Pride of Detroit
Thanksgiving is a great holiday. You eat lots of food, are surrounded by loved ones, and the best part is, there is Detroit Lions football on TV. That last part is only enjoyable if the outcome is a good one, and it wasn’t this year. After defeating the Chicago Bears last season, ending a seven-year losing streak on Thanksgiving, the Lions aimed to start a winning streak on the holiday, only to lose to the Green Bay Packers 31-24.
Coming off an overtime victory where the offense was carried by running back Jahmyr Gibbs and the defense struggled, the Lions’ woes continued on the defensive side. The Packers moved down the field with ease, rarely punting and converting on key fourth-down plays. The Lions’ offense, meanwhile, was sluggish at first before finding a groove, but they couldn’t come up big when needed.
With the loss, the road to the division title is a lot harder, and the playoff chances are on thin ice. The Lions can’t make many more mistakes, but for now, let’s focus on the five takeaways I have from the loss to Green Bay.
I am a big advocate for officials being held accountable for their mistakes, and boy, were there plenty of them on Thanksgiving. First, there were multiple blatant holds missed, which baffles me every week because, sure, holding happens on every play, but when it’s clear as day, you have to call it. The biggest talking point for the officials was the “timeout“ called by Packers head coach Matt LaFleur after seeing his offensive lineman false start on fourth-and-short inside the Lions’ 5-yard line.
As you can clearly see in the video above, LaFleur didn’t call a timeout until his player moved. It’s not something you can argue; it’s a straight-up fact. If the officials could do their job correctly, it would’ve moved Green Bay back 5 yards, and instead of a touchdown for Green Bay, they would have kicked a field goal instead, making it 6-0 instead of 10-0 Green Bay.
Another thing the officials got wrong was multiple catches by the Packers. On the first touchdown catch by Packers wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks, he didn’t have full possession as the ball was moving around, and by the time he did, he had only one foot in. The second catch was on third-and-3 by Packers wide receiver Christian Watson on the next drive, who also caught the ball, had one foot in and one foot out, and it was ruled a catch. The Packers quickly got the play off, so it couldn’t be challenged, and instead of a punt, Green Bay scored.
The officials made a statement after the game, and it’s laughable, arguably the worst excuse I’ve ever seen.
Enough about refball, time to focus on something positive in the game that didn’t have many positives. Early in the first quarter, starting wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown left the...
