Head Coach Mike McCarthy rehashed a little of what he liked, as well as what he didn't like, about quarterback Aaron Rodgers' performance on Sunday.
What he liked was no interceptions, or even the real threat of an interception, for the second straight game. He also appreciated a solid completion percentage (24-of-38 for 63.2 percent) in a game the receivers had a few dropped balls.
"He's making good decisions and he's being accurate with the football," McCarthy said. "He hasn't taken many chances, and that's all part of good quarterback play."
There was one chance Rodgers did take, which McCarthy didn't appreciate. After a nifty tip-toe along the sideline for a 9-yard scramble to pick up a first down, Rodgers tried to cut back to the middle of the field to pick up more yards and was drilled by Detroit defensive tackle Cory Redding.
He popped right back up, but those are the kind of hits Rodgers has to avoid, particularly when he had the first down and all he had to do was step out of bounds.
"That's all part of the learning experience," McCarthy said. "He makes an excellent scramble for the first down and you can see, I was standing right there, so I saw it live, but also you see again on the film today, the angle of the defender. He probably thought he could cut that back.
"He doesn't need to be thinking like that. He's a quarterback. But you can see what he saw. Plus when he did cut back, he stepped out of bounds anyways. He needs to be smart there. When he got the first down, he needs to get out of bounds. Don't take any unnecessary hits."
Fortunately, the lesson can be taught without catastrophic results. In much the same way there's plenty for the Packers to learn from in squandering a 21-point lead to a division rival, yet they still came out with a victory.
"It was big for our football team, as young as we are, to go through adversity like that and come out of it and still get the win in that situation," Rodgers said.
Getting some action
For one series in each half on Sunday, second-year guard Allen Barbre got into the game at left guard, with right guard Tony Moll taking a break and Daryn Colledge shifting from left guard to right guard.
Barbre played just eight snaps, and McCarthy said he did fine. The rationale behind the spot action is to get Barbre some playing time before an injury might force him to get into the lineup.
McCarthy said he's using the same thinking with getting running back Kregg Lumpkin some game action as well, because you never know when a young, untested player is all of a sudden going to be called on to perform.
In Barbre's case, it's also a matter of seeing what kind of progress was made through the training camp competition with Colledge for a starting job.
"A guy that is competing for a starting job, back and forth, back and forth, and then all of a sudden he doesn't play, ... I don't know if that's the best thing for our long-term plan as far as getting through the season," McCarthy said. He also wished Barbre had gotten more snaps, so it's possible the substitution pattern could continue in more of the early regular-season games.
The offensive line could continue to be in flux, though, depending on the return from injuries of center Scott Wells (back) and right guard Josh Sitton (knee).
McCarthy said he's hopeful Wells will be back at practice on Wednesday this week, and that Sitton is "definitely close." If Wells is back healthy at center, the natural move would be to put Jason Spitz back at right guard with Colledge at left guard. Where Sitton, who was the starting right guard when he went down with his injury in the third preseason game at Denver, fits into the mix upon his return is uncertain because he's a rookie who hasn't yet played a regular-season game.
"I want to see him come back first," McCarthy said. "That's the first step. I want to see him practice. It's different in season. We're into a game mode, game preparation. We need to make sure that we are going to get the five guys that are ready to go ready to play. So how we work him back in will really be decided based on how he practices."
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Fullback Korey Hall sprained his knee in Sunday's game and won't return to practice until Friday at the earliest, McCarthy said. John Kuhn is the full-time fullback in his place and has been pulled off of special teams in the meantime so as not to get overworked.
Safety Atari Bigby has a hamstring strain, not a cramp as originally reported on Sunday. His status for this week is uncertain. Aaron Rouse played in Bigby's place and likely would start this week if Bigby isn't able to.
McCarthy said Rouse, who sprained his ankle in practice last Thursday and sat out practice on Friday, took poor tackling angles on a couple of the Lions' big plays on Sunday and that he did not play as well as he did the previous game.
"But they are all things he can definitely learn from," McCarthy said.
See it again
Sunday's game against the Lions will be one of NFL Network's featured NFL Replay games this week. The condensed 90-minute replay format will air on NFL Network at 7 p.m. CT Wednesday.
Another NFC North game, involving the Colts and Vikings, will air on NFL Replay at 7 p.m. CT Tuesday, followed by the Chargers-Broncos contest at 8:30 p.m. CT Tuesday.
