Not since Curly Lambeau’s very first Acme Packers squad put up 53 points against Menominee North End and 61 against the Marinette Northerners to launch the inaugural 1919 season has this franchise gotten off to such an impressive offensive start.
Matt LaFleur’s Packers of 2020 followed up a 43 point effort against the Minnesota Vikings with a 42-21 victory over another division rival in the Detroit Lions on a beautiful but surreal day at the stadium that now bear’s Curly’s name. The relentless offense put up 488 yards (522 in the opener), piling up a whopping 259 on the ground and did almost all of that from the second quarter on as Detroit looked to spoil the home opener by jumping out to a 14-3 lead in the stadium devoid of cheeseheads.
The Opening Kickoff at empty Lambeau Field.
Aaron Jones was the star of this show, piling up 236 yards of total offense, 168 rushing and 68 more through the air, scoring three touchdowns, giving him a whopping 23 TD’s in his last 18 games. From a zoom room after the game, “Showtime” said he had a blast.
After blowing a 17 point fourth quarter lead in their opening day loss to the Bears, the Lions rocked the Packer defense onto their heels early with a pair of scoring drives. Tight end T.J. Hockenson’s 29 yard catch and run on the game’s second play got the Lions going and Kerryon Johnson capped the opening drive with a one yard run.
The Packers answered with a 43 yard field goal from Mason Crosby but Detroit went right back to work, covering 75 yards in 13 plays. Ageless Adrian Peterson got the right flank for a 25 yard scamper and Matthew Stafford found Marvin Jones on a four yard strike for a 14-3 lead.
It would be all Packers from there.
Aaron Rodgers flared a 7 yard touchdown pass to Jones to cap a 75 yard march to make it 14-10. Rodgers said that was the biggest drive of the game. After an exchange of punts, Detroit was backed up and Za’Darius Smith sacked Stafford for a loss of 10, nearly earning the second safety in as many weeks. The Lions punted from their end zone and Green Bay took over at their 38 with exactly one minute left in the half. Back to back 15 yard penalties against Detroit’s Will Harris got Green Bay in position for Rodgers to hit Robert Tonyan from 14 yards out with :14 left in the half giving Green Bay it’s first lead.
On the first snap of the second half, Jones burst through a hole up the middle, split a pair of lunging safeties and raced for a 75 yard touchdown run making it 24-14. It was the longest run of his career and the longest scoring run for the Packers since Ahman Green’s 90 yarder in 2004.
The defense joined the scoring parade after another good punt by J.K. Scott and a penalty on the return, the Lions were at their own five when the Packers dialed up pressure. Rashan Gary hurried Stafford’s throw to the left flat for Danny Amendola and Chandon Sullivan made a great break on the route. He stumbled after pulling the ball in and almost rolled into the end zone for a yard pick-six that swelled the Green Bay lead to 31-14.
Crosby connected again from 35 yards out late in the third quarter, giving him 1596 career points, moving him past former Lion Eddie Murray into 21st place on the NFL’s all-time scoring list.
The Lions had one last drive in them as Stafford hit Marvin Hall from 17 yards out but the Packers answered that with a 74 yard scoring drive. The big play was a 41 yard sideline catch by Marquez Valdes-Scantling that set up the hat trick touchdown from Jones on a 14 yard run. Jamaal Williams converted a two point play to cap the scoring.
The defense finished it out with three sacks of Stafford, one from rookie Vernon Scott, Rashan Gary had one and a half that he shared with Preston Smith.
It was a slow start at home but a big finish for LaFleur’s Packers:
Green Bay outgained Detroit 488-307 and controlled the clock for the second straight week with 34:46 in time of possession.
Rodgers finished 18 of 30 for 240 yards with two touchdowns, good for a passer rating of 107.6. Davante Adams, coming off his 14 catch game in Minnesota, was limited to three receptions for 36 yards before he developed a tight hamstring and couldn’t finish the game. If not for a couple more dropped passes from Jace Sternberger and Valdes-Scantling, the offense would have eclipsed 500 yards for the second straight week.
Christian Kirksey led the defensive effort with 12 tackles but Gary, last year’s number one pick, got to the quarterback twice, hurried him two more times and delivered the pressure on the big pick-six.
Stafford finished with 244 yards and two scores (91.0 rating) but was sacked four times to go along with the bad interception. Adrian Peterson had 41 yards on 7 carries to lead Detroit on the ground and running back De’Andre Swift had a team high five receptions out of the backfield.
The Packers opened the game with Rick Wagner at right tackle and Lucas Patrick at right guard even though Billy Turner was active and dressed. LaFleur said the plan was use Turner, working through a knee injury, only in an emergency.
The inactive players were Jordan Love, Parry Nickerson, Randy Ramsey, Lane Taylor, Josiah Deguara and Kenny Clark.
It was a very unique experience watching the game from the press box with no one in the stands but I did have my game face on, mask included, and the media corps stayed socially distanced.
Next up, the Packers will be walking to New Orleans for a prime time date against the Saints, another high octane offense. There should be big fireworks in the Big Easy for the now 2-0 Packers, off to their most prolific start since that very first Packer team.
