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Detroit Lions winners and losers: Tim Patrick's catches help Lions to 11th straight win
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- Detroit Lions winners and losers: Tim Patrick's catches help Lions to 11th straight win
Free Press sports writer Dave Birkett highlights the best and worst performances of the Detroit Lions ' 34-31 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Thursday night at Ford Field.
Game balls
Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell looks on at the end of first quarter against Green Bay Packers at Ford Field in Detroit on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024.
SHAWN WINDSOR: Dan Campbell has biggest stones in NFL as Lions show why it works again vs. Packers
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Dan Campbell
Campbell is a unicorn when it comes to NFL coaches, and the Lions are lucky to have him.
On Thursday, he made the gutsy decision to try and convert a late fourth-and-1 rather than simply kick the go-ahead field goal with 43 seconds left in a tie game. Had the Lions kicked, the Packers would have gotten the ball back with about 38 seconds on the clock and a chance to tie the game.
The Lions converted four of five fourth-down tries Thursday, including their final one on a David Montgomery run that allowed them run the clock down to 2 seconds before Jake Bates came on for the winning kick. Campbell hasn't veered from the aggressive approach he had in his first year in Detroit , when the Lions were one of the worst teams in the NFL. And while I didn't like all of his fourth-down decisions Thursday — the Lions failed on a fourth-and-1 at their own 31 late in the third quarter — the faith he puts in players continues to pay off in major ways.
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LIONS GRADES: Dan Campbell rolls dice on fourth downs
WR Tim Patrick
Patrick caught a season-high six passes for 43 yards and scored two touchdowns in Thursday's back-and-forth second half. His 3-yard touchdown in the third quarter came on a fourth-and-3, one series after the Packers took a 21-17 lead, and he followed that with a 1-yard touchdown catch three series later after another Packers touchdown.
The Lions offense is loaded with stars, but Patrick has been invaluable as a third receiver. He blocks well, he has good hands and, on Thursday, he showed off his clutch genes.
"Stepped up big here," Campbell said. "We talked about catching and knifing today. Catch, turn and run. Catch it, tug it, turn and run. Do whatever. If you can only get 5 (yards), you've got to get a 6. If you can only get a 7, you've got to get us 8, and man, I mean he did that multiple times, and then comes up with the two big touchdowns for us. He's been an unbelievable addition; what a stud."
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Goats
Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson (9) makes a catch against Detroit Lions during the first half at Ford Field in Detroit on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024.
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Packers WR Christian Watson
Watson had a game-high 114 yards receiving Thursday and was one of the Packers' only reliable offensive weapons. But he also had a costly turnover on Green Bay 's third possession, right when the Packers finally started moving the ball.
Watson caught a short crossing route over the middle and was lunging for extra yards when Carlton Davis III knocked the ball loose from behind. David Long recovered the fumble, and the Lions kicked a field goal six plays later — after they had stalled on two consecutive drives — to take a 10-0 lead.
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"It was huge, man," Campbell said of the turnover. "Big punch out there."
OG Graham Glasgow
Glasgow wasn't really a goat , but he could have been, given his step on Jared Goff 's foot to trip the Lions quarterback as he handed the ball to David Montgomery on that final fourth-and-1 conversion.
Goff never lost possession of the ball on the handoff, and Montgomery plowed through the right side of the line for 7 yards. But there's never been a more nervous split-second in the history of Ford Field than there was Thursday when the Lions nearly gave a game away by tripping on their own feet.
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"Bad feeling when you're a quarterback," Goff said. 'Not the first time that's happened in my career. You try to like stretch out and give it to them, I was even probably going to flip it to him if I couldn't hand it to him. But made it happen, make it work, and David did the rest."
Dave Birkett will sign copies of his new book, " Detroit Lions : An Illustrated Timeline" at 7 p.m. Dec. 9 at Post Local Bistro in Plymouth. Order your copy here. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com . Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions game balls: Dan Campbell is a unicorn
