Impressive victory pushes Green Bay Packers past Detroit Lions
Aaron Rodgers tossed three touchdown passes in the first half as the Green Bay Packers held off the Detroit Lions 28-26 on Sunday at Lambeau Field. The Packers are tough to beat at home, but they had problems
dispatching a 0-4 Detroit team that appeared to be in disarray prior to this game.
It didn’t take Rodgers very long to put up points on the board, connecting with receiver Donald Driver on a 29-yard touchdown pass on his first throw of the game.
After an early second quarter touchdown by Detroit tied it up, Green Bay continued its aggressive play calling, going through the air hoping to connect with one of their receivers and it worked on more
than one occasion. Rodgers found tight end Jermichael Finley for a 13-yard TD pass, then added a score by tossing to ball to Greg Jennings to increase the Packers lead to 14 points in the second quarter.The Lions responded as quarterback Shaun Hill connected
with Calvin Johnson for the receiver's second TD at the end of the second quarter.
The Green Bay lead increased with an early touchdown in the third, but Detroit hacked down at the lead with four unanswered field goals from Jason Hanson, but the Packers hung on for the win.
"Guys fought hard today, they fought so hard," said Hill, who threw for 331 yards. "We deserved that win, we deserved to get the feeling of a win in this locker room. We really do. I just feel terrible
that we haven't got that yet."
The Lions were competitive early on, but once again turnovers proved to be the difference maker on Sunday. Packers’ star linebacker A.J. Hawk gave the ball back to his offence after a 12-yard interception
return in the first quarter, and Ryan Pickett’s fumble recovery with 11:47 left in the 2nd quarter put an end to Detroit’s scoring threat.
The Packers receivers matched up well with the Lions’ secondary which presented a huge problem for Detroit. Rodgers finished the game completing 12 of 17 passes for a total of 181 yards. One of his
favorite targets of the day was Driver, who hauled in three passes for 89 yards and a major.
The ground game was not a major contributor in the Packers improving their record to 3-1 on the season. Running backs Brandon Jackson and John Kuhn both combined for 18 carries for 72 yards.
"It's a win, so we're happy about that," Rodgers said. "Offensively, we've got to find our identity again…We've got to make sure we get our best players on the field at all times, and find ways to get
them the ball.”
Green Bay linebacker Clay Matthews turned in another solid performance and is making an early case for defensive player of the year , as he increased his NFL-leading sack total to seven in just four games.
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