To Reach Playoffs, Packers Must Handle Lions’ Pass Rush

The Green Bay Packers are one win away from the playoffs. To earn it, they’ll have to deal with the Detroit Lions’ talented rookies.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers have leaned on some young players on offense this season, but that’s nothing compared to the youth movement on the Detroit Lions’ defense.

Against the Chicago Bears on Sunday, the Lions started four rookies on defense. Aidan Hutchinson, the second pick of the draft, had a half-sack and his third interception of the season. James Houston, a sixth-round pick, had three sacks and a forced fumble. Safety Kerby Joseph, a third-round pick who had two interceptions against Green Bay in the first meeting, had three tackles. Linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez, a sixth-round pick, had four tackles. Off the bench, second-round pick Josh Paschal had two sacks.

"We got a lot of talented rookies on the team," Hutchinson said after the Lions recorded as many sacks (seven) as it allowed completions.

Stopping Detroit’s pass rush will be the priority for the Packers with a trip to the NFL playoffs on the line on Sunday night at Lambeau Field.

A big key in Green Bay’s blowout victory over Minnesota was the play of offensive tackles David Bakhtiari, Yosh Nijman and, in relief of Nijman, rookie Zach Tom. They held the Vikings’ premier pass-rushing duo of Za’Darius Smith and Danielle Hunter without a sack; Smith didn’t even get a pressure.

Overall, Detroit’s defense is terrible. Not just here and there but everywhere. The Lions are:

- 29th with 25.7 points allowed per game.

- 32nd with 398.7 yards allowed per game.

- 32nd with 6.26 yards allowed per play.

- 30th with 5.32 yards per rush.

- 31st with 7.49 yards per pass.

- 30th with a 45.8 percent conversion rate on third down.

- 27th with a touchdown rate of 64.3 percent in the red zone.

- 30th with a touchdown rate of 82.7 percent in goal-to-go situations.

- 32nd with 79 plays allowed of 20-plus yards; nine more than any other team.

Detroit’s defense did stop Green Bay cold in Week 9, a 15-9 verdict that kicked off the Lions’ final run of seven wins in nine games. Aaron Rodgers threw for a season-high 291 yards but tossed three interceptions.

Running the ball will be key. Detroit held AJ Dillon and Aaron Jones to a meager 59 yards on 20 carries in Week 9. Green Bay’s run the ball well for most of the season, though. Aaron Jones got to the perimeter early and often in topping 100 yards against Minnesota.

“We have a huge luxury with a guy like Big Dog,” coach Matt LaFleur said of venerable tight end Marcedes Lewis. “A lot of teams, you have to put in an extra tackle in order to run to your formation strength. To have a guy like that, that’s capable of taking a defensive end one-on-one, just very few of those exist.

“I look at our wide receivers and their ability to neutralize the perimeter for us. Shoot, I can’t tell you how many times we have our receivers on outside linebackers, cracking on inside linebackers, and that’s not something that most want to do, but our guys do it and they do a really good job with that.”

If the Packers can have far greater success in the rematch, that would help take the sting out of that rookie-driven pass rush.

Hutchinson has 7.5 sacks and a team-high 13 quarterback hits. He leads all rookies with 50 quarterback pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. The real sensation has been the 225-pound Houston. He spent the first 10 games of the season on their practice squad. In his six games on the 53, he has eight sacks. That’s the most in the entire rookie class while playing only 110 snaps. Paschal, who had two quarterback hits in the first game, had his first two sacks last week.

“He doesn’t quit. He goes hard, he is slippery, he’s strong,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said of Houston on Monday. “And then it’s just a matter of, ‘All right, this is what I can get away with. This is what I’ve got to be careful for.’ So, he’s working through (it), like Hutch has had to do. 

“Now, Hutch was getting doubled. He’s been getting doubled early or getting chipped, and people are paying attention to that. It certainly helps when you’re wired the right way. He’s not going to be discouraged by getting chipped or hit. He wants to win, and you’ve got to have that when people notice or identify that you can be a problem as a rusher.”

If Rodgers has time, there will be opportunities against Detroit’s secondary. In Week 9, Romeo Doubs suffered a significant ankle injury on the first play of the game on a questionable hit by Joseph, Watson exited on the third play of the third quarter. Randall Cobb was on injured reserve and Sammy Watkins was running wrong routes in the red zone.

Green Bay’s passing attack still hasn’t been very reliable, even at full strength, but it’s in a much better spot with a berth in the playoffs on the line.

“This is a better football team than we played the first time,” Campbell said. “You’ve got Aaron Rodgers who’s one of the best, man – one of the best to ever play the game. Whenever you’ve got that at the quarterback position with that running back and the offensive line, and they’ve got some young receivers that are coming on, it’s potent, man.”

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The #Packers just shut down the Vikings' high-powered offense. It won't be any easier against the #Lions. Here's a deeper look at that side of the ball, including a pretty amazing turnovers stat.https://t.co/Cgm5r599sR

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) January 3, 2023

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