Jared Goff completed his final 10 passes in the Lions' 11th straight win, and his final statement of the night was this: "I have to talk about the defense real quick."
"They had guys out there that got here on Sunday that were playing and doing a hell of a job. Credit AG, credit that staff and credit those freaking players for playing their tails off today. They let it hang and played hard ball, and made it hard on them," said Goff. "It was fun to watch.”
It wasn't always pretty, especially in the second half. The Lions surrendered 31 points, almost twice their season average. That's one way of looking at it. Here's another: missing a front seven that would comprise an upgrade for most NFL teams, the Lions held the Packers to under 300 yards.
This was not supposed to happen, or so their defense was told. Aaron Glenn made sure his players heard it before Thursday night's game. He pulled clips from the media as motivation. The Packers provided some bulletin board material themselves, including tight end Tucker Kraft going after Kerby Joseph. That set the stage for a four-quarter fist fight at Ford Field.
"The game was chippy because their players were saying a lot of stuff about us," said rookie cornerback Terrion Arnold. "And one thing about it, we don’t tolerate disrespect. All disrespect must be addressed." Veteran corner Carlton Davis III called the chatter "craziness."
"Like, Jordan Love about to pass for 430 or some sh*t like that, I don’t know, but that was disrespectful," he said. "Like, what the — you know what I mean? Whatever. I think he had 200 passing yards, and we gave up some BS. We’ll see them again next year, or hopefully in the playoffs. But it’s not over yet."
Joseph and Kraft got into it walking off the field following pregame warmups, after Kraft accused Joseph this week of targeting tight ends with "dangerous" tackles. Kraft, who said he wanted to get his hands on the Lions safety in retaliation, did catch a touchdown Thursday night, but Joseph and the Lions left with the season sweep of their NFC North rivals.
Asked about it after the game, Joseph said, "You talking about Mac and Cheese Kraft? Man, I don’t know who that boy is. To be honest, man, people just talk crazy. I ain't worried about it."
Detroit's defense was missing too many pieces to list when the game began. Of the 12 players projected to play significant roles in the front seven this year, the Lions were down to two. Then Alim McNeill was knocked out of the game with a head injury, and Jack Campbell was the last man standing.
Four players signed last weekend -- Myles Adams, Jonah Williams, Kwon Alexander and Jamal Adams -- wound up playing 69 snaps. Four more who arrived earlier this season -- Al-Quadin Muhammad, Za'Darius Smith, Ezekiel Turner and David Long Jr. -- played 91 snaps. The Lions used 21 defensive players in total and limited the Packers to their second fewest yards of the season.
"We're the best in the league at what we do," said Arnold. "We got the best DC in the league, we got the best coach in the league and we got a whole bunch of savages on this defense."
"We lost a couple savages," said Joseph, "but AG and Brad (Holmes), man, they do a great job of bringing in other savages, and they understand the assignment."
One such savage is linebacker Ezekiel Turner, who signed with the Lions' practice squad last month after being released this year by both the 49ers and Seahawks. With the Packers threatening to take the lead late in the fourth quarter, Turner -- who played tenaciously all night -- chased down Jordan Love on a third down scramble to get the defense off the field. The offense got the ball with the score tied at 31 and took care of the rest.
Turner, 28, said he detected the Lions' culture as soon as he arrived. Within his first week of practice, "I’m like, OK, this is different from probably every organization. Like, it’s intense, the attention to detail, and you really have to prepare for every practice like a game. And it shows when the games come. Even if there’s new guys out there, the standard is the standard."
The Packers did make their plays. That was inevitable against a team whose longest-tenured defensive lineman by the second half was Brodric Martin, a second-year tackle playing in his fifth NFL game. And Love did make some throws, including a few dandies with Davis and his broken thumb in coverage.
But that depleted defense held running back Josh Jacobs to 3.7 yards per carry, despite his three touchdowns, by swarming to the ball. And Davis delivered a huge play in the first half with a chase-down strip of Christian Watson that led to a Lions field goal. The two teams could meet again in the playoffs, but Detroit's defense should be much healthier by then. This felt like Green Bay's best shot at the best team in the NFC, and the Lions landed the last blow.
"They try to be competitive, but you can tell they’re not competitive," said corner Amik Robertson. "We the real dawgs. When we go out there, we're hunting, we ain’t the hunted. I know the real them. Great team, man, but I feel like it’s a lot of pretenders."
Robertson was wearing the T-shirt, designed and distributed by Joseph, that shows Brian Branch giving the double bird to the fans at Lambeau last month. With all the attrition up front, Robertson said the DB's "put it on ourselves" to hold it down. The skepticism of Detroit's defense was so widespread leading up to the game that Davis heard about it from his mom. He told her that the doubters would "see for themselves" Thursday night what the Lions already knew: "It's either in you, or it's not," said Robertson.
"Excuse my language," said Davis, "but we don’t give a fu*k about what they’re saying on the outside. It doesn’t matter to us. The talk shows and the analysts, that’s their job to stir this up, but it’s our job to stay focused and do what we do. Like, stop talking. If you're talking, it’s because you want to be heard. The loudest guy in the room is usually the weakest guy in the room, so let’s just prove it on the field."
Arnold chimed in from a neighboring locker, "We ain’t gotta get in front of the media and cap, man. We just go out there and play -- and CD was playing with a cast on!
"You heard them boys," said Davis.
The Lions will heal up in the weeks ahead, especially on the defensive line. That should help them get off the ball more consistently. Love had too much time to operate in the second half, though he finished with a season-low 12 completions. In the meantime, Glenn and the Lions will continue doing what they do best: "Using everyone’s talents to the best of their abilities," said Turner.
"And not putting too much on any certain player’s plate. I feel like it helps us big-time," he said. "Guys can just go out there and play fast."