RSS Mania

Photo by Mike Carlson/Getty Images Both teams will be banged up on Thursday Night Football When Green Bay Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander — who has played all of 10 snaps over the last five weeks because of a knee injury — suited up as a limited participant in practice on Monday, it seemed like his health was trending in a positive direction. Unfortunately for the Packers, Alexander was a non-participant in Green Bay’s walkthrough on Wednesday, raising alarms about his status against the Detroit Lions on Thursday Night Football. Now, Green Bay has officially ruled Alexander, along with three others, out for the game. Joining him are cornerback Corey Ballentine (knee), linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (hamstring) and receiver Romeo Doubs (concussion). Ballentine and Cooper were expected, but it seems as though Doubs hasn’t cleared the hurdles he needs to meet for the league to okay him to return to the field. Meanwhile, the Lions will be as banged up — if not more — in this matchup. Beyond the 18 players that Detroit has on the injured reserve, including 11 front seven defenders, the team ruled left tackle Taylor Decker and three defensive linemen out against the Packers. It’s worth noting that Green Bay pass-rusher Rashan Gary has played most of his right end snaps this season against the Lions, who may now have to block him with a backup left tackle. No player on either side of this matchup is listed as questionable or doubtful for the game, so the injury report is pretty cut and dry.

Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images Jacobs is about to break the 1000-yard threshold this year. Josh Jacobs’ first season in Green Bay is going according to plan. A seamless replacement for Aaron Jones, Jacobs has been a crucial part of the Packers’ offense, providing both a perfect complementary piece to their passing attack and the main engine of their ground game. In at least two instances — the Colts game and the Jaguars game — he’s all but won the game for them. You probably won’t be surprised, then, to hear that Jacobs is putting up some of the best rushing stats we’ve seen from a Packers rusher in quite some time. Through 13 games, Jacobs has piled up 987 rushing yards, third in the league behind the herculean totals of Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry. Barring something unexpected, Jacobs is going to cross the 1,000-yard threshold on Thursday night, giving the Packers their first non-Aaron Jones 1000-yard rusher since Eddie Lacy in 2014. Bolstered by the still relatively new 17-game schedule, Jacobs is on pace for just shy of 1,400 rushing yards this season (1,398, to be precise). If he’s able to keep to that pace, Jacobs will record the Packers’ best rushing season since Ahman Green’s franchise record 1,883 yards in 2003. Post-Green, only Ryan Grant has broken 1,200 rushing yards in a season, doing so in back to back seasons in 2008 and 2009. On an all-time scale, Jacobs is already rocketing up the Packers’ career rushing leaderboard. Jacobs already ranks 47th in Packers history and will be comfortably into the top 40 by the end of the year. If he can come close to duplicating this kind of effort next year, Jacobs will almost certainly be in the top 20 in the Packers all-time rushing annals. It’s been a perfect fit, and in hindsight maybe it was destiny. Jacobs was only available because his relationship with the Las Vegas Raiders had soured. Jacobs ended up with the Raiders in the first place because they had a spare first round pick in 2019, one they picked up from the Chicago Bears as a part of the Khalil Mack trade prior to the 2018 season. The Packers, who were thought to be in the market for Mack, still ended up reaping an indirect benefit from that trade. Is it a stretch to say Jacobs is only succeeding in Green Bay because of the Chicago Bears? Definitely, but I’m going to say it anyway. Thanks again, Chicago.

Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images The Packers start their second trip through the NFC North Thursday night. The second trip through the division is always interesting. For what Mike McCarthy would call your “common opponents,” a rematch can tell an intriguing story. How have both teams changed since their last meetings? Have they accentuated their strengths? Covered up their weaknesses? How have injuries affected the two teams, if at all? For the Packers and Lions, the answers seem pretty clear. The Packers have shored up some of their self-inflicted mistakes, while the Lions have continued to pummel teams — even as their roster crumbles a bit thanks to a spate of injuries. How will those developments play out on the field? Only time will tell, but if the recent trends involving these two teams are any indication, Thursday night could be quite a showdown. What has changed since first Packers vs. Lions meeting? | Packers Wire It’s only been a month, but a lot has changed since the last time the Packers and Lions played. Insider Analyzes Za’Darius Smith, Injuries, Packers-Lions Showdown | Sports Illustrated Former Packers edge rusher Za’Darius Smith now lines up for the Lions. 2024 NFL playoff picture: Ranking NFC wild-card contenders, from powerful Packers to fractured 49ers | CBS Sports The NFC playoff field is crowded, but the Packers are in a strong position. An early look at what decisions the Packers are facing in the offseason | Packers News Never too early to look ahead to what the Packers will have on their to-do list in the offseason. Packers’ love and support meant everything to Robert Rochell | Packers.com Robert Rochell battled through personal tragedy to play a key role in the Packers’ win over the Dolphins. German man attempts to break record for living underwater | UPI Turns out the only thing this guy misses from living on land is…being able to go diving.

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images It takes a pretty deep look to find areas where Detroit isn’t exceptionally good, but here are a few spots to watch on Thursday. The Green Bay Packers will have their work cut out for them on Thursday night. They have to face the 11-1 Detroit Lions, with a loss effectively ending any hope of the Packers winning the NFC North title this season. Yes, the Packers are in prime position to claim a playoff spot soon, having already matched their win total from last season with five games to play. But those division title — and even #1 seed — hopes could remain alive if Green Bay can win this weekend. Of course, here’s the problem: the Lions are, quite simply, really good. They’re not just the best team in the NFC this season; they’re the best team in the entire NFL, and it’s not particularly close. According to DVOA, the Lions (+43.3%) lead the second-place Ravens by about 9%, and they’re up on the 4th-ranked Eagles (the second-best NFC team) by a whopping 19%. That 19% gap is roughly equivalent to the gap between the Eagles and the 15th-overall Buccaneers. They’re historically good, too, ranking 7th all-time after 12 games played: Here’s a look at where the Detroit Lions stand on the all-time DVOA list through 12 games, now No. 7. 3 more SB winners appear in the next six teams (2004 NE, 1999 STL, 1992 DAL).— Aaron Schatz (@aschatz.bsky.social) 2024-12-02T14:11:53.564Z (An aside: I was surprised at first that I did not see the dominant 1996 Packers on this list, but the 12-game mark saw them sitting at 9-3. They would shoot up the all-time DVOA rankings down the stretch, winning their final seven games including the playoffs by at least 11 points each and finishing 4th all-time among Super Bowl winning teams.) Conventional stats love the Lions too. They lead the NFL in points scored per game, they’re third in points allowed per game, and they naturally have the best overall point differential. The Lions offense ranks 3rd in net passing yards per attempt and 8th in rushing yards per attempt. Their defense is the best in the league in third-down conversion rate, third in red zone touchdown rate allowed, and sixth in takeaways. This makes it seem like Detroit has no weaknesses! And to an extent, that’s true. They’re basically good at everything and great at most things. That means that to beat them, you need to find ways to go after what’s merely good, and there are a few areas where the Lions have more middling rankings, particularly on defense, that provide some more efficient lines of attack. The yardage will come One area where the Lions are merely “okay-to-good” instead of “excellent” is in yards allowed per play on defense. They rank 10th in yards allowed, 10th in net yards per pass attempt and 15th in yards per rushing attempt, while their per-drive stats rank in the low teens for both plays and yards per drive. Teams are doing okay moving the ball on early downs between the 20s, and it’s the situational defense — third downs, red zone — and turnovers that are the reasons why they rank much better in points allowed. To that end, we can look at the Packers’ own game against Detroit at Lambeau to tell this story. The Packers gained 411 total yards of offense in this game, an average of 6.6 yards per play. That was 150 yards more than Detroit overall and almost two yards per play more. But what was the difference? The Packers went 3-for-12 (25%) on third downs, 1-for-4 (also 25%) in the red zone, and they had a back-breaking turnover at the end of the first half. The Packers gained at least 39 yards of offense and crossed midfield on 7 out of their 9 drives in that game. Moving the ball was not the problem; it was converting touchdowns when they had opportunities. Of course, another option here is to simply get touchdowns on explosive plays. Green Bay has scored 8 offensive touchdowns on plays of 30 yards or more this season, a number that ties them with two other teams for 6th-most in the NFL behind the Cincinnati Bengals. (Ja’Marr Chase is a big-play machine, of course, with 7 from 30+ all on his own.) The Lions, meanwhile, have been good at limiting big-play scores; however, they did just allow two from that distance to the Bears last week, so perhaps there is something on tape that the Packers can exploit. Take advantage of backups In the previous meeting between these two teams, the Lions were missing starting linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez and defensive end Josh Paschal. Rodriguez is now on injured reserve, while Paschal is likely to miss this game as well. However, the Lions also will be without several other players who started that game. Linebacker Alex Anzalone is also on injured reserve, while two of their top defensive tackles, Levi Onwuzurike and D.J. Reader, have not practiced this week and should be game-time decisions at best. These injuries should give the Packers some more matchups to attack up front, particularly in the run game. Defensively, Rashan Gary’s alignment will be worth watching. Though he normally plays left end, opposite the right offensive tackle, Gary primarily lined up at right end in the first matchup of these two teams. That had him facing left tackle Taylor Decker instead of Penei Sewell, Detroit’s All-Pro right tackle, likely a matchup decision by the Packers to keep their top pass rusher away from Sewell. This week, Decker’s status is very much in doubt. He missed last Thursday’s game against the Bears and seems unlikely to play this week. Gary might line up over left tackle regardless of whether Decker is active, but if he is not, Gary vs. backup tackle/sometimes-eligible tight end Dan Skipper will be a matchup that the Packers need to win to slow down the Lions’ ferocious offense. Run the ball on 2nd and 10?! Few aspects of coaching draw more ire from fans than playcalling, and in particular, Packers fans are known to get frustrated when seeing their team throw an incomplete pass on 1st-and-10 then call a run play on 2nd-and-10. But against the Lions, this may actually be a viable strategy. The Lions’ opponents have run the ball on 2nd-and-10 a total of 13 times this season, fewer than average, but they have gained an average of 9.2 yards per carry on those attempts. An impressive six of those attempts even moved the chains, a rate of just under 50% and a number that is the most first downs allowed on 2nd-and-10 runs by any team this season. Meanwhile, the Lions’ pass defense has been excellent on 2nd-and-10, giving up just 3 first downs and 3.2 yards per attempt on 30 attempts. Analytically speaking, it is generally more efficient to throw the ball than run it, and the 2nd-and-10 run often gets explained away as a way to try to make a third-down attempt shorter and avoid facing a 3rd-and-long. Although it’s a fairly small sample size, calling running plays on that down and distance shows signs of working out for the Packers this week.

Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images Give us your feelings on the Packers going into Thursday’s game in Detroit. Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Green Bay Packers fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys. Green Bay Packers fans have plenty to be excited about right now. The team is 9-3 and in firm position to make the playoffs in 2024. But they are also sitting in third place in the NFC North and will need to make up ground on the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings. The good news is that one of those teams is up on the schedule this week. The bad news is that the Lions are playing like the best team in the NFL and will pose perhaps the biggest challenge all season to the Packers. For now, give us your feeling on the overall direction of the team heading into this big game on Thursday night. Please take our survey