ second touchdown. And defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard appears to have calmed his unit after a rough start to the season. It’s not easy to get buy-in rotating personnel like the Lions did Sunday, and taking into context the opponent, the defense played its best game of the year. Grade: A-minus
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lions-Packers grades: Dan Campbell right to go for it on fourth down
