It's sorta surprising how long it took for Packers-Lions to get spicy.
With only a few days left before the biggest NFC North game of the season – at least, so far – things were suspiciously quiet. It's the best division in football this year, with some of the NFL's oldest rivalries, and yet it didn't even get the Sunday Night Football slot.
Plus, most of the attention in Green Bay was centered around whether Jordan Love would or wouldn't play, and Matt LaFleur didn't exactly tip his hand one way or the other when addressing the concern.
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Otherwise, there wasn't much hype building around what figures to be one of the best games in an already-loaded Week 9 slate. Fortunately, we finally have some Grade-A Bulletin Board material. Unfortunatly, it's for the Lions' bulletin board. I guess beggars can't be choosers.
Xavier McKinney calls out Lions for trying to run up the score ahead of Week 9 matchup
While talking with media on Thursday afternoon, Packers safety Xavier McKinney didn't hold back when asked about the Lions' style of play.
Xavier McKinney on Lions’ arsenal of trick plays: “In my opinion, I think they try to embarrass people. I think this organization, and the players we have in here, they don’t really take that lightly. And we know that’s what they’re going to come here and try to do.”
— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) October 31, 2024
Xavier McKinney said it’s a “big game” vs. Lions. Asked if there well be “smack talk” Sunday: “For sure. There’s definitely going to be that. You’ve got a big-time game, you’ve got a lot of big-time players. Naturally, we’re going to have some back and forth. So I expect it.”
— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) October 31, 2024
There we go! That's what I'm talking about. What's even the point of playing the games if you're not going to talk a little trash before hand? Also, credit to McKinney – even though he's only been a Packer for eight weeks, he's already quickly becoming a fan favorite (though six interceptions probably doesn't hurt). Normally this would be Jaire Alexander's moment to shine, so it's nice to see someone else in the secondary step up in his absence.
In a way, he's not totally wrong either. No other team is out there throwing, like, three flea-flickers a game. Every time you watch a Lions highlight, there's some sort of wild double-reverse backwards pass. And the most infuriating part about it is that they always work; in the Lions' last four games, they've scored 42, 47, 31, and 52 points. You know they're a juggernaut when Jared Goff's being talked about as a legitimate MVP candidate.
I'm glad someone finally started talking. In a perfect world, it would have been an overly-confident Lions player who was a little too hopped up on double reverses and going for it on fourth down, but you take what you can get. Now there's a tiny bit more excitement for a game that definitely didn't need it.