Look for Lions to pull off upset
Posted: Thursday October 15, 1998 11:16 AM
Green Bay and Detroit square off Thursday night in a classic NFC Central
matchup. Divisional games like this mean throw out this year's records and
look at the history between the two teams.
In four of the last five years, Green Bay and Detroit have split the season
series. And the Lions are 4-1 at home against Green Bay in that time.
I spoke with coaches and personnel people who have played both teams this
year, and they feel the key to the game will be whether Lions rookie
quarterback Charlie
Batch gets enough time to throw. If he does, I like Detroit's receivers
against Green Bay. Herman
Moore. Johnnie
Morton, and Germane Crowell are capable of creating the same problems
that Minnesota's receivers gave the Packers secondary, especially on the
deep routes.
On the ground, Barry
Sanders presents even more trouble for Green Bay than Minnesota's Robert Smith did. In their
last four games at the Silverdome, every time Sanders rushed for more than
100 yards against the Packers, Detroit won.
On defense, Detroit needs to go after Brett Favre the way Denver
did in the Super Bowl. Show him multiple zone blitz schemes and get him to
hold the ball and get out of his rhythm. Detroit is already fairly good
against the run, giving up 86 yards per game. My advice, and the advice of
some of Green Bay's recent opponents, is for the Lions to force Green Bay
to beat them on the ground. I don't believe the Packers can.
On the other side, Green Bay rarely loses two games in a row. In fact, the
last time it happened was the Packers' final two losses during their Super
Bowl season in '96. Green Bay has a good pass rush and Detroit does not
have the offensive line Minnesota does. And if Chicago's Eric Kramer can
put up 21 points in one quarter against the Lions as he did two Sundays
ago, Favre, the best player in the NFL, can light up Detroit, too.
Green Bay beat Detroit in Week 1, in a game in which Dorsey Levens played,
Sanders did not rush for 100 yards and Scott Mitchell was the
Detroit QB. I think it's going to be different this time. Detroit wins it
in a close battle.
| 
