Detroit Lions Week 12 Report Card: Lions fail to match Packers' intensity on Thanksgiving Day
By Zach Payne
Thanksgiving was supposed to be a day of celebration for the Detroit Lions. A sign of how far the team had come, to shed labels of previous iterations of the team. Unfortunately, Thursday proved instead to be a reminder.
A reminder that good teams still lose once in awhile. Sometimes a divisional rival will play with more fire, and execute better if you aren’t able to match their intensity. The Packers came into Ford Field with an agenda, and got it done.
Two crucial things needed to take place for that to happen. The Packers' defense needed to force turnovers, and Jordan Love needed to elevate his game. Both of those boxes got checked, and it resulted in a frustrating loss for the Lions. Evidently, the Waxing Gibbous moon turned out to truly be a bad omen.
Here is the Lions report card for Thanksgiving Day.
Detroit Lions Week 12 Report Card
Offense: 1.5/5 Stars
It’s been a weird stretch for the offense. For the most part, the points are still coming. The problem is the lack of consistency lately. Turnovers have become a legitimate issue in the last two weeks, between actual turnovers and turning the ball over on downs. And at times, everyone just looks out of sync.
The big issue against the Packers was shockingly the offensive line. Green Bay was able to generate a ton of pressure, which is known to be an issue for Jared Goff. As a result, a lot of passes were disrupted, or Goff was forced to scramble. Evidently, asking an immobile quarterback to run can be problematic.
Karl Brooks—a draft crush for many—is having a real nice season thus far as a late-round pick. Huge play here to force a 2nd Jared Goff fumble.#RatedRookie | #GoPackGo
— The Draft Network (@TheDraftNetwork) November 23, 2023
pic.twitter.com/UQJrNQoJPq
There were still some positives to take away. Sam LaPorta had a bounce-back game, and Jameson Williams had a couple of nice catches. But the negatives on offense far outweighed the good on Thursday.
Offensive player of the game: WR Amon-Ra St. Brown
Copy and paste here. St. Brown had nine more catches on Thursday, for just under 100 yards (95). The catches didn’t come in as big of moments this week, but he still was a crucial factor in moving the sticks.
He did have one great catch in this game, wrestling the ball away from a Packers' defensive back for quite awhile before officials finally called the play dead. That type of play is a perfect example of who St. Brown is, and why the Lions love him so much.