Packers defeat Lions in Thanksgiving Day opener
DETROIT — Jordan Love dropped back and threw deep on his first snap, taking advantage of what the Green Bay Packers thought the Detroit Lions defense would give them.
They were right.
Love set the tone with a 53-yard pass to Christian Watson on the game’s first play and finished with a career-high-tying three touchdowns, leading Green Bay to a 29-22 win over the NFC North-leading Lions on Thursday.
“It was something we put in this week that we thought was going to work,” said Love, who had to reassure coach Matt LaFleur to stick with the first call when he had second thoughts about it on the morning of the game. “We were confident in it.”
The Packers (5-6) were in control of a game they never trailed, taking advantage of Jared Goff’s career-high three fumbles — returning one for a score in the first quarter — and Dan Campbell’s aggressiveness on fourth down.
The Lions (8-3) went for it five times on fourth down and converted only once on the final touchdown drive. One of the failed attempts was a decision to fake a punt with a run from their 23 in the third quarter down by nine points.
“That obviously was a very critical play in the game,” LaFleur said. “And, that translated into a touchdown.”
Three plays after the failed fake, Love threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Watson to give Green Bay a 29-14 lead.
“It’s a bad call,” Campbell said. “I shouldn’t have done that to those guys.”
Goff pulled Detroit to within seven points with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Josh Reynolds and two-point conversion pass to Sam LaPorta with 41 seconds left but couldn’t get any closer four days after rallying from a 12-point deficit in the last few minutes in a comeback win over Chicago.
The Lions were called for an illegal formation when they attempted an onside kick, a fitting end for them on an afternoon that started poorly and didn’t get much better to deflate what was a fired-up crowd.
“I didn’t have my guys ready to go, bottom line,” Campbell said.
Love was 22-of-32 passing for 268 yards with three touchdowns. He had a career-long 37-yard run on a play designed for him to run on third down late in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
Rashan Gary led Green Bay’s dominant performance on defense by forcing a career-high two fumbles, recovering one of them, and tying a career high with three sacks of Goff on the same field where the former Michigan star tore a knee ligament last season.
Goff finished 29-of-44 passing for 332 yards with two touchdowns, including one on a seven-yard pass to LaPorta on Detroit’s first drive.
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