3 Detroit Lions game balls for Week 9 vs. the Packers

Coming off Sunday’s win over the Green Bay Packers, here are our three Detroit Lions game ball recipients for Week 9.

A low-scoring game was not what anyone expected at Ford Field on Sunday, all the way up to the over/under total for sportsbooks (49.5 points on most, if not all). But that’s what happened, as the Detroit Lions beat the Green Bay Packers 15-9.

Detroit’s defense defined bend-but-don’t-break on Sunday, shutting the Packers out in the first half despite never forcing a punt. Green Bay had 389 yards of offense to 254 for the Lions, while possessing the ball for nearly 35 minutes.

But the turnover battle was a plus-two for the Lions. Even without a deep dive, it’s safe to say the Lions haven’t had many games where they were plus-two in the turnover battle lately.

Lions game balls haven’t been an absolute every week thing here at SideLion Report, but coming off the second win of the season is a good time to give them out if there ever was one.

Here are our three, and only three, game ball recipients for the Detroit Lions in Week 9.

Detroit Lions game ball recipients for Week 9

3. TE James Mitchell

Mitchell has an opportunity in front of him after the trade of T.J. Hockenson, and Sunday was his first “showcase.” Brock Wright led Lions’ tight ends in snaps by a good margin with 50, with the rookie Mitchell playing 13 snaps and Shane Zylstra playing 16.

Zylstra deserves a hat-tip here, as he caught Detroit’s first touchdown of the game. But Mitchell reeled in the decisive score, and he described the play after the game.

"I had to maneuver around a couple of guys,” Mitchell told the media, breaking down the play. “There was a guy on the backline that I kinda had to work my way around, and once I cleared him, I knew I had a shot to get it. And JG (Jared Goff) ripped it in there and I pulled it in.”"

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