Lions miss Johnson, lose in Green Bay 22-9.

The game started, some men ran around on a field while others tried to tackle them, then they stopped.  Is this blog boring you yet, because I'm really trying to get the feel of the first half of the Lions and Packers  game from Sunday into words.  That was a brutally boring first half, neither team was able to accomplish anything of significance and the Lions were especially inept on offense.  If you would have told me Detroit was going to hold Green Bay to 22 points at Lambeau, I would have told you Detroit wins two-thirds of those games.  However, when the news broke that Calvin Johnson was going to be out, there was just a sense that the Lions had no chance to win this game, and all the history behind it.  But throughout this week when people asked me if I was upset about the game, I responded by simply saying no.  For what Detroit had on the field, I didn't expect much more.  The offensive line played below average for the first time all year.  The receivers dropped passes but when you target Tony Scheffler and Kris Durham 15 times total, what do you expect?  All these guys played to their ability, average.  Sure Calvin was out but when you combine that with Nate Burleson missing, it's hard to really blame the Lions for losing this game.  It was ugly on offense and if CJ is out again this week, I don't see it getting much better against a Browns team that has won 3 games in a row, has a strong defense, and destroyed the Lions in the preseason when Calvin was out.  Detroit managed just 286 yards of total offense, over a hundred yards below their season average and scored just 9 points, over 20 below their season average.  The defense did enough to keep Detroit in the game for a long stretch, but when you play Green Bay it usually comes down to big plays and the Packers hit on a couple that changed the game in the second half.  The Packers had been running a delayed handoff to Eddy Lacy all game and he was having success but he's not a back you fear running away from you, though he did a nice job chipping away and controlling the clock throughout the game.  At the start of the third quarter the packers ran this same play with Randall Cobb in the backfield and he broke free for a 67 yard gain up the side line to jump start what had been a stagnant Packers offense.  The Lions secondary busted a coverage as Chris Houston was playing on a bad hamstring and Delmas was supposed to play over the top but was sucked up by the inside receiver and James Jones just out ran Houston to the end zone.  The game was 9-3 at that point and the Lions were hanging tough, but with how bad the offense struggled it was a back breaker for the Packers to score such an easy touchdown and go up by two TDs.  Stafford has been getting called out on local radio for not elevating the play of the offense and those around him, but seriously, he got no help.  No protection, no running game, and drops galore.  With a full compliment of weapons, Stafford then becomes the difference between a good or bad Lions team.  but he's not Payton Manning or Tom Brady, he cant go out there and win with a bunch of nobody's.  He is a top 10 NFL quarterback right now with Calvin Johnson but he's not a top ten ever guy.  He's one of the best quarterbacks the Lions have ever had, and may go down as the best when his time is done, but very few, probably not even Aaron Rodgers could have won with the help Matt got on Sunday.  With that being said, lets break down the position groups:

Quarterback:  The numbers on the surface don't look that bad from Stafford.  He completed 62.5% of his passes, despite 5 drops, no interceptions and a touchdown.  The problem is that his 25 completed passes went for just 262 yards.  It wasn't the lack of chunk plays, the Lions had 7 different players catch a pass for longer then 10 yards, it was the lack of consistency to sustain drives to score points that was the biggest issue.  Stafford took 5 sacks, he had only taken 3 in the fist 4 games combined.  He missed a couple of throws, but overall he did his job with what he was given.  Stafford has still thrown for over 300 yards a game and has thrown just 3 interceptions in 5 games.  But his touchdown numbers are still down, only 8 in 5 games, as the offense needs to get into the end zone more consistently.

Running Backs: With out Calvin in the line up to take the top off the defense, Reggie Bush instantly became the target of the Packers defensive game plan.  The Packers safeties were more frequently in the box but weren't that involved in stopping the running game though.  The Green Bay front seven dominated the Lions front and Bush and Bell had little space to operate, often times getting stopped in the backfield.  The Lions ran for just 64 yards, with 20 of them coming on the Bush reverse, which had huge potential had he not slipped.  There weren't many open running lanes but sometimes you have to cut your losses and take stalemate and stop cutting back and losing yards.  Neither Bell nor Bush was much of a factor in the passing game either and the Packers were keyed in on a couple of the lions screen plays to the backs.

Wide Receivers:  Durham, Broyles, Ogletree, and Edwards, I'm not sure that Jacksonville would switch starting wide receiving units with us.  Sure he made a couple of catches and scored a touchdown late but Durham is a 5th string wide receiver, maybe a 4 at best.  When he leads your team in targets, you know you have an issue.  Durham was targeted 8 times and caught 3 balls, for 30 total yards, that's not a great ratio.  The depth at wide receiver was looked at as a potential issue coming out of the preseason but Nate Burleson's production early in the season quieted that talk, then he went down with an injury and Pettigrew and Broyles and Fauria, and Durham stepped in and did a serviceable job.  But when you take out one of the top 5 players in the NFL, its going to really effect your depth and Kevin Ogletree could add decent depth but he's not CJ, or Burleson for that matter. 

Tight Ends:  Pettigrew made a couple nice plays and Tony Scheffler was targeted a season high 7 times.  They combined for 8 catches and 113 yards on 12 targets.  That's actually pretty good production.  Still, there were no targets for Fauria, the most sure handed of the group.  If the Lions got this production out of this group with their receivers at full strength, they would be happy.  The run and pass blocking did suffer this week, as the tackles both needed more help, but that comes down to the play calling and isn't always on the tight ends.  Outside of Stafford, the tight ends were the next best position group.  That's not saying much.  Tony Scheffler received a concussion late in the 4th quarter and will be questionable against Cleveland, potentially opening the door for Fauria to get more snaps and targets. 

Offensive Line:  I don't know if it was karma, but the Lions offensive line was completely over matched against Green Bays defensive front with Raji, Matthews, Hawk, Perry, Neal, Jones, and Jolly living in the backfield, shut down all running lanes and collapsing  the pocket from the edge all game.  Stafford was sacked 5 times, and if you take out the Bush reverse, the Lions yard per carry would be a measly 2.44.  Not many teams are going to win running the ball that poorly and not protecting the quarterback.  Raiola has been rumored to have verbally abused the University of Wisconsin's marching band before the game so, if that's true, this group got what was coming to them.  Sure not having Calvin out there hurts, but this unit has to be better.  Jason Fox was not impressive in his return from injury and Riley Reiff struggled with the outside pass rush all game. 

Defensive Line:  The defensive line was not as dominant as they had been in their previous 4 games, but some of that is due to Rodgers, and his escapability.  He got out of the collapsing pocket several times and either ran for first downs or got rid of the ball avoiding negative plays.  The Packers running game chewed up the Lions to the tune of 180 yards but the Lions played mostly bend don't break all day, holding green bay to 5 field goals and their only touchdown was an 83 yard pass.  The defensive line rushed the passer with too much reckless abandon and didn't really make adjustments to the Packers draw delayed handoff, or to keep Rodgers in the pocket when they did apply pressure to the Green Bay quarterback, he seemed to consistently slip out of their grasp.  Green bays running attack set up a ton of third and short, and the Packers were able to convert at a 44% rate, which was more then double the success rate the Lions had been giving up coming into the game.   

linebackers:  DeAndre Levy is having a career year, he has easily been one of the top linebackers in the NFC this season and had a career high 14 tackles against the Packers, as they rushed the ball 33 times and the defensive line let the ball carrier get to the second level far too often.  Stephen Tulloch has had two consecutive strong outings and had double digit tackles again this week.  The numbers on the ground look bad but these two guys cleaned up a lot of the mess the front four let slip through the cracks.  It could have been a lot worse.  Detroit and Cincinnati are the only two teams with two linebackers in the top 20 in the league in tackles.  Levy is tied for 12th with 42 total tackles, Tulloch is tied for 16th with 39.

Defensive Backs:  Its hard to say, if you take away X amount of plays they did a good job, but if you take away four or five plays the secondary was pretty good considering they were playing the Packers potent passing attack.  A couple of those plays were Louis Delmas, and a couple of them were Chris Houston.  We know Houston was struggling with his hamstring but if you are on the field, you cant make excuses.  Rodgers picked on the hobbled Houston a couple times deep with James Jones and Jones made a couple nice plays to catch the ball over the top.  Delmas took a poor tacking angle on Randall Cobb on his 67 yard scamper down the sideline, it seemed Detroit was unaware that Cobb was in the backfield and still thought it was the plodding Lacy.  On James Jones' touchdown Delmas was too aware of Cobb, as both he and James Jones went vertical, but when Cobb pulled up on the inside, Delmas checked up with him.  Chris Houston thought he had safety help deep outside, which he should have had, but Delmas was caught and Jones was in the end zone. 

Special Teams:  No real complaints from the special teams department.  The return game isn't giving the Lions much of a boost but its not hurting them either.  Sam Martin was fantastic, averaging 51.8 yards per punt.  The coverage units were strong too, only allowing 3.5 yards per punt return.  Akers made his only field goal.  Overall the Lions would take this performance every week from the special teams.

Game notes:

• With the Chicago Bears losing to New Orleans, the Lions still hold the division lead, and would now host the Bears in the first round if the playoffs started today.
• The Lions have set themselves up to be a playoff contender, and look to be one of five teams that will fight for three playoff spots.  With Arizona, San Francisco, Chicago, and Green Bay battling for the NFC North and two wild card spots.
• Calvin missed just his 5th game in his career.
• The Packers averaged 22.5 yards per completion.  The Lions just 11.4.  Ouch.
• Green Bay had just seven sacks in its first 3 games, then five against the Lions.
• Detroit's offense fell to number 10 in the NFL in points, and 9th in yards after their brutal showing.

Up next:
The 3-2 Lions take to the road again, facing the 3-2 Browns in Cleveland.