Green Bay Packers barely hold off the Detroit Lions Part two
The Lions had taken quiet a beating in the first two quarters and the third began with a 48 yard touchdown off an interception by Charles Woodson. The Packers were leading with four touchdowns against two from the Lions.
After the interception the Lions came back stronger than ever. On the next drive Lion’s quarterback Shaun Hill led his team to a field goal. Hill didn’t make any big plays in the drive. He was cautious, determined and took his time to make the plays. In
11 plays the Lions took 48 yards and moved up just shy of the red zone on Green Bay’s 21 yard line. Hill tried to make a touchdown out of it but after two incomplete passes on the 21 the Lions got into field goal formation. Jason Hanson took the kick and it
was good.
Weaknesses in the Packers offence started to show. The Packers started their drive on the 28 yard line and moved up to Detroit’s 45 yard line after 3 plays and a Penalty on Detroit. The Packers got lucky in the next play as Aaron Rodgers was intercepted
by Chris Houston on Detroit’s 11 yard line, however a defensive offside penalty ruled the play void to Rodger’s great relief. Rodgers couldn’t complete his next pass and after a two yards rush by Brandon Jackson, Rodgers tired again only to be intercepted
again.
The deep right pass was intended for Greg Jennings but Jennings was being covered by cornerback Chris Houston. Jennings had no chance of receiving the pass but did try to get his hands on it enough to make sure Houston couldn’t either. He couldn’t keep the
ball out of his hands but Jennings did pull him down for no gain.
The interception came on Detroit’s 7 yard line. The Lions had 93 yard to go to get to the endzone. The Lions began with a 6 yard rush. Hill covered 57 yards in four attempts, which included a 40 yard rush to get the Lions to Green Bay’s 30 yard line. The
Packers defence kicked into high gear and made sure the Lions couldn’t advance any further. Faced with a defence that wouldn’t budge, Detroit had no option but to go for the field goal from the 34 yard line. Hanson made the 54 yard field goal attempt and it
was good.
The Lions again managed to stop the Packers on their next drive. The Packers offense looked helpless when the Lions stopped Brandon Johnson from rushing the ball, Rodgers from passing it and then sacked the quarterback in the third play of the drive. The
Packers were forced to punt. The 3rth quarter ended with Detroit trailing Green Bay’s 28 points with 20 of their own.
When the fourth quarter opened the Lions were on their 48 yard line. The only yards they gained came from the one yard short pass to Kevin Smith and 15 yard penalty on Green Bay. On the 30 yard line Hill was unable to take anymore ground. The Lions gave
up on the touchdown and got into the field goal formation. The field goal was good and brought the Lions within 5 points of the Packers.
13 minutes of play still remained in the fourth quarter while Lions were clearly on the offensive. The Packers had not been able to put anymore points on the board since the first minute touchdown of the third quarter. The Packers offence continued to struggle.
After the field goal the Packers offense failed spectacularly. The Packers lost the ball on the Kick return. Jason Hanson took the 65 yard kick and Jordy Nelson returned it 14 yards to Green Bay’s 19 yard line but then fumbled the ball. Detroit’s linebacker,
Ashlee Palmer crashed into Nelson to force the fumble. Wide receiver Stefan Logan recovered the fumbled ball for Detroit and took it to Green Bay’s 18 yard line.
Detroit Rushed 3 yards and passed 9 more but couldn’t move up from the Packers 6 yard line in three attempts. Ultimately they had to go for the field goal which was good. The Packers were still 28 but now the Lions were closing in with 26 points. If the
drive had led to a touchdown the Lions would have taken the lead. After the field goal, no more points were scored in the remainder of the game.
The Packers offences’ early success kept them afloat but still they came very close to being outmatched in the third and fourth quarters.
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