Monday Night Football will feature the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers squaring off to decide who will sit atop the NFC North. The Packers will again head into this week's matchup without Davante Adams as he continues to heal a turf toe he suffered in Week 4. As seen last week, a short-handed Green Bay team is still very dangerous and with number 12 under center, the Packers will have some firepower.
Here are two key matchups to keep your eye on tonight.
Detroit's secondary vs. Green Bay's wide receivers and Rodgers
The first key matchup to watch is whether Detroit's secondary can contain Green Bay's receivers and Rodgers. Cornerback Amani Oruwariye is listed as out for Monday night's game with safety Quandre Diggs and star cornerback Darius Slay listed as questionable after both being limited in Saturday's practice due to hamstring issues.
If they are at all limited, Packer receivers will need to take advantage as Detroit already lets up the fourth-most passing yards per game. Rodgers will be able to find his receivers, but it is a matter of them getting open and exposing the Lions' weak secondary. Both Geronimo Allison and Marquez Valdes-Scantling failed to show up last week, as they let Aaron Jones do all the heavy lifting.
Detroit won't go away in this game and it will be up to the Packers to put them away and execute their game plan. The Lions will try and muck up the game as they did against Kansas City, so it's important that Rodgers controls the ball and keeps it out of Lions defenders hands.
Aaron Jones vs. Detroit's defensive line
We must also keep an eye on Aaron Jones and whether he will be able to run the ball the way he did against the Cowboys in Week 5. The Lions' defensive line is also banged up with Mike Daniels out due to a foot injury and A'Shawn Robinson and Da'Shawn Hand listed as questionable. Detroit lets up an average of 124.8 rushing yards per game, which ranks in the bottom 10 in the league.
Head coach Matt LaFleur must feed Jones the ball, as there is no one wearing a Green Bay jersey more confident than Jones at the moment. His four touchdowns last week might be an anomaly, but Jones is fully capable of going off for over 100 yards against a struggling and injured Lions defensive line.
Green Bay should win this matchup, but don't be surprised if the Lions put up a decent fight.
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