DETROIT – Two touchdown drives by the Lions in the second quarter gave them a 14-10 halftime lead over the Packers on Sunday night at Ford Field.
The second quarter began with Lions K Matt Prater pulling a 39-yard field goal attempt wide left. The Packers took over on their own 29.
The Packers got moving on their next drive. QB Aaron Rodgers pulled off a nifty escape move on third down and hit TE Jared Cook for 11 yards to move the chains. Cook caught the next pass for 24, and then fellow TE Richard Rodgers made a tackler miss on a 14-yard catch-and-run into the red zone. A defensive holding call on the Lions made it first-and-goal on the 9.
On second down, Rodgers found FB Aaron Ripkowski open over the middle for a 7-yard TD. Ripkowski also had three carries for 15 yards on the drive.
The Lions came right back, overcoming a sack by LB Blake Martinez to hit a 35-yard pass to WR T.J. Jones on third-and-15. Runs by WR Golden Tate and RB Zach Zenner picked up 20 more for a first down at the Green Bay 14. An offside penalty on DE Datone Jones preceded a 7-yard pass to TE Eric Ebron to make it first-and-goal on the 2.
On third-and-goal from the 1, Zenner plowed in for the TD, and Prater's extra point tied the score at 7 with 5:00 left in the half.
The Packers were plagued by penalties on their next drive, three in all (with two declined), and a poor 28-yard punt by P Jake Schum went out of bounds on the Detroit 31.
The Packers had a prime opportunity for a turnover, but LB Clay Matthews dropped Stafford's pass over the middle, and Stafford immediately hit WR Anquan Boldin for 11 yards and a first down across midfield. A screen to Zenner against a blitz picked up 14 more. Zenner then converted on third-and-1 with a 6-yard run for a first down at the Green Bay 18, and the Lions called timeout with 37 seconds left.
Passes of 5 yards to WR Marvin Jones and 10 yards to Boldin made it first-and-goal on the 3, with Detroit calling its last timeout with 26 seconds to go. The TD pass was thrown to Tate on a pick play on the right side, and the Lions took a 14-7 lead.
Rodgers came back with a 39-yard pass to rookie WR Geronimo Allison to the Detroit 41. A 6-yard pass to Cook got the ball to the 35 with 6 seconds left, and an incomplete pass took the clock down to 3 seconds. K Mason Crosby was good from 53 yards out on the final play to get the Packers within 14-10, Crosby's longest kick of the season.
