Detroit running back David Montgomery returned from injury and ran for three touchdowns Thursday as the Lions beat the Green Bay Packers 34-20 in a battle for the NFL’s NFC North division lead.
Lions quarterback Jared Goff was intercepted on the team’s opening drive, leading to a Packers’ field goal.
But it was all Detroit for the remainder of the first half as the Lions built a 27-3 lead.
Goff connected with a wide open Amon-Ra St. Brown on a 24-yard touchdown pass to put Detroit up 7-3.
After missing last week with a thigh injury, Montgomery drove in for a three-yard TD with 2:54 left in the first quarter.
The Lions added two field goals from Riley Patterson in the second quarter, sandwiched around Montgomery’s two-yard touchdown run, to take a 27-3 halftime lead.
Detroit out-gained Green Bay 284-21 in the first half, and the Lions defense had four of their five sacks of Packers quarterback Jordan Love before the break.
“It feels good,” Goff said of taking the division lead at 3-1, as the Packers fell to 2-2. “It’s still early, but to come on the road, hostile environment, against a good team, that’s been good for a long time — man.
“It’s always tough getting these Ws,” Goff added. “And we played well tonight.”
The Packers clawed back some ground in the third quarter, Love hitting Romeo Doubs with a 15-yard pass on fourth-and-nine to keep alive a drive capped by his one-yard scoring pass to Christian Watson.
Green Bay added a two-point conversion to make it 27-11. They opened the fourth quarter with Love’s nine-yard touchdown scramble.
But the Packers, who erased a 17-point deficit to beat the New Orleans Saints 18-17 on Sunday, couldn’t complete the comeback this time.
The Lions ate up the clock with a drive that appeared to end with a 30-yard field goal from Patterson, but Packers linebacker Quay Walker’s leap over the line in a bid to block the kick drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
With the drive extended, the Lions gave the ball to Montgomery on four straight plays, and the veteran’s one-yard touchdown plunge — part of his 121-yard night — put Detroit up 34-17 with six minutes remaining.
Green Bay’s last real chance to turn it around ended with Love’s second interception of the contest, although they added a field goal to complete the scoring.
