GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers will enter the lion’s den Thursday night when they play the Detroit Lions.
Ford Field gives the Lions one of the best home field advantages in the NFL. As they’ve taken over under coach Dan Campbell, the volume has increased to 11. Detroit is 11-3 at home since the start of last season, just behind the Buffalo Bills (13-2).
The Packers are no slouch on the road, however. Under coach Matt LaFleur, the Packers have won nearly 60% of their road games since the start of the 2019 season. They have not lost a true road game this season; The nine-win Packers’ only losses were to the Eagles on a neutral field and to the Vikings and Lions at Lambeau Field.
Of course, this will be the Packers’ biggest road test by far. Wins against the Titans, Rams and Jaguars felt more like neutral-field games due to the influx of Packers fans. It was loud at Soldier Field, but it will be louder at Ford Field and, obviously, the Lions — with their 11-1 record and 10-game winning streak — are better than the Bears.
“It will definitely be a good test for us,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said.
Detroit is 5-1 at home this year, the second-best mark in the NFL. With an NFL record 211 points, he outscored his opponents by 102 points.
The team’s only home loss this season came in Week 2, 20-16 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Either way.
Statistically, it was total domination. The Lions had a 2-to-1 advantage in total yards, rushing yards and passing yards. They made 36 more plays and dominated on third down. The Lions, however, went 1 of 7 in the red zone, which was the difference in the game.
Last year’s game at Ford Field was a pivotal game for the Packers. This past Thanksgiving, Detroit was 8-2 with a four-game home winning streak. The Packers were 4-6 and going nowhere fast in Jordan Love’s first season.
With Ford Field at an all-time high, fans were ready for their Lions to deliver a devastating blow to their rivals.
Instead, Love threw three touchdown passes in a 29-22 loss.
The win kicked off a push toward the playoffs that included a blowout win over the Minnesota Vikings in Week 17 and a dominant win over the Dallas Cowboys in the wild-card round.
“You just have to treat it like another game,” Love said this week. “Obviously it’s going to be a noisy environment, so you’ve got to be able to deal with that, and I think that starts with the offense’s ability to get a kick out of the snap count.
“We do a great job throughout the week trying to mimic the speakers and create a loud environment, but just communicating in the group, everyone hears the call and can just communicate in a noisy environment, I think that’s the biggest thing Other than that, it’s just another game. You kind of try to block out all that. The crowd noise is definitely a factor.
Under LaFleur, the Packers are 28-19 in road games, with their .596 winning percentage ranking sixth in the league.
“I couldn’t tell you,” LaFleur said of the key to that success. “I just think you have to focus on the game plan and your responsibilities and own it inside and out, so you can go out there and play fast. That’s half the battle.
Interestingly, home-field advantage means almost nothing. This year, home teams are 100-95, a winning percentage of .513. Six teams have won three-quarters of their home games. In 2014, home teams went 147-108-1, a winning percentage of .576. Fourteen teams have won at least three-quarters of their home games.
Is the noise factor exaggerated?
“No, it’s a real thing. It’s definitely a real thing,” LaFleur said. “But you have to manage that. And I think you get used to it. Half of your games take place on the road, so you get used to counting silently. This is obviously an advantage for a defense. No doubt about it. But, at the end of the day, it’s about execution after the snap. »
From 1995 to 1999, the Packers were the best team in the NFL. They went 30-2 at home and 18-14 on the road. The LaFleur Packers weren’t as dominant at home (37-11), but they were better on the road (.28-19).
Teams – including the Packers – are simply better at mitigating the crowd factor.
“I think like anything there’s an evolution in this game and I’m sure there weren’t as many silent accounts back then as there are now (and) different tricks that you try to use to try to get that edge back from an offense,” LaFleur said.
“Because that’s your only advantage, knowing when the ball is going to be snapped. And you have to be able to use it as a weapon. But it’s definitely more difficult when you’re on the road and have to use silent counting.
The silent count is a big problem for the Packers. Not just the first week of December but the first week of August.
“We’ve had a lot of success on the road,” Stenavich said. “One thing we really practice a lot (is) our silent cadence. Even in training camp, we have at least one time a week where we just work on the silent cadence just to make sure we’re aware of these situations here. This is going to be a great environment for a football game. So yes, we are definitely prepared for it.
All the Packers are prepared for it. They turned their season around in Detroit last year. This season doesn’t need to be reversed, but it would be an emphatic statement to eliminate the Lions.
“There’s no better feeling,” Keisean Nixon said of winning on the road. “It’s so loud before the game and after the game there are more of our fans than theirs. We want to hear “Go Pack Go.”
Latest Green Bay Packers News
On Thanksgiving Day, two childhood friends of Robert Rochell were shot to death in his hometown of Shreveport.
That night, Rochell recovered a fumble and won the ball in the game. #Packers‘ victory over the Dolphins.
“I felt like they were with me.” ⬇️
https://t.co/LqPiEIsdPO– Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) December 3, 2024
Packers-Lions injury report Tuesday | Consensus NFL Power Rankings | Robert Rochell plays for his murdered friends | Packers-Lions injury report Monday | Jordan Love gets hot | The Packers’ YAC offense | Latest playoff odds after week 13 | Two big injury updates | Quay Walker plays the best football | Packers-Lions matches | The Packers recruit two to practice | The most “annoying” sanctions | Packers-Lions injury updates
