Packers, Lions contrasting pictures of health heading into Thursday matchup

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Allen Park — Each week during the 2024 season, we’ve updated you on what’s new with the upcoming opponent, but there’s seemingly little to share about a divisional rival the Detroit Lions played a month earlier.

But attempting to set the table for Thursday night’s back half of the home-and-home with the Green Bay Packers, let’s take a look at how the makeup of the matchup has shifted.

The conversation unquestionably centers around injuries. The Lions have lost a handful of key pieces since their Week 9 victory, while the Packers are slightly healthier than they were for the previous meeting.

Detroit's guaranteed absences from the lineup between the games are linebackers Alex Anzalone and Jalen Reeves-Maybin, rookie defensive lineman Mekhi Wingo and return man Kalif Raymond. Additionally, the status of offensive tackle Taylor Decker, cornerback Carlton Davis III and defensive lineman Levi Onwuzurike are up in the air. Decker and Davis missed the team’s Thanksgiving Classic with knee injuries, while Onwuzurike exited during the first half of that contest, also with a knee concern.

The Lions also lost linebacker linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez and Josh Paschal to injury on Thanksgiving. Rodriguez, who had been backfilling the majority of Anzalone’s snaps, is done for the season with a torn ACL. Paschal can be counted among the group of unknowns for this upcoming Thursday, but he and Onwuzurike aren't likely to be ready according to coach Dan Campbell. But unlike the players above, Rodriguez and Paschal both missed the previous game against the Packers with unrelated ailments.

With the mounting injuries, several players who saw minimal or no defensive snaps — and in some cases weren’t even on Detroit’s roster — could see time in this contest. That group includes linebackers Ezekiel Turner, David Long, and the freshly signed Kwon Alexander, a pair of defensive linemen poached off practice squads this week, Myles Adams and Jonah Williams, as well as cornerbacks Kindle Vildor, Emmanuel Moseley or Khalil Dorsey, depending on Davis’ availability. According to Campbell on Saturday, the starter is day-to-day and questionable.

If Adams and Williams aren’t aren't able to get up to speed this week, the Lions could turn to their practice squad to bolster the defensive front’s depth, particularly on the edges. That potentially opens the door for someone like Isaac Ukwu, Isaiah Thomas or Mitchell Agude to get a temporary promotion.

For the Packers, they should be in better shape than they were in Week 9. That begins with quarterback Jordan Love, who was battling a groin strain that week, which appeared to affect his performance in the inclement conditions. Now healthy, Love has been playing at his peak level during the team’s three-game winning streak, completing 69.1% of his throws and posting a 120.8 passer rating.

He’s also taken just three sacks during that stretch, dropping back behind an intact starting offensive line. When the two teams played previously, Packers center Josh Myers was sidelined, forcing a shuffling of the deck up front.

Defensively, the Packers will have outstanding rookie safety Evan Williams back after he was shelved by a strained hamstring the last time. What’s unclear is if No. 1 cornerback Jaire Alexander will suit up. He missed the Week 9 matchup, as well as the past two weeks, with a knee injury.

Another piece that may or may not play with a lingering injury is rookie linebacker Edgerrin Cooper. He missed Green Bay’s Thanksgiving game against Miami with a pulled hamstring.

Beyond the injuries, both teams made deadline moves at defensive end. The Lions acquired a key piece in Za’Darius Smith while the Packers shipped out his former teammate Preston Smith.

For the Lions, Za’Darius Smith has provided a much-needed boost to the pass rush after the early-season loss of Pro Bowler Aidan Hutchinson. In his first three appearances with Detroit, Smith has tallied 3.0 sacks and 17 QB pressures.

As for Preston Smith, he was a poor scheme fit for Green Bay’s newly installed attacking front and requested a trade. He was shipped to Pittsburgh in exchange for a seventh-round pick.

The now-former Packer logged three tackles with 21 defensive snaps in Week 9. His playing time has been replaced by a combination of an increased workload for Kingsley Enagbare and Brenton Cox Jr., who was a healthy scratch for the first nine games of the season.

The Packers have won seven of their last eight with the lone loss coming at the hands of the Lions, 24-14, at Lambeau Field. During a three-game winning streak since that defeat, they’ve averaged 29.3 while allowed just 15.3 during that stretch.