PACKERS BEAT LIONS, MAKE NFL HISTORY
- Green Bay's 31-21 win over Detriot causes the Lions to go winnless on the season. It's the first time an NFL team has
gone 0-16. The last club to go winless was the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who went 0-14.
- Green Bay set an NFL record with two receivers, Donald Driver (111) and Greg Jennings (101), and two rushers, Ryan
Grant (106) and DeShawn Wynn (106), each earning over 100 yards. According to Elias Stats Bureau, it is the first time
in league history a team has had two 100-yard rushers and two 100-yard receivers in a single game.
- The win marked the Packers' 17th consecutive regular-season win, 18th including playoffs, over the Lions in the state of
Wisconsin.
- Green Bay improved to 14-1 in regular-season finales since 1994, the NFL's best W-L record in finales over that period.
- Today's win snaps the Packers five-game losing streak, and the team finishes the season 6-10.
OTHER POSTGAME NOTES:
- Today's paid attendance was 70,141, the 277th consecutive sellout (261 regular season, 16 playoffs) at Lambeau Field.
- Aaron Rodgers becomes just the second quarterback since 1970 to record 4,000 yards passing in the same season in
which he made his first career start. Rodgers is the fourth player in team history to go over the 4,000-yard mark.
- Donald Driver becomes the first player in Packers history to record 1,000 receiving yards in a sixth overall season. James
Lofton and Sterling Sharpe each had five 1,000-yard campaigns. For Driver, it is the fifth consecutive 1,000-yard effort,
extending his own franchise record. Driver finishes the season with 1,012 yards.
- The Packers hit on both their longest pass play and run play from scrimmage this season. Donald Driver's 71-yard touchdown
catch was a season high through the air, while DeShawn Wynn's 73-yard run was the team's longest ground gain.
- Ryan Grant tallied his fourth 100-yard effort of the season, the ninth of his career. He finished the day with 106 yards on
19 carries (5.6 avg).
- Grant finishes the season 1,203 yards on 312 carries. The yardage ranks seventh all-time on the franchise single-season
list, while the carries total ranks 4th.
- Greg Jennings went over 100 yards receiving for the fifth time this season, the ninth of his career. He caught five passes
for 101 yards.
- Jennings finishes the year with 1,292 yards and nine touchdowns on 80 receptions. That yardage total ranks 10th alltime
on the team's single-season list.
- Jordy Nelson took the opening kickoff 45 yards, matching the longest return by the Packers this season. Will Blackmon
also had a 45-yard kickoff return vs. Atlanta (Oct. 5).
- DeShawn Wynn's 73-yard touchdown run in the first quarter was the longest of his career. Wynn finished the game with
a career-high 106 yards on seven carries (15.1 avg).
- Jermichael Finley's 3-yard TD catch in the first quarter was the first of his career.
- Green Bay's 14-0 lead after the first quarter was its biggest lead of the season after the opening quarter.
- Mason Crosby finishes the season with 127 points, the fourth-highest total on the franchise's most points (no touchdowns)
list.
- John Kuhn caught a TD pass in the fourth quarter. It was his second of the season.
HEAD COACH MIKE McCARTHY:
*(on the importance of the win, big picture wise) *
"Winning is the goal. And anytime you have an opportunity to win and beat a division opponent, those are all aspects of your program you can point to and build off of. This is the way you want to start the season (for next year). It's short term. It's definitely something positive we can point to."
- (on his confidence in Aaron Rodgers, especially late in the game) *
"I've had confidence in Aaron Rodgers all year. I think the way the game is called dictates that. To come out and take that shot at that specific time based on the circumstances that just occurred, with Detroit driving and scoring, I think that says a lot about the play caller and the quarterback being on the same page. I think it's been evident all year. The protection was excellent, and he did an excellent job with the safety and reading his eyes. Donald ran an excellent route. It was a good ball and catch, and good finish. You have to have confidence, and that's where we are as an offense and those are the types of things we want to build off of as we move forward."
- (on the play of DeShawn Wynn) *
"DeShawn did a very nice job. I think that's something you can see building. That's the way he practices. He's a young man that had an excellent opportunity last year. He was injured and fought through a rough training camp and fought his way back from the practice squad. I think it's an excellent story. I think it's a tribute to him, and shoot, he needs to hold onto the ball, but other than that, I thought he played a hell of a game."
- (on Jermichael Finley's progression) *
"Jermichael Finley just keeps getting better every time he takes the field. Everyone talks about the rookie wall and Jermichael Finley, when that wall was supposed to hit, he just kept getting better and better. I'm proud of him. He's a young man that has a bright future. He continues to work and get better, and it's nice to see him have success on Sundays because that's the type of player we've seen for quite some time during practice."
- (on the offensive line's performance) *
"I thought our offensive line did a great job. We obviously made the change this week with the three position changes, and then we had two injuries that we had to overcome. But the one part that definitely is in place is the flexibility aspect of our offensive line. I think we'd like to get back to more of a solid five guys playing to get the continuity, but that's a credit to those guys. It's hard to do, it's hard to switch positions during the game, let alone switching positions during the week and then having to switch back during the game and have to overcome two substitutions. And then to give us the opportunity to have as productive a day as we did have offensively. It all starts up front. They did a hell of a job."
QUARTERBACK AARON RODGERS:
- (on not wanting to lose to an 0-15 team) *
"We didn't want to lose, no we didn't. But really it's not on your mind once the game starts. I didn't even think about it until the fans started chanting in the fourth quarter. They (Detroit) played hard, they really did. They've been in a tough situation. I think Rod Marinelli's handled everything very classy through the whole season. It's been tough. They've lost a lot of close games, they've been blown out a few games, they've had injuries. (Detroit quarterback) Dan Orlovsky's a good friend of mine, so I feel for him and some of those guys, (like) Paris Lenon, who I know. But we ourselves were on a five-game losing streak so we needed this one to get some momentum going into next season."
- (on his individual performance over the entire season) *
"A little more inconsistent than I'd like. I played well in stretches and I didn't play well at times, and I expect every game to have a performance similar to this one because of the way I prepare and the confidence I have in my own abilities and the guys around me."
- (on Driver's long touchdown pass) *
"It was a great call. I just told Mike (McCarthy) I appreciate the call. It shows a lot of confidence in myself for him to call a play like that in a running set with two tight ends on the field."
- (on leaving the field to cheers instead of boos like at start of preseason) *
"It says a lot about our fans. They have been very supportive, especially in the community when I've been out…It's been a tough season. They expect great things just like we as players do and it's been disappointing, I know, for all of us. But we solemnly pledge to work hard this offseason and fix things for next year and hopefully bring some more wins back to Green Bay."
- (on hitting the 4,000 yard passing mark) *
"That's definitely something that was important on the personal goals. Obviously wins is the most important thing, but for Donald (Driver) and I to both get to those milestones on the same play, for him to get to be five straight years with 1,000 yards is pretty impressive. It says a lot about the kind of player he is, especially with Greg (Jennings) having the kind of success he's had this year, for Donald to also go over 1,000 yards is pretty special."
- (on having a full season's experience heading into next year) *
"I played 16 games now, started 16 and I have the experience of each of those games and I think it's going be interesting to see the way my game evolves and the defenses schematically evolve in their attempts to stop us on offense. But like I said I'm going to work hard, I'm going to get in very good shape again and go through quarterback school and hone my fundamentals back to where they need to be and get ready to have a better season than this season."
RUNNING BACK DeSHAWN WYNN:
- (on if it feels good to get his first 100-yard game during the last game of the season) *
"Definitely, especially from the running game's stand point. The offensive line did a good job today and having that long run helped me to get 100 yards. But "RG" (Ryan Grant) did a great job all season, especially today, to get 100 yards himself. He's been our running game the whole year. I'm just grateful for the opportunity to come out and get some touches."
- (on his 73-yard touchdown run) *
"I got the ball and looked outside and it was pretty much walled off. I didn't get touched the whole time except for when I kind of ran back into the defender, but you know, it was sealed off and I think any running back or receiver on the team could have easily scored that touchdown. It was such a good job by the offensive line."
- (on this game being a stepping stone for the 2009 season) *
"Being on the practice squad at the beginning of the season, taking the steps I had to, to get back to being active, finishing off with something like that, I couldn't ask for much more. I'm just grateful for getting the opportunity and the coaches having the confidence in me and just getting it done."
CORNERBACK TRAMON WILLIAMS:
- (on the defense putting together a solid performance) *
"We just went out there and played. I don't know exactly what it was, but I think guys felt relieved. You know we wanted to go out there and get a win and to tell you the truth, it feels good to get that."
- (on this team being a better unit than their final 6-10 record suggests) *
"We all know that. We're going to go into the offseason thinking that. You know, we lost all of these close games, the fact is we're 6-10. Deep down inside, we know we're better, that's the way we're going to continue to approach it."
- (on getting back on the winning track regardless of it was against a winless team) *
"Right, it's like I told the other guys, I was like, 'It feels good to get this win.' It was a lot of pressure relieved off of a lot of guys. It feels good. Even though we're not going into the playoffs and such, just getting a chance to go into the offseason and feeling good, building from it, coming back ready to go. You don't want to go into the offseason with six straight losses. You don't know how it's going to affect guys, coming back from the offseason. It's just great to get that win."
DEFENSIVE TACKLE RYAN PICKETT:
- (on if this team thinks with a few breaks it's not that far away from where it was last year) *
"Exactly, we feel like we're not far away. That's how football is, a game of inches. You know, one play, unfortunately, we kept on getting beat. Last year, we had those plays our way."
- (on if it was another "uh-oh" situation when Detroit came right back and scored in the fourth quarter) *
"I mean, yeah. You feel like, 'Oh man, we're trying to hand this game over again.' But that's how I felt like all year, we'd be winning and it's just like, just waiting for them to come take it from us. That's good that we got to finish like that, it's good that they pushed us at the end and we was able to come through and finish like we should have been doing all year."
- (on if this defense uses the right scheme) *
"Yeah, most definitely, I like the scheme. It's a good scheme, it's been working for us the last couple years, we had a rough run at it this year. Pretty much, you can take a handful of plays, that's what hurt us this year, it wasn't the scheme it was a couple plays."
WIDE RECEIVER DONALD DRIVER:
- (on the team ending the season on a positive note) *
"Yeah, it was big, it was big for us. Just to come out here and play. The stakes were high for us, we haven't had a win in awhile, and to come out and play the way we did, that was great."
- (on how it feels on a personal note to get his fifth straight 1,000 yard season and have both he and Greg Jennings notch 100-yard days) *
"I mean it feels good. Going into this game, everybody was trying to tell me how many yards I needed and I didn't want to know. I just wanted to play the game, I didn't want to think about every catch and every ball that was thrown to me, I just wanted to make the catch. Once I caught the big one, I kind of knew I was close. Greg (Jennings) ran out there and started screaming, so I knew I was close to it."
- (on if his 71-yard touchdown catch was the one play toward the end of a game that the offense has lacked the past few weeks) *
"Oh yeah, that's the one thing. We just had to go out there and make a play. One thing that I know our receivers do week in and week out, is we put pressure on ourselves to make plays. And we went out there and did it today."
DETROIT LIONS HEAD COACH ROD MARINELLI:
- (on winless season) *
"I think the record speaks for itself. We tried hard all year. I felt they gave it their best. I felt I gave it my best, but sometimes your best isn't good enough and it wasn't good enough this year. The team has done an incredible job of staying focused and keeping the locker room together. No competitor wants to go through something like this. We have nobody to point a finger at other than ourselves."
- (on the mental breakdowns in the game) *
"That was disappointing. They were trying as hard as they could go. Self-control is everything in big games and we didn't have it today. Guys are frustrated and trying, and they got the best of us."
- (on where the Lions struggled today) *
"Obviously there are a lot of things we could have done better no question about it. If I look at one thing, like today, is execution. We broke down on some basic, basic things like leverage, open field tackling and not getting beat deep. Very basic things in the game we got beat on today.
- (on the defense this season) *
"Early in the year I thought it was going to be a strength and it hasn't turned out that way. It seems like big plays, explosion plays, probably got us as much as anything all year. And it wasn't one call; it was a combination of the big play hitting us."
DETROIT LIONS RUNNING BACK KEVIN SMITH:
- (on his fourth quarter unsportsmanlike conduct penalty) *
"It was a very bad, selfish decision. I let my emotions get the best of me. It was tough, but it is no excuse. It is just frustrating because you want to do well and compete like everybody else. When things aren't going your way, it builds up. The great players and the great professionals don't do what I did. I need to learn from it."
- (on what he will learn from the winless season) *
"You learn to keep fighting. I am going to train this off season and be the best back in the NFL. I wish it was just a dream. I wish we could just wake up and it would be over, but it's not."
DETROIT LIONS WIDE RECEIVER CALVIN JOHNSON:
- (on tying the game up at 14) *
"We have been fighting all year. We started off kind of rusty, but we put together some decent games the last couple weeks, but still not good enough to win."
- (on dealing with adversity) *
"We just need to learn how to close out the fourth quarter. We are always there, but it just kind of slips away from us. We need to learn how to finish."
