Cheesehead
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- Mar 19, 2019
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Beginning the second half with a monstrous 14-play, 75-yard drive that consumed 8:49 on the clock, the Packers grabbed the lead for good on Aaron Rodgers' 6-yard scramble run to paydirt.
Then, after a quick three-and-out from the defense, the Packers kept command with a 12-play, 79-yard drive that took 7:49 and was capped by a 4-yard TD pass to tight end Robert Tonyan, his ninth score on the season.
"To our guys' credit, they stayed patient," LaFleur said of the grinding drives, which also required the offense to overcome two holding penalties. "We're always trying to hunt for explosives but they didn't necessarily come to us. It takes a lot of discipline, especially from our quarterback being able to take whatever's there. Our guys just stuck with it play after play."
LaFleur called those drives "demoralizing" for Detroit's defense, while Rodgers admitted he got tired but referred to them as the turning point in the game. The Packers had a 28-14 lead, their first two-score advantage of the day, with 12 minutes left and the Lions had run just three offensive plays in the first 18 minutes of the second half.
"That's when you're playing downhill," said Rodgers, who had another ultra-efficient game going 26-of-33 for 290 yards with three TDs for a 133.6 passer rating. He also engineered an 8-of-11 conversion rate on third down.