The Packer Pundit

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble
Favre, Packers roll to 10-1 record
Brett Favre fumbled on his first play of the game. It was about the only mistake he made. Favre set a Green Bay record with 20 consecutive completions and finished with a season-high 381 yards and three touchdowns in the Packers' 37-26 victory over the Detroit Lions on Thursday. The three-time MVP fumbled after his first snap, tripping over a teammate, before putting together another sensational performance that made the 38-year-old quarterback look as if he's back in his prime. Favre's seventh 300-yard game of the season matched a team mark he set in 1995.

Green Bay (10-1) matched its best 11-game record since 1929 and the NFC North leaders have a 4-game lead with 5 games left in the regular season. The slumping Lions (6-5) have lost 3 straight and might struggle to finish .500 in a season that started with much hope and is suddenly looking familiar, coming off six straight double-digit loss seasons. Green Bay, which overcame a 6-point deficit in the first quarter, led 34-12 early in the fourth. Just when Detroit looked as if it was going to be routed for the fourth straight time in its marquee game, Jon Kitna connected with Calvin Johnson in the end zone and Kevin Jones scored to pull the Lions within 8.

Green Bay got the ball back with 6:34 left and took time off the clock thanks to Favre's accurate passes and Ryan Grant's runs. Mason Crosby's third field goal put the game out of reach with 1:44 to go. Favre completed 31 of 41 passes, and his streak of 20 straight spanned the first and second halves to surpass the team record of 18 set by Lynn Dickey in 1983 and matched by Don Majkowski in 1989. The victory was Favre's 148th in the regular season, tying John Elway's NFL record. Favre also extended his league record with his 63rd three-TD game.

Greg Jennings caught two TD passes and Donald Driver had 10 receptions for 147 yards. Grant ran for 101 yards and a score, giving Green Bay balance on offense as he has recently. Kitna was 19-of-40 for 224 yards with a TD and an interception. Johnson had 83 yards receiving and a score. Jones ran for 93 yards and a TD. Too often, the Lions had to settle for field goals and Jason Hanson made each of his four attempts.

Detroit drove to the Packers' 23 twice and their 32 on its first three drives, but came away with just two field goals. The Lions finally played a game on Thanksgiving that meant something, but ended up losing for the fourth straight time on the holiday to match their worst skid in four decades. Under team president Matt Millen, they are 1-6 in the only game each season that the nation can watch on TV and have fallen to 33-33-2 overall.

Desperate for a win to cling to playoff hopes, Detroit started the game with a 12-play drive and ran on six of its first seven snaps with three different running backs. But a pass inside the Green Bay 1 was negated when center Dominic Raiola was penalized for a blatant chop block, leading to Hanson's 47-yard field goal. Favre fumbled on his first play as a pulling guard tripped him while he tried to hand the ball off. Detroit didn't do much with the opportunity, losing yards and settling for Hanson's 45-yard kick.

The Lions wasted another chance to score on their third possession, driving to the Green Bay 32 only to be forced to punt after Aaron Kampman's second sack of the quarter and 11th of the season. Detroit had two more breaks toward the end of the quarter, when Green Bay's Jarrett Bush missed a block that would've likely sprung Charles Woodson for a score on a punt return, and Koren Robinson dropped a third-down pass in Detroit territory. Woodson left the game with a toe injury.

Detroit had the ball for 12-plus minutes in the first quarter, picking up six first downs and holding the Packers to none. The Lions ran for 81 yards after being held to 7 in the previous two games. On the first play of the second quarter, the breaks ended for Detroit and soon thereafter so did its lead. Kitna hung a pass across the middle for Johnson and it was intercepted. On the next play, Favre threw an 11-yard slant to Jennings to give Green Bay its first lead. Favre connected with Jennings again in the third and with Ruvell Martin to make it 31-12 after three quarters. [Story]


Game Stats Link



Additional Game Links --

Pass-happy offense produces
McCarthy used a three-receiver set (20 times) more often than his base package (15). Nineteen times, he used either a four-receiver set (11 times) or his new “Big Five,” the five-receiver, empty-backfield formation (eight times).


Thumbs up to Favre, down to run defense
Packers coach Mike McCarthy put the game in Brett Favre’s hands, and why not? Favre put on another quarterbacking clinic in today’s 37-26 win over the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. After stumbling out of the gate – literally – when Favre tripped over a teammate and fumbled while trying to hand the ball off to running back Ryan Grant on the Packers’ first play from scrimmage, Favre played almost flawless football the rest of the game.


Grant makes most of limited chances
Despite his team's pass-centric offensive approach, the Green Bay Packers' first-year halfback rushed for 101 yards on 15 carries in Thursday's 37-26 victory over the Detroit Lions at Ford Field, breaking off 27- and 31-yard runs to go along with his 5-yard touchdown.


Injuries don't derail defense
If Charles Woodson's toe injury turns out to be severe enough that the veteran can 't play in Thursday's NFC showdown in Dallas, at least the Green Bay Packers know they won't have to forfeit because their young cornerbacks won't stand a chance against T.O. and the 'Boys.


Favre, Fab Five pass test
The Green Bay Packers' offensive game plan, contrary to popular belief, was not to wing the ball around Ford Field for Thanksgiving. Sure, that's how it turned out in Thursday's 37-26 victory, with quarterback Brett Favre completing 31 of 41 passes for 381 yards and three touchdowns, but that wasn't what coach Mike McCarthy and offensive coordinator Joe Philbin had in mind.


Favre, Green Bay a near-perfect 10
I threw it, they caught it. Nothing spectacular. That's how Brett Favre summed up what happened Thursday. That's how the Green Bay Packers veteran quarterback, on top of his game once again -- a decade removed from winning the Super Bowl and three straight NFL MVPs -- described his team 's 37-26 Thanksgiving Day carving of the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. That's how Favre's 38-year-old eyes saw his stat line -- 31-for-41, 381 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, a 128.2 passer rating -- and the apparently no-big-deal franchise-record 20 completions in a row he tossed.


Packers a bit banged up
A big toe injury suffered by cornerback Charles Woodson on a late first-quarter punt return was one of many medical issues confronting the Packers after their 37-26 victory over the Detroit Lions. Besides Woodson, four other players failed to finish due to injury: defensive tackle Colin Cole (fractured forearm), defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila (ankle), safety Aaron Rouse (knee) and tackle Mark Tauscher (ankle).


Date in Dallas looms ahead
The hype machine found very little fuel to run on in the Green Bay Packers' locker room after the team's 37-26 victory over the Detroit Lions at Ford Field on Thursday. But it won't be long before it revs up.


Plenty of air and ground support
While Driver, Brett Favre and the rest of the Green Bay Packers' offense was busy bombarding the Ford Field turf with multiple aerial strikes for nearly three quarters, Grant and the running game patiently waited their turn.