Stock Report: Packers Drop a Heartbreaker to the Detroit Lions

Another big game, another early deficit for the Green Bay Packers.

They fell behind by 10 points on two separate occasions in the first half.

When Jahmyr Gibbs caught a short touchdown pass from Jared Goff to give the Lions a 17-7 lead, it looked like the Packers were in for another slice of humble pie on national television.

Instead, they seized the momentum early in the second half behind big plays from Christian Watson and Keisean Nixon.

They scored 14 points in three minutes and 45 seconds, to take a 21-17 lead in the third quarter.

From there, a back-and-forth affair ensued.

The game was tied at 31 with 3:38 left in the game.

The Packers’ defense took the field needing a stop after Brandon McManus kicked a 32-yard field goal to tie the game.

Their defense, without three of their top defensive backs struggled to slow down Detroit’s powerful offense.

They had a chance to make a statement on a late drive, but the Lions converted a fourth-and-1 deep in Green Bay territory, which allowed them to bleed out the rest of the clock.

Jake Bates kicked a game winning field goal, and the Packers lost 34-31.

Here’s our weekly stock report, starting with a big thumbs down for Green Bay’s situational defense.

Rising

Rashan Gary

Rashan Gary sacked Jared Goff on the Detroit’s second possession of the game. Gary now has at least a half of a sack in four of his last five games.

Gary is the team’s best pass rusher, but was largely missing in action for the first half of the season. He’s starting to turn it on

He made a play in the run game as well, combining with Kenny Clark for a big tackle-for-loss against Jahmyr Gibbs on the Lions’ penultimate play of the first half.

That set up an opportunity for the Packers to make a big defensive stand before the half.

Gary has been much better since the bye week, and the Packers will need him to continue that.

Tucker Kraft

Another week, another big play from Tucker Kraft, this time, it was a touchdown that got the Packers moving in the right direction for the second half.

Jordan Love found Christian Watson for 59 yards, but they desperately needed to pay that drive off with a touchdown.

Facing a third and 10, Kraft gave the Packers the spark they need.

Love threw him a missile that stuck into his chest for a 12-yard touchdown, pulling ahead of Jayden Reed for the team lead in receiving touchdowns.

Kraft is steady, reliable, and a menace in the run game.

Keisean Nixon

The second half could not have started better for the Packers. Jordan Love had big plays to Christian Watson and Tucker Kraft on the first possession to make the score 17-14.

After a holding penalty on Penei Sewell, Keisean Nixon made sure that the momentum would stay in Green Bay’s favor.

Nixon stepped in front of a pass from Jared Goff that gave the Packers the ball deep in Lions’ territory.

Three plays later, Josh Jacobs found the end zone to make the score 21-17.

Nixon has been a point of contention from the fanbase, but the coaching staff has consistently complimented him for doing things that he has not been typically asked to. This year, it has been playing outside corner, when he’s mostly been an interior defender.

Josh Jacobs

There should not be any question left as to who the Packers’ best player is, but in case there was, Josh Jacobs put an end to those conversations tonight.

Jacobs scored three more times on the ground, which puts him at eight touchdowns since Green Bay’s bye week.

He finished the night with 66 yards on 18 carries to go with his three touchdowns.

The signing of Jacobs was controversial at the time due to who he was replacing.

Aaron Jones is awesome. Great player, better person.

There’s no question that Jacobs has been better for Green Bay’s offense.

Dontayvion Wicks

What a night for Wicks, who has struggled for most of the year.

It wasn’t the gaudiest statistical line, but he looked more like the rookie who finished the season strong in 2023 than the sophomore going through a slump in 2024.

The only thing that stopped Wicks on this night, was an injury timeout that was required when Wicks bounced off the turf on his final catch of the game.

He finished with 49 yards on four catches, but he looked much more confident as the night went on.

Falling

Quay Walker

Quay Walker was entering this game with some positive momentum.

He played what his coaches and teammates called the best games of his career.

Tonight, he reverted to the form from his rookie season.

Walker was ejected from two games that year for shoving team personnel.

Thursday night in Detroit he got tagged with a personal foul penalty for hitting reserve tackle Dan Skipper in the first half.

Those are plays that Matt LaFleur says he takes personal, because it reflects poorly on him.

Walker did make up for it with a huge stop on a 4th and 1 in the third quarter, that gave the Packers new life after falling behind 24-21.

The personal foul penalty, however, is a large step backward, and something that Walker needs to correct, which lands him on the wrong side of our list.

Zach Tom

Tom is Green Bay’s best offensive lineman. The Packers needed their best players to play well in a big game.

Tom could not have gotten off to a worse start. He gave up a sack on the first pass play of the game to Za’Darius Smith.

He gave up two more pressures in the first quarter by our count.

The early struggles on offense can be traced strictly to the pass blocking of the offensive line.

That was especially true of Tom.

If the Packers are going to beat Detroit if these two teams were to face each other again, the Packers will need Tom to play much better than he did tonight.

Elgton Jenkins

Jenkins is the Packers’ highest-paid offensive linemen. He’s been hobbled by lower body injuries, and perhaps that is slowing him down.

Reality is, he’s been penalized far too often for someone that is supposed to be one of Green Bay’s veterans.

His nine penalties lead the team, and he was victimized early in the game in pass protection before things settled down.

Jenkins needs to be one of the stabilizing forces of this young Packers team. He should not lead the team in penalties.

Situational Defense

The Lions have scored four touchdowns on fourth down against the Packers this season.

That seems almost impossible, but it’s true.

They scored twice on fourth down on Thursday night. They scored twice at Lambeau Field on fourth down.

They converted their first three third downs of the night, all of which with relative ease.

In big games that can come down to one or two plays, the Packers had to make one on fourth down.

They could not, and both of Detroit’s touchdowns that came on fourth down helped flip the game in their favor.

To Green Bay’s credit, they did make a big stop on 4th and 1 late in the third quarter, which led to a touchdown from Josh Jacobs to give them the lead early in the fourth quarter.

In another situation, the defense took the field with a chance to make a stop to give Jordan Love a chance to win the game.

Instead, the Lions moved down the field with relative ease.

Goff completed two passes for 19 and 11 yards to put the Lions in business.

A 3rd-and-7 from the Packers’ 37 was converted on a screen pass from Goff to Jahmyr Gibbs.

That allowed the Lions to bleed out most of the clock, while Love and the red-hot Green Bay offense sat on the sideline hoping for another chance.

Zayne Anderson did make a play to give the Packers a chance, but it was after the Lions were in field goal range.

Of course, Dan Campbell is a madman so he elected to go for the first down to be able to run the clock all the way down before kicking the field goal.

Green Bay’s defense gave up the conversion to David Montgomery, and Jake Bates did the rest.

The Lions were 4-5 on fourth downs on the night. Those are four huge plays the Packers could have made, but did not.