How Green Bay Packers Can Avoid Falling to Detroit Lions a 2nd Time

The 7-4 Green Bay Packers prepare to finish out their grueling stretch of four consecutive divisional games on Thursday when they travel to Detroit to take on the Lions.

And if they're not prepared, they could get swept by their 4-7 rivals this season.

It wasn't so much that the Lions completely outplayed the Packers in the first matchup in Week 10, which Detroit won by just two points in a 18-16 result.

Rather, the Packers made too many costly mistakes and weren't able to get sufficient pressure on Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford. They couldn't get any semblance of a run game going either.

That one-dimensionality cost Green Bay in the end, but it doesn't have to again. The Packers can tweak a few phases of their game plan and execution to ensure that they don't fall to the Lions for the second time this year on Thursday.

The problems on the offense have been more numerous and far more troublesome than those on defense, so we'll set those aside for now and begin with the major issue on defense: pressure.

When the Packers last faced the Lions, they were still in the midst of their three-game streak with no sacks. They failed to sack Stafford even once and only registered three quarterback hits on him.

Needless to say, that inability to disrupt plays from their inception allowed the Lions opportunities to swing the score in their favor.

Rick Osentoski/Associated Press

The crucial failure on defense came on the Lions' last drive of the game. They entered it leading the Packers by just two points.

If Green Bay could have held Detroit off on that drive, the touchdown it scored on the ensuing drive would have been good for the win—no ill-fated field-goal attempt by Mason Crosby needed—but the Lions found the end zone through the right arm of Stafford.

Detroit didn't have any semblance of versatility on offense on that drive. Joique Bell gained a total of one yard on three rushing attempts, and five of the other six plays were all passes.

After Stafford connected with Calvin Johnson on a short pass over the middle early in the drive, Golden Tate exploded off a catch-and-run, totaling 43 yards on the reception and putting the Lions at Green Bay's 5-yard line.

Lack of pressure up front puts undue stress on the secondary, and that's exactly what happened on Tate's big gain that set up a Lance Moore touchdown.

The Packers defense has since found its ability to get after the quarterback, though it didn't help much in the loss to the Bears on Thanksgiving.

But Stafford is a different quarterback when he's under duress. His completion percentage on the season as a whole is 64.9, but when under pressure, it plummets to 49.6 percent.

The Packers' game plan shouldn't rely on interceptions, but they could certainly change the course of this game. The Lions have not won a single game this season in which Stafford has thrown two or more interceptions, and he has had four such games.

The real issue for the Packers in this matchup, however, will be the offense, which has morphed into an almost-unrecognizable version of itself.

The dropped passes that so plagued the Packers in the Thanksgiving loss to the Bears were present back in Week 10 as well.

The receivers dropped a whopping six passes in Green Bay's first matchup with the Lions. Davante Adams and James Jones each had two drops, while Randall Cobb and Alonzo Harris each contributed one.

Unfortunately, drops are extremely hard to fix with coaching changes. The coaching staff can adjust the game plan to include fewer isolation routes and more crossing routes and man-beaters to help the receivers win their one-on-one matchups, but what happens after that is entirely about player execution.

According to ESPN Milwaukee, former Packers receiver Antonio Freeman had his own diagnosis for what the offense needs to do to help the receivers be successful:

The drops seem to be very much a mental issue. While inclement weather such as what the Packers experienced on Thanksgiving can certainly contribute to some slip-ups, the drops have been consistent enough in rain, clear skies and dome situations that there is also a mental element present.

To beat Detroit's pass defense, the Packers will need to stretch the field and make the offense less predictable and spread-based.

A key way to achieve this would be to involve young weapon Jeff Janis more. After he came on against the San Diego Chargers and proved that his speediness and athleticism aren't overrated when returning kicks against the Vikings and Bears, Janis' opportunities have remained limited.

He's one of the only receivers on the roster who has the size (6'3", 219 lbs) and speed to truly take the top off the defense. His route running and overall technique may be sloppy in practice, scaring the coaches, but if the Packers lose to the Lions, their playoff chances will take a nosedive.

Tight end Justin Perillo has also proved to be a mostly reliable target in the passing game. As for the run, it's crucial that the Packers find balance early and avoid becoming one-dimensional on offense because Detroit will pick them apart if that happens.

Eddie Lacy has been breaking tackles and gaining crucial yards after contact in his last two games, and James Starks has been a boon to the passing game.

With the season on the line, the Packers need to get both creative and aggressive in their game plan to come out ahead in what is looking more and more like a must-win game.

Advanced statistics courtesy of Pro Football Focus.