The Detroit Lions need a win before it’s their dagger time

Box scores don’t tell the whole story

Last Sunday didn’t show the entire story for either the Lions or the Packers. If the Vikings didn’t enter the season with a weakness at cornerback, then I don’t think Rodgers puts up the big numbers and beats Minnesota. Because outside of Davante Adams, whose 14 receptions were almost half of Rodgers completions, Green Bay isn’t that deep at receiver.

Meanwhile, if the Lions didn’t have all their cornerbacks drop like flies against the Bears, the outcome in Detroit would certainly have been different. Despite the fact that the pass-rush was inconsistent even with more dialed up blitzing, when the starting secondary was on the field the Bears offense did very little.

The Packers offensive line is a M.A.S.H unit and the sole ability of Rodgers to make plays is why Green Bay defeated the Vikings last week.

So while the Lions defensive line certainly isn’t equal to the Vikings front four, if Desmond Trufant and Jeff Okudah play, the corners should be competitive. Although at least some pressure from the front seven would certainly make their job easier.

Aaron Rodgers is definitely a man on a mission, but he still needs some help from his injured offensive line and his receivers still have to get open and catch the ball. Last week the offensive line was adequate while Rodgers created more time for himself, and his receivers caught the ball.

When that happens, the Packers are pretty good. Yet while everyone raved about the Packers running up the score on the Vikings, Minnesota still scored 34 points. Before you point out that 24 of them were in ‘garbage time’ in the fourth quarter, the Packers only had a 19 point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The two touchdowns the Packers added put the game away, but with 7:55 left in the fourth quarter, the Vikings were only down 10 points. That’s still a game.

My point isn’t to say we should take the Green Bay Packers lightly, but despite all the talk about Green Bay this week, while Aaron Rodgers will most likely have a pretty good season, he will continue to need help to win.

Not only from the rest of his offense, but from the defense as well.

After one game the Packers offense grades out higher than the Lions. The defenses, however, are a push as they both gave up plenty of fourth-quarter points.

Detroit’s offense should be better with a week of action under their belt and having faced stiff competition from a Bears defense that is still pretty good. I would think points should be plentiful at Lambeau Field. But the real question is; can the Lions defense get any stops?