The Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers have a heated rivalry that dates back to 1930, when the two teams first met.
With the two teams squaring off for first place on Sunday, it’s clear that there is still no love lost between the divisional foes.
Detroit is rolling on a five-game win streak, with two of their last three wins after the bye week coming by double digits. In particular, there was a 47-9 steamrolling of the Dallas Cowboys in which they ran several trick plays, including a hook-and-ladder to offensive tackle Penei Sewell with the game in hand.
Opponents have not taken too kindly to this, and the Packers fall into that column. Safety Xavier McKinney, who currently leads the NFL with six interceptions, blasted the Lions during his weekly media availability.
“In my opinion, I think they try to embarass people,” McKinney told reporters this week. “And I think this organization and the players we have in here, they don’t really take that lightly. We know that’s what they’re going to come here and try to do.
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He doubled down on this notion, and seemingly will be eager to put away Detroit’s win streak when the two teams meet at Lambeau Field on Sunday.
“Me, personally, I’m not a big fan of that, trying embarrass someone,” McKinney said. “I don’t really respect that. It is what it is.”
McKinney is part of a Packers defense that leads the league in takeaways and prides itself on an attacking style. Because of this, the Lions are preparing to perform at a high level in order to remain in first place in the division.
“A personnel probably more so than anything. You see some moving parts more so on the backend as opposed to up front,” said offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. “They’ve just – you can see who – they’ve got a bunch of players on the backend that are playing at a high level, but they have a rotation going on. Who’s going to play nickel this week, who’s going to play outside, it’s been a little bit of musical chairs there the first half of the season. So, we’ll find out early who’s healthy for them and where they want to line everybody.”
