Green Bay Packers see red after halftime 

By Tom Ziemer and Tom Oates / Wisconsin State Journal | Posted: Friday, November 27, 2009 8:00 am

[img_r]http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/lacrossetribune.com/content/tncms/assets/editorial/b/79/72b/b7972b18-db16-11de-ad6a-001cc4c03286.image.jpg?_dc=1259300154[/img_r]DETROIT - The Green Bay Packers were moving the ball up and down the field, and yet at halftime of their 34-12 Thanksgiving win over the Detroit Lions at Ford Field, they had just 13 points to show for it.

That despite the fact that quarterback Aaron Rodgers had thrown for 204 yards and the Packers had amassed 256 as a team.

It was a familiar situation for a Green Bay team was in a similar spot last week last week against San Francisco after a 1-for-4 first-half red-zone showing.

"We kind of cleaned things up in the second half," running back Ryan Grant said. "And that was what we said at halftime, we want to score touchdowns. Field goals aren't going to cut it, and we wanted to put them away."

The Packers were much more efficient in finishing drives in a third quarter that saw them grab full control of the game.

While a Rodgers sack-and-fumble ended Green Bay's first drive of the second half, the Packers scored touchdowns on their next two.

Rodgers, who torched the Lions for 348 yards and three scores against no interceptions, found receiver Donald Driver for a seven-yard score against a heavy blitz to make it 20-7 with 6 minutes, 38 seconds left in the third. On the Packers' next possession, he hit receiver James Jones for a 21-yard catch-and-run to push Green Bay's lead to 27-7 with 38 seconds to go in the third.

"That's the one thing that you have to correct," Driver said of finishing drives. "And we corrected it and then you see after that, we was able to put points on the board."

Those were just two of the highlights from Rodgers' latest carving of the Lions.

He completed 65.2 percent of his passes for 636 yards and six touchdowns vs. no interceptions in two meetings with Detroit last season, and was 29-for-37 for 358 yards and two touchdowns and one interception in the teams' first game this season.

But he left Ford Field "pretty sore" after taking a shot from Lions rookie linebacker DeAndre Levy, a former University of Wisconsin athlete, on a third-down play early in the fourth quarter.

"Got my left side of my body kind of jarred and then I kind of landed awkwardly on my knee," Rodgers said. "Been through knee surgery before, just a little bit worried for a second there. But I laid there for a second and got up. ... Didn't want mom to worry at all, so knew I was going to be OK and jogged off the field."

Line 'em up

The Packers had three players knocked out of the game by injuries: left tackle Chad Clifton (hamstring), receiver Jordy Nelson (shoulder) and cornerback Brandon Underwood (hamstring).

Clifton's injury threw a wrench into the Packers' plans at right tackle. He came up hobbling after a Rodgers-to-Driver completion midway through Green Bay's second drive of the second half.

The veteran stayed in for one play before being replaced by rookie T.J. Lang. Lang had been rotating with Mark Tauscher on the right side, coming in for one series in the first half.

Clifton's injury meant Tauscher played the entire second half.

"I felt good. I did," the former University of Wisconsin athlete said. "It was a lot of fun being out there. I really don't have any clue (about the plan), I just go play. When they tell me to go in, I go in; when they tell me to come out, I come out."

Lang has bounced around the line this season, but took all the snaps at left tackle during Tuesday's practice because Clifton sat out with a knee problem.

"I felt good going out there at left tackle," Lang said, "and I've taken enough reps at both right and left tackle the past few weeks that I feel whatever they need me to play, I'm going to go out there and I can feel comfortable playing either one."

Airing it out

Rodgers tested his arm strength on his 68-yard pass to a wide-open Driver in the second quarter, a ball that traveled 70 yards in the air.

"I'd say about 72 probably is (my) max," Rodgers said. "If I had thrown a perfect spiral, I think I could have gotten another yard or two out of the ball."

Another yard or two would have given the Packers a touchdown because Driver was well behind Lions safety Marvin White and had to wait for the ball, allowing White to recover and make the tackle at the 9. It didn't matter because Rodgers threw a touchdown pass to tight end Donald Lee on the next play to tie the game at 7-7.

"It wasn't the design of the play but it was a heck of a throw," coach Mike McCarthy said. "I think it starts up front. Obviously, the protection was very good. He extended the play and Donald got behind them. When he threw it and I looked up to see where Donald was, I was impressed that he got the ball there. And I think the safety was surprised, too."

Rodgers, who has faced an intense pass rush all season, was probably surprised because he had about 7 seconds to throw the ball.

The Lions faked a seven-man pass rush on the play and Rodgers intended to dump the ball off to fullback Korey Hall. When they rushed only three, however, that gave Rodgers time to go all the way through his progressions before locating Driver running free behind the defense.

"I think they just kind of lost him (Driver) because I was running around out there like I didn't know what was going on, looking to the left, looking to the right," Rodgers said. "I kind of saw Donald out of the corner of my eye and had to make a little split decision about whether I could throw it that far. I still didn't throw it far enough where he could catch it and score, but I think they kind of lost it there. It was a fun one."

On the defensive

As expected, Jarrett Bush assumed nickel back duties with cornerback Al Harris done for the season and Tramon Williams moving up to take Harris' spot.

Green Bay also made the move most anticipated they would at left outside linebacker, with rookie Brad Jones starting in place of Aaron Kampman, whose season is also over. Brady Poppinga rotated in periodically to spell Jones, while Jeremy Thompson also saw time to give rookie Clay Matthews a break on the right side.

"We played some more people," McCarthy said. "We had some different combinations."