
GREEN BAY—Don’t try to tell the Green Bay Packers that Lions receiver Calvin Johnson is anything less than 100 percent.
Johnson is listed on Detroit’s injury report with a bum knee, but the Packers’ defensive backs don’t see it, at least not when they’re watching film.
“I never knew he was banged up,” rookie cornerback ![]()
In catching 12 passes for 207 yards against the Vikings last week, Johnson made that injury report irrelevant. He found the end zone in Minnesota for just the second time this season, but touchdowns are the only category he’s down.
He still leads the league with 974 receiving yards, and his 16.2 yards-per-catch average is right in line with his career mark of 16.1.
As usual, the job of containing “Megatron” on Sunday at Ford Field will fall mostly on cornerback ![]()
“Obviously, he’s a big guy, and a little guy like me going up against him, (if) you find yourself trying to get too aggressive, the guy is just too strong,” Williams said. “He kind of throws you here and there, gets you out of position, and you don’t want that, so you can’t play him that way.”
The Packers have won some and lost some against Johnson in recent years. Under Defensive Coordinator Dom Capers, Green Bay has faced Johnson five times and held him under 50 yards three times. In the other two games he’s been a major factor, with 86 yards and two TDs in the first meeting in 2010 and 11 catches for 244 yards and a score in the regular-season finale last year.
In that latter game, the Packers rested defensive starters ![]()
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The Lions are developing young receiving threats to complement Johnson, too. Rookie Ryan Broyles from Oklahoma has made an impact of late, with 146 yards and two scores in the last four games, and second-year speedster Titus Young leads the Lions with four TD grabs. Green Bay cornerback ![]()
With as much as the Lions like to move Johnson around the formation, Hayward and House could face him plenty as well. Mike McCarthy spoke highly of House on Thursday, noting House made a “big-time” interception in the red zone during practice, another sign his play isn’t bothered by the harness his shoulder injury requires.
“You’re seeing him make those plays that he was making before the injury in training camp,” McCarthy said. “I think he’s gotten used to (the harness). It seems like he’s a lot more natural than he was about four to six weeks ago.”
The Packers certainly have more depth at corner now than Capers has ever had, especially if ![]()
That was Green Bay’s last loss, and to prevent Johnson from having that kind of day, the Packers are looking for an effort that better resembles how they handled Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald in their last game. Slightly smaller but just as physical as Johnson, Fitzgerald made one big play with a 31-yard catch-and-run for a TD, but otherwise was a non-factor, with just five receptions for 43 yards the rest of the game.
“Some games you may come in and slow him down, and some games you may not,” Williams said of matchups against marquee guys. “You just have to go in and have that mindset that you will get your job done, and at the end of the day you have to go out and battle.”
Additional coverage - Nov. 15