I Didn t Mean to Lose in the First Round Again
The No. 1 overall selection was at that place for the taking, but the Detroit Lions had other plans.
D'Andre Swift scored the winning touchdown on a fourteen-yard run with i:54 to play and the Lions executed ii pull a fast one on plays to perfection for long touchdowns as they beat the Green Bay Packers, 37-30, at Ford Field to end their first flavour under Dan Campbell on a high note.
"I did call up we played some of our best football," Campbell said. "At that place's notwithstanding a lot that we always want to be able to right and it'll never exist perfect, merely we said we wanted to go take the difficult road one more fourth dimension, and our guys did that. They really did. They came out and competed and earned that win. I was proud of them."
The Lions (three-13-one) won three of their final six games later starting the season 0-viii. They finished in last place in the NFC North for the fourth straight season, but won multiple partition games for the showtime time since 2022 and outplayed the Packers' starters in the get-go one-half.
With the No. 1 seed in the NFC wrapped upward, Greenish Bay sat quarterback Aaron Rodgers, receiver Davante Adams and several key defensive starters for the 2d half.
The Lions entered Sunday in command of the second pick in April's NFL draft, but could take moved to No. 1 with a loss and a Jacksonville Jaguars upset of the Indianapolis Colts.
The Jaguars beat the Colts, 26-11, to clinch the beginning pick for the second straight yr. The Lions will pick second for the 3rd fourth dimension since 2007.
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"(Winning this game) definitely gives united states of america that confidence to get into next year agreement where we stand at correct now and where nosotros tin continue to build on," Lions prophylactic Tracy Walker said. "And right at present, man, it'south just kind of up from here, you lot know what I mean? Similar I said, the main thing for us is nosotros were trying to establish a foundation this twelvemonth and we finished out the season the right way that we wanted to. So looking forrard to next yr where we're going to continue to build."
The Packers scored the go-ahead touchdown Dominicus with four:49 left in the fourth quarter, when Walker missed a tackle on a tight end screen and Josiah Deguara rumbled 62 yards for a touchdown.
But Jared Goff led his 2d winning bulldoze in half-dozen weeks, taking the Lions 75 yards in 6 plays for a 34-xxx lead.
Goff completed passes of 28 and 15 yards to Amon-Ra St. Brown and Brock Wright on the bulldoze, and Swift scored on the first play later on the two-minute warning.
Jalen Reeves-Maybin tipped a Hashemite kingdom of jordan Beloved pass at the line of scrimmage on the next series that C.J. Moore intercepted and returned to the Green Bay 15. Riley Patterson made a 27-m field goal for insurance, and Walker picked off a desperation Honey heave with 21 seconds left to clinch the Lions' first win over the Packers since the last week of the 2022 flavor.
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Goff, who made his first start since suffering a os bruise in the Lions' Week xv win over the Arizona Cardinals, finished 21-for-xxx passing for 238 yards with two touchdowns. St. Brown added viii catches for 109 yards and a touchdown for the Lions — his 6th directly game with at least viii catches, extending his franchise rookie tape — and Kalif Raymond added four catches for 101 yards and a score.
"Our beginning half of the season was not cracking," Goff said. "The 2nd half of the season was meliorate and the last four or five games in particular were actually pretty skilful. And we feel that energy and that's kind of the mode we wanted to end it. I think today is exactly how you draw it upwardly. We're able to score a lot of points, won the game, good team. I know they didn't accept all of their dudes out there, simply withal a good team, win the game."
The Lions scored their beginning touchdown Dominicus on a well-designed flim-flam play tardily in the start quarter, when receiver Tom Kennedy threw a 75-yard touchdown pass to Raymond.
Goff started the play by faking a pitch to Raymond, who lined up equally a running back in the backfield. St. Brownish took an within handoff, so tossed the ball to Kennedy, the former pro lacrosse player, who threw a perfect strike to a wide-open Raymond.
The Lions led 17-13 at halftime, subsequently Goff threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to St. Brown and Patterson fabricated a 34-yard field goal, and so scored on some other trick play on their second possession of the third quarter, when Goff found Wright for a 36-yard touchdown off a reverse.
The Lions set an NFL tape for nigh quaternary-downwardly conversion attempts and makes in a season, converting 2 of three Sunday to ameliorate to 21-for-41 on the season. St. Brownish prepare a franchise record for most receiving yards (912) by a rookie.
Rodgers completed xiv of 18 passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns in his i half of piece of work, and Adams had six catches for 55 yards for the Packers (13-4). Light-green Bay has a first-round playoff adieu next week.
"I'd like to be able to close that game out (earlier than we did)," Campbell said. "Those volition be lessons learned. But yet for our defense to accept to go out there over again and come with a stop, there again, those are things that give you confidence moving frontward. Those were some of the things that earlier in the year we got bit on and we've gotten ameliorate every bit the flavor has gone on. nd and then to kind of come down to the wire in that location and our guys make a play when we needed it, it was neat to see."
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
Source: https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2022/01/09/detroit-lions-game-green-bay-packers-no-1-pick-nfl-draft-2022/9149378002/
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