GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Mason Crosby nailed a 23-yard field goal as time expired and performed his first Lambeau Leap after he finished off a rally for the Green Bay Packers, who benefited from some questionable officiating to edge the Detroit Tigers 23-22 on Monday night.
"That was fun, yeah," Crosby said of leaping into the crowd. "That feeling, once you get up in the stands, the energy in there and teammates and everyone's around, that's something I'll always remember. That was great."
Aaron Rodgers, in his second consecutive game without top target Davante Adams, completed 24 of 39 passes for 283 yards and 2 touchdowns, including a 35-yard throw to Allen Lazard for the second-year pro's first career score.
"I actually sit next to him in the team meetings," Rodgers said of Lazard, who was cut by the Packers in August and then signed to the practice squad to start the season. "We've struck up a pretty good friendship.
"The thing that got me was, which you love as a quarterback, and that's when your receiver's coming back and telling you he wants the ball and what route he wants to run. That was him coming back in the huddle, telling me what play he wanted, and for a young guy to do that, how can you not have confidence in that?"
Rodgers linked up with Jamaal Williams for the other TD. Williams finished with 104 yards on 14 carries, and 4 catches for 32 yards for Green Bay (5-1), which captured its first victory in five tries against its NFC North rival.
The Packers, who are off to their first 3-0 start in the NFC North since 2012, might not have pulled it off if not for two fourth-quarter penalties for illegal hands to the face against Detroit's Trey Flowers (Arkansas Razorbacks), both of them on third down. The first set up Lazard's touchdown, and the second allowed Green Bay to run the clock down to two seconds before Crosby's game-winner. In both cases, replays showed Flowers' hands on the neck or shoulder -- not the face -- of a Packers lineman.
"I actually changed the position of my hand, because it was to the chest initially," Flowers said. "I was doing it all game. I didn't know that was a flag to the chest, so I changed it. And he called it again.
"I didn't think hands to the chest was a penalty. I thought hands to the face, but I had him right here in the chest. The second time I changed it. That's part of a move that I do. So, nah, I don't think that was a penalty."
Matt Prater was good from 26, 22, 41, 51 and 54 yards for the Lions (2-2-1), who fell to 0-2 under Matt Patricia on Monday night. Detroit lost its last Monday night game to the Jets 48-17 last year.
"We got to find a way to finish," said Kenny Golladay, who had 121 yards on five catches for Detroit. "That's a big part of it right now. Find a way to finish. We left a lot of points out there. We were in the red zone quite a bit and just coming out with field goals."
Matthew Stafford finished 18 of 32 for 265 yards and was sacked 3 times.
Kerryon Johnson scored the lone touchdown for the Lions from 1 yard out in the first quarter.
Detroit 10 3 6 3 -- 22
Green Bay 0 10 3 10 -- 23
First Quarter
Det--FG Prater 26, 12:41.
Det--K.Johnson 1 run (Prater kick), 6:35.
Second Quarter
Det--FG Prater 22, 13:28.
GB--J.Williams 5 pass from Rodgers (M.Crosby kick), 7:31.
GB--FG M.Crosby 37, :07.
Third Quarter
GB--FG M.Crosby 48, 12:35.
Det--FG Prater 41, 9:01.
Det--FG Prater 51, 3:27.
Fourth Quarter
Det--FG Prater 54, 12:17.
GB--Lazard 35 pass from Rodgers (M.Crosby kick), 9:03.
GB--FG M.Crosby 23, :00.
Attendance--76,947.
Det GB
First downs 13 22
Total Net Yards 299 447
Rushes-yards 20-56 29-170
Passing 243 277
Punt Returns 0-0 1-(minu
Kickoff Returns 2-55 6-96
Interceptions Ret. 1-55 0-0
Comp-Att-Int 18-32-0 24-39-1
Sacked-Yards Lost 3-22 1-6
Punts 4-46.5 3-51.7
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-2
Penalties-Yards 8-50 6-48
Time of Possession 26:56 33:04
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Detroit, K.Johnson 13-34, Agnew 1-9, Stafford 3-9, McKissic 3-4. Green Bay, J.Williams 14-104, A.Jones 11-47, Rodgers 3-10, Valdes-Scantling 1-9.
PASSING--Detroit, Stafford 18-32-0-265. Green Bay, Rodgers 24-39-1-283.
RECEIVING--Detroit, Golladay 5-121, Hockenson 4-21, K.Johnson 2-27, M.Jones 2-17, McKissic 2-7, Hall 1-58, James 1-8, Amendola 1-6. Green Bay, Lazard 4-65, J.Williams 4-32, A.Jones 4-13, Allison 3-40, Lewis 2-50, Valdes-Scantling 2-48, Graham 2-17, Kumerow 2-17, Shepherd 1-1.
Sports on 10/15/2019