Sports
Xavier McKinney got brutally honest about the Packers’ humbling loss to the Lions as he blasts Lions for trying to ’embarrass’ opponents
There’s a lot of worry in Green Bay this morning.
Week 9 didn’t go precisely as planned. In probably the most important game of the Packers’ season, the Lions came into Lambeau Field and held them to one score in their second home division loss in six weeks.
The Lions’ offense was typically slow – they didn’t even reach 300 yards – but they were able to handle the Packers all night, with Green Bay’s late touchdown making the final score appear more respectable than it was.
Every NFL win and defeat is overblown to some extent, but Sunday afternoon’s game suggested that the NFC North may not be as competitive as everyone believed a few weeks ago. Afterwards, Xavier McKinney, who is never afraid to be open with the media, delivered some harsh criticism of the Packers’ poor performance.
“We’ve just got to stop doing the same s— honestly,” he said. “Figure it out. It’s not really that hard. It’s not complicated. We’ve just got to figure it out … It’s not good. We don’t want to lose any games, especially our division games. We put ourselves in a hole being 0-2 in the division. Luckily we play the Lions again, we play the Vikings again. We’ve got to take care of our business next time we play these teams.”
In one sense, it’s refreshing to see a Packers player be so open about the team’s troubles following a loss. It’d almost be more frustrating to get a prefabricated response about taking the following week one day at a time; look at Chicago and Matt Eberflus to see how well those types of answers work.
But it’s jarring to see this type of reaction from a guy on a team that’s still 6-3 and in the middle of the division competition. Losing two of your three home NFC North games is not a good look, and the Packers have their work cut out for them the rest of the season.
During the bye, everyone will take a short break from Packers football. The good news is that when they return, they will most likely have the opportunity to put an end to the Bears’ postseason ambitions.
Xavier McKinney calls out Lions for trying to ’embarrass’ opponents
It’s remarkable how long it took for the Packers-Lions game to heat up.
With only a few days until the biggest NFC North game of the season (so far), things were oddly quiet. It’s the finest division in football this year, with some of the league’s longest rivalries, but it didn’t even get a Sunday Night Football spot.
Furthermore, the most of the emphasis in Green Bay was focused on whether Jordan Love would or would not play, and Matt LaFleur did not give a definitive answer when asked about it.
Otherwise, there wasn’t much buzz surrounding what looks to be one of the finest games on an already packed Week 9 schedule. Fortunately, we now have some grade-A bulletin board stuff. Unfortunately, it is for the Lions bulletin board. I suppose beggars cannot be choosers.
There we go! That’s what I’m talking about. What’s even the point of playing the games if you’re not going to talk a little trash before hand? Also, credit to McKinney – even though he’s only been a Packer for eight weeks, he’s already quickly becoming a fan favorite (though six interceptions probably doesn’t hurt). Normally this would be Jaire Alexander’s moment to shine, so it’s nice to see someone else in the secondary step up in his absence.
In a way, he’s not totally wrong either. No other team is out there throwing, like, three flea-flickers a game. Every time you watch a Lions highlight, there’s some sort of wild double-reverse backwards pass. And the most infuriating part about it is that they always work; in the Lions’ last four games, they’ve scored 42, 47, 31, and 52 points. You know they’re a juggernaut when Jared Goff’s being talked about as a legitimate MVP candidate.
I’m delighted someone finally started talking. In an ideal world, it would have been an overconfident Lions player who was a little too high on double reverses and went for it on fourth down, but you take what you can get. Now there’s a smidgeon more excitement for a game that didn’t require it.
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