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Green Bay Packers vs Detroit Lions: NFL live scores, blog

Aaron Rodgers. (AP Photo/Tom Lynn)
Roar Guru
28th December, 2014
174
1025 Reads

Welcome to week 17, the last week of the NFL regular season as the Detroit Lions travel to Green Bay, Wisconsin and the iconic Lambeau Field to square off against the Green Bay Packers in what is now the NFC North division title decider. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 7:25am (AEDT) Monday 29th December 2014.

Both of these teams sit at 11-4 and the winner here wins the NFC North division title and a first round playoff bye. Yes, it’s all to play for in this one. The Detroit Lions come into this one off the back of a hard-fought 20-14 win last week against division rivals the Chicago Bears and the biggest news to come out of Detroit this week is the suspension of centre Dominic Raiola after his infamous stomp last week on Chicago Bears defensive tackle Ego Ferguson’s ankle.

The Lions do, however, come into the game with a healthy Calvin Johnson after his recent injury struggles this season and so look for quarterback Matthew Stafford to look his way as well as Golden Tate who himself has had a great year. But even if the Lions lose they are still guaranteed a playoff spot, as are the Green Bay Packers should they lose.

Speaking of the Green Bay Packers, they too chalked up a win last week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20-3 and so far they have been unbeaten at home this season with an average margin of victory being a very impressive 20.7 points.

With NFL MVP favourite, quarterback Aaron Rodgers under centre, and arguable the best wide receiver duo in the NFL in Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb we can expect them to give the Lions’ number 2 ranked defense at least something to think about. But if anyone can limit the Packers offense it is the Lions.

The last time these 2 teams met was back in week 3 when the Lions were victorious in a 19-7 win, however the Packers as already mentioned have been unbeaten at home this season and Detroit has not won in Lambeau since 1991 and haven’t won the division since 1993 when it was actually named the NFC Central.

Players to watch for the Green Bay Packers will be running back Eddie Lacy. Can he be effective enough against the Lions league-leading defense against the run to give the Packers a more balanced attack? Also look for the Packers defense to get pressure on Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford to limit the time he’ll want to find Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate.

For the Lions their defense will be watched closely and whether they will be able to limit the Packers opportunities as they did back in week 3. If they can repeat that performance then they have a very good chance of winning this game. On the other side of the ball keep an eye on running back Joique Bell who is both an effective runner but also pass catcher who can be very effective as a check-down option for Matthew Stafford if he’s getting pressurized all day.

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OK, so prediction time – a lot of people have picked the Green Bay Packers for this game and I too think they’ll win. The Lions weren’t convincing last week in their game in Chicago and the Packers are unstoppable at home so they’ll win here, thus taking the NFC North title by a score of 28-17.

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