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Week 12 Game Recap: Green Bay Packers 37, Detroit Lions 26
What you need to know
| Green Bay Packers |
Brett Favre continued his resurgence and made another push for MVP votes with a season high 381 yards passing and three more touchdowns. At one point, he completed a team record twenty consecutive passes and to no one's surprise he looked awesome in doing so.
The combination of WR Donald Driver and WR Greg Jennings is quickly becoming a nightmare for defensive coordinators to figure out. The two players complement each other so well, and when you factor in a running back that can catch the football, a pass catching tight end, and two more receivers who can make plays down the field, the Packer offense is beginning to look downright scary.
If it wasn't already obvious, Ryan Grant is the Packers featured back going forward. No other RB on the team received a carry in the game, and Grant was on the field in all critical situations. Perhaps even more importantly, he looked terrific with the opportunities he did get and was the key reason the Packers were able to run out the clock late.
| Detroit Lions |
RB Kevin Jones looked very good running the ball, and took on defenders with both power and toughness. He followed up two very poor games with an outstanding one here, and the only reason his stat line wasn't even better is because the score kind of dictated the Lions take to the air a lot earlier than they wanted to.
Perhaps it was just a one game aberration, but Calvin Johnson had more than twice as many looks as Roy Williams, and did a lot more with those targets. With the skill set Johnson possesses, it's likely more a case of when, not if, he overtakes him on the depth chart as the team's number one option in the passing game, and this game may have seen the early signs of the passing of the torch.
QB Jon Kitna put up some late game numbers to save what was looking like a terrible stat line. While Kitna's job security is high for this season, his poor decision making and complete lack of pocket presence make him a longshot to be the starting QB for this team for very much longer (unless he can drastically improve these aspects of his game in a hurry).
What you ought to know
| QB Brett Favre, Pass: 31 - 41 - 381 - 3 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 2 - -1 - 0 |
We'll spare you the gushing praise for Favre that everyone else will heap on you and try to stick to the facts. The fact is...Favre was unbelievable! The mistakes, the forced throws, the errant passes that we've come to know the past few years are seemingly gone. He's still the same old gunslinger, but he now seems very focused and doesn't take as many silly risks. Perhaps the fact that he's got a dynamite receiving crew has something to do with that, and he no longer has to take those chances. Whatever the case, Favre is obviously playing as well as he ever has and if it weren't for Tom Brady's pursuit of 5,000 touchdown passes, Favre would probably be a cinch for league MVP at this point. He completed 76% of his passes for a season-high 381 yards (his seventh 300 yard passing game of the season, tying his own team record). He completed a team record twenty consecutive passes, just two off the league mark. Amazingly, his afternoon could have been even more productive if Green Bay had had just a little bit more success in the red zone. That's not to say they weren't efficient -- they did score four red zone touchdowns. But they also had three short field goals from Mason Crosby, and with the way the Detroit defense played it's a wonder Favre didn't throw five or six touchdowns. All game long, he had loads of time to throw and knew exactly what to do with it. He wasn't sacked at all, and never came close to throwing an interception. In fact, his only real miscue of the game came on his first play from scrimmage. He tripped on the foot of a lineman and fumbled the handoff exchange to Ryan Grant. Even that looked to be more Grant's fault than Favre's, though the fumble is charged to the quarterback in those instances. And despite the turnover, Favre clearly had one of the best games you'll see a quarterback have all season long.
| RB Ryan Grant, Rush: 15 - 101 - 1, Rec: 6 - 31 - 0 (7 targets) |
As the game neared the end of the third quarter, Grant was having an extremely quiet game against a run defense that was seemingly ripe for the picking. He had just three carries for seven yards with just over three minutes left in the third quarter. Over the final 18 minutes of play, Grant carried the ball 12 more times for 94 yards and completely ran over any Detroit defenders in his way. He looked very strong with the ball in his hands, and his punishing running style really helped set the tone for the fourth quarter when Detroit looked to be getting back into the game. He was huge down the stretch, much to the surprise of his fantasy owners who probably were content with his five yard touchdown dive in the second quarter. He was stuffed at the goal line late in the game, but it hardly took away from how good he looked. It was already evident heading into this week that Grant is going to be "the man" in the Green Bay running game, and this performance did nothing to take away from that statement. No other halfbacks even touched the ball in the game, and Grant's six receptions serve to illustrate that his role as an every down back is pretty well cemented at this point.
| WR Donald Driver, Rec: 10 - 147 - 0 (13 targets) |
Despite failing to get into the end zone for the eighth consecutive game, Driver turned in perhaps his finest game of the season. With Brett Favre getting loads of time to look downfield, Driver was able to consistently get open all game. And when he caught the ball, he didn't simply drop to the ground and avoid contact; he showed some great open-field moves and benefited tremendously from some excellent downfield blocking by his teammates to pick up a number of yards after the catch. On one of those runs after the catch, he managed to take the ball up the right sideline for a big gain but was unable to pick up the last four yards needed for the score. It was the closest he came to scoring all game, but he did plenty of damage "between the 20's" to turn in a fine performance. He gave owners a bit of a scare in the fourth quarter when he had his leg rolled up on from behind while blocking for Ryan Grant. He left the game limping off the field and was seen on the sideline trying to work it out. Fortunately, he returned to action and showed some nice moves in shaking a couple of defenders for a nice gain. The ankle didn't seem to bother him, and it doesn't look to be an issue for next week's game.
| WR Greg Jennings, Rec: 5 - 60 - 2 (8 targets) |
With another big game, this one a two touchdown performance, Jennings' stat line again begs the question of who is truly the top receiving option for Green Bay. While Donald Driver outgained Jennings in targets (13-8), receptions (10-5), and yards (147-60), it was Jennings who was rewarded with the red zone looks and the touchdown advantage (2-0). In fact, despite Driver's heavy involvement in the passing game, Jennings fantasy point total likely exceeds Driver's in nearly all league setups. In addition to the two touchdowns, Jennings was also thrown to in the end zone on an incompletion in the beginning of the fourth quarter, while Driver was never looked to in the end zone. Still, despite this sounding like a negative comparison between the two players, think of it more in terms of a beneficial setup for both players. Each is able to focus on what he does best: Driver moves the ball slowly but effectively down the field and over the middle, while Jennings can hit for a quick strike from anywhere on the field and use his big body to get open in small spaces in the red zone. And with a quarterback chucking it up 41 times and a known commodity drawing the opposition's coverage on the other side of the field, both Jennings and Driver are in prime positions for success.
| WR James Jones, Rec: 5 - 75 - 0 (7 targets) |
Jones made one terrific catch along the sideline on a fade pattern from Favre on which Jones was drilled by Kenoy Kennedy, yet still managed to hang onto the football. It was his lone noteworthy reception of the game, as the vast majority of his five catches for 75 yards simply involved moving the chains downfield in a quiet but effective manner.
| WR Koren Robinson, Rec: 2 - 50 - 0 (5 targets) |
Robinson was the beneficiary of a stumble by DB Stanley Wilson, allowing a 43 yard bomb down the right sideline to Robinson. He seemingly could have scored at the end of the play, but instead slowed down at the end in order to fight off would-be tacklers. They managed to take him down at the two yard line, and Greg Jennings caught a touchdown on the very next play. Another curious play by Robinson occurred on his only other reception, this one late in the fourth quarter. With the Packers leading and trying to run down the clock, he caught a pass over the middle from Favre and quickly raced for the sideline. He got out of bounds before a defender could get to him, but it was odd that he'd be seeking to avoid contact and get out of bounds considering the team was trying to run clock. It didn't matter, because there was a penalty against the Packers that stopped the clock anyway, but it could have mattered. It's nothing earth shattering, but something that should be noted. Robinson obviously hasn't been known as the best decision maker in his life, and brain cramps on the field aren't going to help earn him more playing time. Robinson was the target of a fade pattern to the sideline of the end zone early in the fourth quarter, but he was just barely out of bounds on the play.
| WR Ruvell Martin, Rec: 1 - 3 - 1 (1 targets) |
Martin wouldn't have warranted mentioning, except for the fact that his only passing target of the game resulted in a three yard touchdown. But really, that play (a quick out to the corner) could have been designed to go to anyone.
| TE Donald Lee, Rec: 1 - 10 - 0 (1 targets) |
Lee was unusually quiet, with just one ball thrown his way all game. It wasn't anything he did wrong; just that the Green Bay receivers were having so much success on the outside and down the seam that it made sense to utilize Lee in the pocket to give Favre extra protection against a solid Detroit pass rush. That game plan worked like a charm, as Favre threw 41 passes yet wasn't sacked even once. Lee almost scored at the end of the first half when he caught a short pass from Favre and was taken down at the Lions two yard line but could get no further. Green Bay settled for a field goal on the drive.
| PK Mason Crosby 3 - 3 FG, 4 - 4 XP, 13 points |
Crosby connected on each of his field goal chip shots (20, 20, 26).
| GB Rush Defense |
Kevin Jones had a solid game, and would have likely topped the 100 yard mark had the game not gotten away from the Lions defensively. Due to the Packers leading pretty much throughout, the Lions had to bail on the running game and take to the air far more often than they had planned to. Still, the Packers did allow 134 yards on the ground, most of them tough, hard fought yards that involved the runner picking up several yards after first contact. The touchdown they allowed on the ground to Jones was a situation where the Lions had set up a first and goal from the one yard line and Jones waltzed into the end zone untouched. It was really the only time all game, however, that the Packers defensive front failed to get ANY penetration whatsoever. They typically made the runners work for their yardage, even if the Lions running backs did get the job done more often than not. DL Ryan Pickett was shaken up in the first quarter and left the game for awhile, but returned later and seemed fine.
| GB Pass Defense |
Green Bay did an outstanding job of containing the explosive Detroit passing game, especially considering they Packers lost CB Charles Woodson and DE Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila early in the contest due to a toe injury and an ankle injury, respectively. So they played well over half the game without one of their best defensive backs and one of their best defensive linemen and looked just as good as ever. Aaron Kampman was once again a terror early, with two more sacks of Jon Kitna. And he looked even more impressive rushing Kitna on a play that didn't result in a sack; it appeared that he was trying to bury the offensive lineman in the Ford Field turf during the pass rush. Clearly, Green Bay had other players step in and perform in the places of those injured, evidenced by Aaron Rouse making a nice interception over the middle on which he jumped the route and cut off WR Calvin Johnson (who the pass was intended to go to). And despite all of the solid efforts of the Green Bay defense, they also enjoyed their fair share of good fortune as well. They were helped immensely early on by two costly drops by Calvin Johnson, and were bailed out of allowing a long touchdown to Roy Williams when Jon Kitna overthrew the ball. And despite allowing 224 yards and a score through the air, a lot of that yardage and the touchdown was compiled late when the game was pretty well in hand.
| QB Jon Kitna, Pass: 19 - 40 - 224 - 1 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 2 - 9 - 0 |
Kitna salvaged what would have been a terrible game from a fantasy perspective with some late yardage and a touchdown. While that doesn't hide how poorly he played in the game, it does serve as a reminder of how explosive this passing offense is and how well Kitna can do for your fantasy team even if he's not lighting it up for the Lions in real life. He completed less than 50% of his passes for just over five yards per attempt, but he put up decent fantasy numbers simply by sheer volume. His favorite target by far was Calvin Johnson, who saw 15 of the 40 passes Kitna heaved up. And the two hooked up for the aforementioned late touchdown on a pass that Kitna really threaded between defenders for the six yard score. But that was really where all the positives end for Kitna, at least in this game. He overthrew Roy Williams on a deep ball that would have gone for 50+ yards, he misfired several passes downfield that resulted in incompletions, and has very little idea of pocket presence. He'll rush one throw into the ground when there isn't a single defender around him on one play, but then he'll hold onto the football about five minutes too long on the next. And Kitna, who is closing in on the world record for taking third down sacks, must do a better job of helping his team avoid the one big penalty/sack/loss of yardage/turnover that ends up killing far too many drives for this team. It's obvious that there is a lot of talent and a lot of explosiveness here, and they can move the ball 70 yards almost at will. But they get hit with one negative play per drive more than any team in the league, and those turn out to be absolute killers in the grand scheme of things. And those issues start under center with the quarterback.
| RB Kevin Jones, Rush: 20 - 93 - 1, Rec: 2 - 27 - 0 (3 targets) |
After two of the worst games of his career the past two weeks, Jones had one of his best in a losing effort. Typically, when a team trails pretty much throughout the contest, it's tough for the running back of the losing team to get into a good rhythm. But Jones did just that. He averaged nearly five yards per carry, and had a lot of good, tough runs both inside and to the outside. As far as the role Jones has within the offense, T.J. Duckett got a good number of carries early on. But Jones soon got into the flow of the game and garnered nearly all of the remaining rushes. Perhaps the most important aspect was that Jones remained in the game on a goal line carry late in the fourth quarter, and even more importantly is the fact that he scored on the play. It was a simple run off left tackle and he was completely untouched on the play so it's not as if the run was overly impressive, but results are results. About the only thing that could be seen as a negative for Jones was the success Aveion Cason had as a receiver out of the backfield. His four receptions for 58 yards went a long way in sustaining drives for Detroit, and those are yards that Jones didn't get. On the plus side, having another receiving option out of the backfield isn't necessarily a bad thing to decrease Jones's workload ever so slightly. After all, he still did manage two receptions for 27 yards so it's not as if he was a forgotten man.
| RB T.J. Duckett, Rush: 7 - 29 - 0 (1 targets) |
Duckett saw a lot of action on the first series of the game, but his workload quickly dwindled as the pace of the game went on. Kevin Jones had a lot of success running the football, and it was Jones who got the goal line carry (and touchdown) late in the fourth quarter.
| RB Aveion Cason, Rush: 1 - 3 - 0, Rec: 4 - 58 - 0 (6 targets) |
Cason did a very good job working mostly as a receiver out of the backfield. There wasn't really a rhyme or reason to when he came in, but he performed well when called upon. He did most of his damage on circle passes where he ran around the line of scrimmage and caught passes from Jon Kitna in stride down the seam. It was said during the telecast that Detroit offensive coordinator has said that while the Lions don't have a Marshall Faulk-type of player on the team, Cason is the closest thing they DO have to Faulk. Cason was shaken up during a second quarter kick return, but he soon returned looking no worse for wear.
| WR Calvin Johnson, Rec: 7 - 83 - 1 (15 targets) |
It was clear early on that the Lions were going to make a concerted effort to get Calvin Johnson involved in the game. However, the vast majority of passes that went his way had a negative outcome for Detroit (at least in the first half). Of Johnson's eight first half targets, two resulted in dropped passes and one resulted in an interception -- the interception was partly Johnson's fault as well for failing to come back to the football properly. The drops, one of which would have easily gone for 20+ yards, were easy catches that just about every receiver in the league should make. But the Lions continued feeding him after halftime, and he responded with a much improved showing. He snared a six yard touchdown grab between two defenders in traffic, and later caught two passes downfield that both resulted in big hits on him. Each time he got to his feet a bit gingerly, as the hits were right on his back, which has bothered him for much of the season. But he remained in the game after each one without grimacing or limping or giving any indication of a re-aggravation of an injury. At times, the Lions appear to use him almost like the Patriots use Randy Moss or the Cowboys use Terrell Owens. Sometimes Jon Kitna will simply toss up jump balls downfield for Johnson and the defensive back to go after. It didn't really work in this game, as Kitna was nearly intercepted twice because of that, but it shows the confidence they have in Johnson to come down with the football more often than not.
| WR Roy Williams, Rec: 3 - 32 - 0 (7 targets) |
It may have simply been an aberration, or it may have been the beginning of the passing of the torch in the Detroit passing game. Or it may have also been that Al Harris covered Roy Williams for the majority of the afternoon. Whatever the case may be, the fact is that Calvin Johnson had more than twice as many targets as Roy Williams (15-7) and was looked to far more often in critical spots. The Lions almost force-fed the ball to Johnson, and Williams was left to pick up the leftovers. He didn't record his first reception of the game until three minutes remained in the first half. Late in the third quarter, Williams beat his defender deep down the field along the sideline, but Kitna overthrew him by a good margin. Later in the fourth quarter, he did catch a pass over the middle and was taken down at the four yard line. But that was the closest he came to scoring, and he was never looked to in the end zone.
At one point during the telecast, FOX broadcaster Troy Aikman seemed to call Williams out for his work ethic, or lack thereof. He said of Williams, "He needs to decide if he wants to put the work in to become great, or if he just wants to be really good". While Aikman can be overly critical at times, he is usually regarded as one of the fairest broadcasters in the league. And his words carry a lot of validity. If Williams truly isn't putting forth the effort he needs to, then even if Calvin Johnson didn't *officially* pass him by today, it will certainly only be a matter of time before he does.
| WR Shaun McDonald, Rec: 2 - 18 - 0 (6 targets) |
McDonald had another quiet afternoon, though it was almost salvaged. He caught a first quarter pass that took him down to the one yard line, but it wouldn't have mattered even if he did score because a penalty against Detroit negated the seven yard catch.
| WR Mike Furrey (3 targets) |
Furrey, who led the team in catches a year ago, continues to find his role constantly dwindling. The fact that Calvin Johnson saw 15 passes in his direction today does not bode well for Furrey's role in this offense going forward.
| TE Sean McHugh (2 targets) |
McHugh didn't catch either pass thrown to him. Not only that, NO tight ends for the Lions caught a pass in this game.
| PK Jason Hanson 4 - 4 FG, 2 - 2 XP, 14 points |
Hanson had an incredible day for a kicker. He connected on four long field goals (47, 41, 45, 52) with the 52 yard kick struck particularly well. Each kick had plenty of distance and was right down the middle nearly every time.
| DET Rush Defense |
The Lions defensive statistics against the run looked phenomenal through three quarters. But that's only because the Packers were choosing to not run the football. At one point late in the third quarter, Green Bay had thrown the ball 31 times and run it just four! So naturally, Detroit hadn't given up a lot of yardage on the ground. But in the fourth quarter, the Packers tried running some clock and Ryan Grant punished the Detroit defenders. They allowed him some long runs, including one for 31 yards and several others where he simply flattened defenders that dared get in his way. And by the end of the afternoon, he had totaled 101 yards and a score on the ground. Even the one positive shown by the Lions was a gift more than anything. They recovered a Brett Favre fumble on Green Bay's first play from scrimmage. Favre tripped over his lineman and stumbled as he tried handing the football to RB Ryan Grant. The ball fell to the ground and was fallen on by Jared DeVries. It was the first, and last, good play the Lions in the running game and all they really did was have a player fortunate enough to fall on the football.
| DET Pass Defense |
Simply put, Brett Favre dominated the Lions. Whether it was deep balls, fade routes on the sideline, quick slants in the end zone. You name it, Favre and the Packers did it -- and that was with the Detroit defenders getting away with mugging Green Bay receivers several times in the first half. At one point, Detroit allowed Favre to complete a team-record 20 consecutive passes in all different fashion. WR Donald Driver displayed a bevy of open-field moves that left Detroit defenders grasping at air while WR Greg Jennings did his best Randy Moss impersonation down in the red zone by scoring two touchdowns with ease. Even James Jones and Koren Robinson got in on the act, as the third and fourth receiving options in the Green Bay stable combined to snag seven receptions for 125 yards. That stat line was helped a lot by DB Stanley Wilson simply falling down during a 43 yard bomb down the sideline to Robinson. The Lions essentially got no pressure on Brett Favre, and only got close to sacking him once (he released the ball just prior to being hit by Ernie Sims). The play that probably best sums up the Lions afternoon was late in the third quarter as Green Bay was driving for a touchdown. Favre tried rushing the snap and threw a quick pass that was intercepted off a deflection. There was no one in front of the Detroit defender and the play likely would have gone for a score. Ironically and unfortunately, the Lions had called a timeout just prior to the snap and so the play essentially never happened.
