Toyotathon Jordan Love And The Packers Go Into Detroit On Thanksgiving And Deliver a Statement Win

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People like to nitpick and hate on Jordan Love for no reason. They just ignore his elite numbers and focus on little shit to dismiss his talents. I guess they're just terrified that the Packers organization did it again and nailed another franchise quarterback. Now don't get me wrong, he has his ups and downs. It's not a perfect product, but don't kid yourself, Jordan Love is a bonafide top 10 quarterback in this league. If anything he is held back by play-calling which somehow finds its way back to put blame on him. It's bullshit. He's excellent and on this Thanksgiving he showed it all. It wasn't the greatest of starts for the Packers QB, missing Bo Melton on a slip out to the right side for a walk in touchdown, but once he got settled in the Packers never stopped scoring. 

A question coming in was who Love would target on the field. With Kraft out for the year, Golden missing another game, and Jayden Reed still a week away from returning, who would step up outside of Watson and Doubs? The definitive answer was Dontayvion Wicks, a guy who has been an after thought with this offense came alive today. It was the Wicks show and it all started with this great grab for the game's first TD. 

He wasn't done there though. I had to rewatch this multiple times to believe it was actually Wicks making this all-hands catch at the goal line. 

With Love settled in to start the 2nd half, he let it rip with this bomb down the right side to Christian Watson. 

Watson is another guy who has overcome major drop issues early in his career. Since coming back from the ACL surgery he's been money. This is the guy the Packers hoped he'd become when they drafted him years ago. He's become the true WR1 for this team. 

Let's talk defense. A week ago Packers DC and future NFL head coach Jeff Hafley compared Micah Parsons to Mariano Rivera with the way he closes out games. 

You got that in full force today with the way he took over as Detroit tried to score and cut the lead down to 3. This is why you trade all that for this man. He is that good. Changes the entire outlook of this defense. 

And when it came to end the game, Love located Wicks on 4th down to seal it. 

The Love patented fadeaway throw that he's perfected, Wicks with another fantastic snag (WHAT THE FUCK), and Matt LaFleur with the big time balls to go for it rather than punting and giving the Lions a chance. 

Overall Jordan Love was fantastic. I challenge any of his critics to say a bad thing about that performance. Matt LaFleur deserves credit for the game plan. He was SUPER aggressive today, trusting Love with the ball. Honestly in the first half I almost thought he was too aggressive (there's really no such thing in my mind) with how effective the run was. Green Bay's o-line got amazing push off of Detroit and was having their way. Even in short 3rd and 4th down yardage, MLF was letting Love dictate the game and it worked. The Packers were 3 for 3 on 4th down, compared to Detroit going 0 for 2. Ballsy and effective. 

It's a massive fucking win for the Packers who improve to 8-3-1 and can jump back into first if the Bears fall to Philly on Friday. They also sweep the season matchup against Detroit which becomes massive in the event they tie record wise later in the year. Green Bay now gets an extended week and a half off before a home game against the Bears. That will give Jordan Love more time to rest his sprained AC joint in his left shoulder along with the injured WRs Golden and Reed being allowed to return comfortably. Kraft isn't coming back, but with those guys returning, this offense is going to be special. Josh Jacobs definitely wasn't 100% today, but he gutted it out and played well. He's going to greet that break with open arms. The one downer today was Devonte Wyatt getting carted off with an ankle injury. Not good. Need to get good news somehow with his imaging. 

Update: BAD

He is a massive piece in the middle of that defensive line. Not gonna be easy to replace what he does.   

For the Lions? Well, you entered today already on the outside looking in for the playoff picture. That only gets more difficult now. Way harder to hop Green Bay now, you're at the moment two back in the loss column on the Bears and Seattle. The Niners are just a game in front, but they have the Browns, Bears, and Titans on the schedule. It's not impossible, but the loss today is tough.