On Sunday morning, multiple NFL reporters revealed that the Green Bay Packers were all-in on acquiring as much receiver talent as possible for Aaron Rodgers down the stretch, only to come away empty-handed. In the first half of the Packers’ Sunday game against the Detroit Lions, Green Bay’s actual receivers were mostly empty-handed, while the Lions’ defenders were most decidedly not.
With 4:25 left in the first quarter, and the ball at the Detroit five-yard line, Rodgers threw the ball off the helmet of linebacker Derrick Barnes, which allowed safety Kerby Joseph to come down with it in the end zone.
The Packers are in hell. Just full-blown hell.
— Matt Verderame (@MattVerderame) November 6, 2022
The hell was just beginning for Rodgers. On the first play of the second quarter, the Packers had fourth-and-goal at the Detroit one-yard line. Instead of handing the ball to, say, running back Aaron Jones, the call was to try and hit left tackle Davis Bakhtiari in the end zone. What happened instead was that rookie edge-rusher Aidan Hutchinson intercepted the pass.
AIDAN HUTCHINSON INT
The @Lions get another goal line stop! @aidanhutch97
📺: #GBvsDET on FOX
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/NERF3hGPfV pic.twitter.com/sOn95CM6gY— NFL (@NFL) November 6, 2022
I’m the President of the THICC-Six fan club, but that’s not how I would have called it.
How rare is it for Rodgers to throw two red zone picks in the game game, never mind in one half of football? Exceedingly so.
Aaron Rodgers has thrown 2 redzone interceptions for the first time in his career
— Eric Woodyard (@E_Woodyard) November 6, 2022
In fact, per Pro Football Reference, Rodgers in his entire career had thrown just eight interceptions (to 250 touchdowns) from inside the opposing 10-yard line… until today, when he went to double digits.
The Packers were already in danger of seeing their season go right down the drain with a 3-5 record coming into the Lions game, and nothing seen so far reverses that hypothesis.
And when you do this against the NFL’s worst pass defense? Yeah, nobody’s R-E-L-A-Xing right now.
Let’s check in on the #Packers, shall we? 🥴 pic.twitter.com/d7VejWPibM
— Kimberley A. Martin (@ByKimberleyA) November 6, 2022
