With rookie TE Brandon Pettigrew out for the season the Lions will need 29-year old Casey Fitzsimmons and 28-year old Will Heller to step up.  Fitzsimmons has played in 11 games this season for the Lions and he has caught 17 passes for 119 yards (7.0 avg).   He has now played in 98 games in his NFL career and he has caught 87 passes for 668 yards (7.7 avg) with 5 TD grabs.  Will Heller has played in 11 games for the Lions this season and he has caught 19 passes for 209 yards (11.0 avg) with 3 TD grabs.  He has now played in 79 games in his NFL career and he has caught 55 passes for 466 yards (8.5 avg) with 10 TD grabs.  While Fitzsimmons and Heller don’t have the speed to stretch the D like Pettigrew did they must be able to get open and catch the short stuff.  Matt Stafford needs the TEs to be his safety net when he gets in trouble.

The Lions have lost rookie TE Brandon Pettigrew for the season due to serious damage to his left knee.  Pettigrew played in 11 games for the Lions this season and he caught 30 passes for 346 yards (11.5 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  This will hurt the Lions’ offense as Pettigrew was a player that Matt Stafford trusted in the passing game.

The Lions should have rested their gimpy players on offense as they look horrible.  The defense got a safety and set up a short drive for the Lions only TD of the game so the offense was responsible for 1 FG.  Matt Stafford reverted back to his rookie form showing that last week was likely a mirage.  He completed 20 of 43 passes for 213 yards with 1 TD pass and 4 INTs.  He also carried the ball 3 times for 21 yards (7.0 ypc) this season.  Kevin Smith was not his best either as he carried the ball 18 times for 43 yards (2.4 ypc) and he caught 4 passes for 46 yards (11.5 avg).  Dennis Northcutt was solid with 2 catches for 51 yards (25.5 avg) when they threw the ball  his way.  FB/TE Casey FitzSimmons was busy with 5 catches for 38 yards (7.6 avg) but he lost a fumble.  Calvin Johnson was gimpy yesterday as he caught only 2 passes for 10 yards with a TD.  The Lions finished up with 272 total yards on offense (73 rushing, 199 passing) in this game.

The Lions’ D was awful in the game yesterday.  CB William James led the way for the Lions with 11 tackles in this game.  Rookie LB DeAndre Levy pitched in with 8 tackles and a QB hit.  Rookie safety Louis Delmas earned the safety for the Lions when he cracked Ryan Grant hard in the end zone.  The Packers rolled up 422 total yards on offense (80 rushing, 342 passing) in this game.  The Lions are now 2-9 on the season.

The Packers are finally playing an opponent that won’t beat the hell out of Aaron Rodgers who has been sacked 43 times already this season.  The Lions only have 18 sacks but they should at least attempt to blitz Rodgers because he has time to throw the ball he will torture the Lions’ secondary which is allowing 275.3 yards passing per game and opposing QBs have a 110.3 Rating against them.  Donald Driver and Greg Jennings could both have monster games for the Packers who will likely come out throwing the ball in a attempt to break the Lions’ will tomorrow.  If the Packers jump to a big lead then it will be Ryan Grant time against the Lions’ D which is allowing 116.2 yards rushing per game and 4.5 yards per carry.  Either way the Packers decide to attack the Lions they will probably excel.

The Lions are really banged up on offense with Matt Stafford likely out with a dislocated left shouler and Calvin Johnson gimpy with multiple injuries.  But the Packers also have had injuries hit them as Al Harris and Aaron Kampman are both out for the year.  The Lions will likely come out trying to fight fire with fire in the passing game.  Daunte Culpepper can still be effective if he has time to throw the ball but Lions’ QBs have been sacked 30 times already this year.  Look for Culpepper to go to Johnson a lot if he plays.  If he doesn’t play look for Dennis Northcutt, Bryant Johnson and Brandon Pettigrew to be the favorite targets of Culpepper.  Regardless, Culpepper must be careful when throwing to Charles Woodson’s side of the field.  Kevin Smith will also get his carries but the Packers have a stout run defense allowing only 90.7 yards rushing per game and 3.7 ypc.  Smith is a good receiver out of the backfield and that’s how the Lions might try to get the ball in his hands tomorrow.

PREDICTION:  PACKERS 42, LIONS 20

With Calvin Johnson either out or gimpy the Lions will need someone to step up and that could wind up being 31-year old Dennis Northcutt.  Northcutt has played in 10 games for the Lions this season and he has caught 26 passes for 226 yards (8.7 avg) with 1 TD grab.  He has also returned 2 kickoffs for 32 yards (16.0 avg) and 16 punts for 143 yards (8.9 avg) so far this season for the Lions.  Northcutt might not have great numbers this season but he has been a playmaker in the past so maybe he can turn back the clock for a game or two. 

The Lions have lost 26-year old safety Ko Simpson for the year with a knee injury.  Simpson played in 8 games this season and he had 26 tackles, 4 passes defensed and 1 interception.  His loss will hurt the Lions some but the secondary 275.3 yards passing per game and opposing QBs have a 110.3 rating against them so it can’t be much worse than it was with Simpson.

It appears that rookie QB Matthew Stafford will miss the Thanksgiving Day game against the Packers due to a separated left shoulder.  He has played in 8 games this season for the Lions and he has completed 170 of 308 passes (55.2%) for 1,911 yards with 11 TD passes and 14 INTs (66.9 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 15 times for 89 yards (5.9 ypc) with 2 TD runs this year.  The Lions will miss Stafford who is coming off a game where he conjured up memories of a young John Elway.  Daunte  Culpepper will likely be the starting QB for the Lions in the game on Thursday and he will likely be playing without Matt Stafford which is not a good thing.  Culpepper has played in 3 games for the Lions this season and he has completed 35 of 62 passes (56.5%) for 384 yards with 1 TD pass and 2 INTs (66.9 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 3 times for 44 yards (14.7 ypc) this season.  Don’t expect miracles out of Culpepper but the Lions will try to keep up the momentum from last week.

Star WR Calvin Johnson is likely to miss the Thanksgiving Day game against the Packers due to hand and knee injuries.  He has played in 8 games for the Lions this season and he has caught 39 passes for 597 yards (15.3 avg) with 2 TD grabs and he also has carried the ball 4 times for 37 yards (9.3 ypc).  Johnson has now played in 39 games in his three year NFL career and he has caught 165 passes for 2,684 yards (16.3 avg) with 18 TD grabs.  He also has carried the ball 11 times for 88 yards (8.0 ypc) with 1 TD run.  The Lions will miss Johnson big time if he can’t go against the Packers.

What an amazing way to win a football game for the Lions.  They were trailing the game 37-31 with 5 seconds left in the game when rookie QB Matt Stafford threw an apparent game ending interception.  But, Browns’ CB Hank Poteat was called for pass interference in the end zone.  On the untimed last play of the game, Stafford threw a 1-yard TD pass to fellow rookie (TE) Brandon Pettigrew to tie the game.  Jason Hanson then came out and put the extra point through the uprights making the Lions a winner.

QB Matt Stafford reminded me a lot of John Elway today because of his arm strength.  He completed 26 of 43 passes for 422 yards with 5 TD passes and 2 INTs.  He also carried the ball 3 times for 7 yards (2.3 ypc) today.  Stafford set a all-time NFL record for the most TD passes in a game by a rookie QB.  Kevin Smith didn’t run the ball well carrying it 12 times for 45 yards (3.8 ypc) but he was awesome in the passing game catching 4 passes for 104 yards (26.0 avg) with a TD.  Calvin Johnson looked banged up but he still played very well catching 7 passes for 161 yards (23.0 avg) with a TD grab.  Brandon Pettigrew also had a outstanding game for the Lions with 6 catches for 72 yards (12.0 avg) with the game winning TD grab.  Rookie RB Aaron Brown (1 rec, 26 yards) and TE Will Heller (2 rec, 12 yards) each caught 1 TD pass apiece in the game today.  The Lions finished up with 473 total yards on offense (57 rushing, 416 passing) in this game today despite only having possession of the ball for 25:14.

As good as the offense was the defense played more than bad enough to lose this game.  LB Larry Foote was all over the place for the Lions in this game with 12 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, 1 sack, 1 pass defensed and 1 QB hit.  Safety Louis Delmas pitched in with 8 tackles.  The Browns rolled up 439 total yards of offense in this game (131 rushing, 308 passing) today.  The Lions are now 2-8 on the season after this edge of your seat victory.

29-year old running back Maurice Morris has been a bust so far for the Lions this season.  He has played in 7 games for the Lions this year and he has carried the ball 36 times for 136 yards (3.8 ypc) with 1 TD run this season.  He has also caught 7 passes for 69 yards (9.9 avg) this year.  Morris was supposed to provide solid depth behind Kevin Smith but he is not playing too well.  He had a chance to steal the starting job from Smith when he was struggling but he failed to take advantage of it.  Don’t be surprised if the Lions start to phase him out of the offense in the 2nd half of the season.