Lions dominate Packers at Lambeau, take first place in NFC North: Live updates, reaction ·

11 Jun 2024, 00:00

The Lions roll the Packers 34-20 on Thursday Night Football. Follow along with The Athletic's experts and insiders.

Colton Pouncy, Matt Schneidman and The Athletic NFL Staff

September 29, 2023 at 7:29 AM EDT Lions dominate Packers at Lambeau, take first place in NFC North: Live updates, reaction

Stacy Revere / Getty Images

Lions’ win over Packers shows again they know how to thrive and survive

The last time the Detroit Lions were in this town, in this atmosphere, in this building, everything was different.

They were the plucky overachievers, looking to play spoiler. Locker-room cleanout day awaited them back in Detroit. There would be no playoffs for those Lions. As their postseason hopes diminished and reality set in, all that was left was a chance to challenge the perception of who they were back then.

That process began on a frigid evening in January. “Sunday Night Football.” Prime time. Nothing to play for on one side and everything to play for on the other. The Lions defeated the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field, requesting PTO on Green Bay’s behalf. They effectively ended the Aaron Rodgers era. They told everyone who was listening that this was just the beginning — that anybody who thought differently didn’t know these Lions.

Then, on Thursday evening, they did it again.

‘Manhandled’ Packers face reality check after loss vs. Lions

Remember what New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh said after they throttled the Green Bay Packers 27-10 in Week 6 last season? After the Jets turned a 3-3 halftime deadlock into a decisive 17-point win?

“We felt like if we just keep taking them down to deeper water, they’ll find out they can’t swim,” Saleh said.

Saleh, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur’s best friend in the business, essentially called his buddy’s team soft. Here we are, almost a full year later, and LaFleur and his team have done little to dispel that notion.

Manhandled in every phase. Whooped. Ass kicked. Humbled. That is how LaFleur himself described what the Lions did to the Packers on Thursday night in Detroit’s (3-1) 34-20 thrashing of Green Bay (2-2). Even after the Packers overcame a 17-0 fourth-quarter deficit in an 18-17 win over the New Orleans Saints last Sunday, we can’t reasonably say their DNA is much different right now than that of the team Saleh buried with that quote. What we can say for certain, however, is that there’s a new team to beat in the NFC North.

Lions are road warriors

The Lions started 0-11-1 in their first 12 road games under head coach Dan Campbell.

Including Thursday night's win at Lambeau Field, Detroit is 6-1 on the road since Week 10 of last season, the third-best such record league-wide over that span (Steelers and 49ers are 5-0).

Lions stacking impressive road wins

Lions QB Jared Goff on beating the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium and Packers at Lambeau Field this season:

“Send us anywhere. We’ll be ready. That’s the way we’re built."

Jared Goff has proven to be much more than a stop-gap for Lions

Read the full story here, from 2021, amid the belief of many fans that Jared Goff would just be a one- or two-year bridge quarterback in Detroit after the Lions traded Matthew Stafford to the Rams for Goff, two first-round draft picks and a third-rounder.

Lions snag early wins at Arrowhead and Lambeau

It comes with the obvious qualifier that the Packers and Chiefs are in different conferences so only so many teams get to play road games against Green Bay and Kansas City in the same season, but still…

The 2023 Lions join the 2015 Bears as the only teams to win road games at Lambeau Field and Arrowhead Stadium in the same season this century.

Lions make a major statement

The Lions came into Lambeau in Week 18 last season and squashed the Packers' playoff hopes with nothing to play for.

Now they come in and bully the Packers to take the early division lead.

Ain't no arguing who the top dogs in the NFC North are right now, and who currently owns this matchup.

The Athletic Football Show breaks down the Lions' win right now!

Join Robert Mays and Nate Tice on The Athletic Football Show for a LIVE recap and review of the Thursday Night Football divisional matchup between the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers.

Check out the live stream here.

KC Joyner’s fantasy takeaways from Lions-Packers

Here are a handful of fantasy takeaways from tonight’s Lions-Packers Thursday Night Football game.

David Montgomery was questionable to play, but he ended up with the highest single-game PPR point total of his career with 34.1 points. With Montgomery now getting 10 days to rest before his next start, he should be considered a must-start in fantasy leagues in Week 5.

Montgomery’s ascendence hurt the fantasy ceiling for Jahmyr Gibbs, but Gibbs did post 9.1 PPR points and thus is still in flex consideration in that scoring environment.

Sam LaPorta isn’t going to match the true elites at tight end every week, but he has established that his scoring floor is TE1-caliber and that should keep him in most lineups.

Romeo Doubs has now made the jump to at least flex starter status each week, as he has tallied 18+ PPR points in three out of four games this year.

Jordan Love fell a couple of points short of making it four straight 20+ point games, but posting 17.64 points in the second half shows that he doesn’t need four great quarters for fantasy scoring success.

Christian Watson will continue to be a start-sit question mark, as his managers can enjoy the fact that he scored a touchdown today, but since it occurred on a blown coverage by Detroit, it’s not a harbinger that Watson is back.

The Packers have now failed to rush for 100+ yards in four straight games this year. Aaron Jones has generated enough goodwill to potentially remain in starting lineups in Week 5 in spite of this, but AJ Dillon has scored 4.4 PPR points over the past two weeks combined and needs to be relegated to bench status unless or until that scoring slump ends.

Lions improve to 3-1 for first time since 2017

Getty Images

With tonight’s win, the Lions open the season 3-1 for the first time since 2017.

Detroit was one of five teams without a 3-1 or better start over the previous six seasons (also Texans, Falcons, Jets and Commanders)

Lions defeat the Packers 34-20

Lions fans showed up for years and years when the team was a mess, they’re not gonna miss this.

Another strong point total from Packers QB Jordan Love

Packers QB Jordan Love had zero points at halftime and was looking like a very bad player to have in rosters this week after scoring 20+ points in each of his first three games, but Love has salvaged the evening for fantasy managers who put him into lineups by scoring 17.16 points in the second half thus far. If he gets more “garbage time” points, Love could extend that scoring streak of 20+ point games to four.

Career night for Lions' RB David Montgomery

Lions RB David Montgomery has rushed for a career-high three touchdowns tonight.

Per Stathead, it’s the most rushing touchdowns ever scored in a single game by a Detroit player at Lambeau Field.

Packers continue to draw flags on special teams

Quay Walker’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was the Packers’ NFL-high 10th on special teams this season.

That’s also the most such penalties through four games by any team since 2018 (Steelers had 12; Browns, Eagles and Jaguars all had 10).

Impact fantasy scoring night continues for Lions RB David Montgomery

David Montgomery’s impact scoring night in fantasy football continues with his third touchdown of the evening. That vaults Montgomery to 24.3 PPR points, a mark that is the eighth highest of Montgomery’s career and his best scoring mark since Week 17 of the 2021 season when he posted 28.2 PPR points against the Packers while playing for the Chicago Bears.

Lions lead 34-17 in the fourth quarter

David Montgomery now has three touchdowns tonight. Lions 34, Packers 17.

Drive summary: 15 plays, 75 yards, 8:52 off the clock.

6:00 to go.

Costly penalty

The Lions stop the Packer scoring run with an 11-play, 65-yard drive that ended with a 30-yard Riley Patterson field goal.

Or so we thought…

Packers linebacker Quay Walker was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct on the play for trying to jump over the line to block the field goal.

The play results in an automatic first down.

A 24-point rally is rare, but not unprecedented

The Lions led this game 27-3 at the start of the third quarter.

Per TruMedia, teams with at least a 24-point second-half lead entered the night 1,121-4 this century (.996 win percentage). The only losses:

2022 Week 15: Vikings led Colts 36-7, lost 39-36 in OT
2013 Week 12: Broncos led Patriots 24-0, lost 34-31 in OT
2012 Week 6: Chargers led Broncos 24-0, lost 35-24
2011 Week 4: Cowboys led Lions 27-3, lost 34-30

The Vikings in 2022 trailed by as many as 33 points in the first half, the largest comeback to win in NFL history.

Controversial play is not reviewable, but league should consider reviewing it

Terry McAulay, the rules analyst for the Amazon broadcast, said that the play that the Packers ran at the end of the third quarter should have been called off because the clock hit zero and the quarter should have ended at that point. McAulay then went on to point out that the play is not reviewable, as end-of-quarter or end-of-game timing errors do not fall into the reviewable play category.

It seems like this is something the NFL should address, as imagine the hue and cry from a team’s fans if a playoff game or Super Bowl was decided on a play that started after the game was over.

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Lions dominate Packers at Lambeau, take first place in NFC North: Live updates, reaction

The Lions roll the Packers 34-20 on Thursday Night Football. Follow along with The Athletic's experts and insiders. Colton Pouncy, Matt Schneidman and The Athletic NFL Staff Stacy Revere / Getty Images