Paula Pasche

Lions prepare for Green Bay Packers, gimpy-yet-effective Aaron Rodgers

It’s first NFC North contest for Detroit

ALLEN PARK — When the Detroit Lions beat the Packers twice in 2017, it was worth noticing. While there was no asterisk, there was no Aaron Rodgers on the field either.

The Green Bay Packers quarterback owns a 13-3 career record against the Lions. One of the most vivid memories of seeing Rodgers at Ford Field was his 61-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass with no time left on the clock to beat the Lions on Dec. 3, 2015.

Rodgers, his gimpy knee and the Packers (2-1-1) will play the Lions (1-3) In a NFC North divisional contest at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Ford Field.

Lions coach Matt Patricia has nothing but praise for Rodgers, who ranks No. 1 in NFL history in career passer rating (103.6).

(Photo courtesy of Detroit Lions)

“A guy who does a great job of studying the game, and you keep mixing different looks at him but he does a good job of really identifying what it is and attacking the defenses,’’ Patricia said of Rodgers on Wednesday.

Rodgers injured his knee in the opener, a win over the Chicago Bears. On a conference call on Wednesday, Rodgers said he was not practicing but hoped to go on Thursday. He hasn’t missed a start this season and, in fact, after he was carted off with that injury he returned to the game.

“I didn’t necessarily feel great last week. I went through practice on Thursday and Saturday, but I felt really good on game day. I’m not regressing but I’m not taking huge leaps week-to-week. It’s just kind of small,’’ Rodgers said on a Wednesday conference call. “When the adrenaline kicks in on game day, I’ve felt a little better the last couple games.”

Packers coach Mike McCarthy said he thinks he’s played well since the injury.

“I think each week, it’s like anything, you get a little more comfortable playing and calling the game and doing the things that you need to focus on,’’ McCarthy said.

Even with Rodgers at less than 100 percent, the Packers have scored seven of their nine touchdowns in the air with one rushing and one on a return.

McCarthy said the run-pass balance is a game-to-game decision. He didn’t say if the Packers would take to the ground more often against the Lions’ rushing defense which is ranked dead last in the NFL allowing 157.8 rushing yards per game.

“(Rodgers) is super competitive — never really wants to stay from anything, I just think it’s part of his nature. So, that’s the challenge that you have sometimes as the play caller because you have to be smart, I think that’s understood,’’ McCarthy said. “If anything, if there has been a time during these last couple games where I may have been conservative it was — I think it’s natural to go down that road sometimes. He’s getting better each and every week, and that’s what’s most important for him.”

Rodgers expects the best from himself and his offense. He didn’t feel he got it last week in the 22-0 win over Buffalo even though the Packers finished with 423 yards and scored a pair of touchdowns on their first three drives.

“I think the most important thing is — he’s super competitive. I think we all feel the same way when it comes to games and when you go out there and see you see opportunities and sometimes emotion pushes forward,’’ McCarthy said. “I didn’t feel great about our offensive performance when I walked off the field Sunday myself, too.’’

Rodgers will be the top quarterback the Lions’ revamped Patricia-style defense has faced. The quarterback can see the differences in Detroit from watching film.

“Following (Patricia) in New England I always enjoyed watching them. We played against them one time back in 2014 and him and Bill (Belichick) just always put together a fantastic plan. They’re great at adjustments. They try to take away what you do best and make you go to your third and fourth options to try and beat them and they adjust on the fly very quickly,’’ Rodgers said. “So, it’s a different looking defense from that standpoint and I’m sure they’re going to continue to expand their scheme as the season goes on and those guys get more comfortable in the scheme.”

Five things to know about Detroit Lions rookie DE Da’Shawn Hand

Rookie has started last 3 games

ALLEN PARK — Defensive end Da’Shawn Hand’s effectiveness and time on the field has grown in the first four weeks of the season.

While the Lions are a disappointing 1-3, Hand is one of the positives so far.

The rookie has started the past three games and hit highs in snaps (48) and percentage of snaps for the defense (70 percent) in the loss at Dallas on Sunday.

Along with left guard Frank Ragnow and running back Kerryon Johnson, Hand is one of three rookies who are regular starters.

(Photo courtesy of Detroit Lions)

Hand and the Lions are moving on from Dallas. They play their first NFC North opponent on Sunday when they host the Green Bay Packers and Aaron Rodgers.

“He is an elite player, I think that goes without saying, everybody knows him. They’ve got a great team, it’s going to be interesting,’’ Hand said.

Five things to know about Hand:

1. Hand was a fourth-round pick out of Alabama and so far the Lions like what they see. “I think what we saw on tape coming out of college is a lot of what we’re seeing right now with the technique. He plays with good fundamentals and pad level,’’ coach Matt Patricia said. “A lot of this system is similar to what he used in college with similar, let’s call it coaching backgrounds from that aspect of it. I think the transition was pretty good for him from that standpoint. And really, it’s just been on him to really go out and improve every single week.’’

2. Hand took full advantage of his increased playing time on Sunday. He picked up his first NFL sack, getting to Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott early in the fourth quarter. Hand also forced a fumble on the Cowboys’ final drive but the ball took a Cowboys’ bounce and Prescott was able to recover it. “I just was working a move, trying to get upfield and I just hit the orner and swiped for the ball, it just took a bad bounce,’’ Hand said.

Had the Lions been able to recover the fumble perhaps they would have had a chance to hold on to and win the game. That doesn’t weigh on Hand’s mind. “Think I’ve said before in a couple interviews, but that stuff is irrelevant thoughts to me,’’ Hand said. “You think about what-ifs then that’s all you’re relying on. If you think about irrelevant things you’re going to get irrelevant results.’’

3. He credits the leadership among the players for helping keep the right mindset. Veteran defensive tackle Ricky Jean Francois has taken a leadership role on the defensive line. “(Leadership) is really strong, older guys they definitely it’s all about turning the page, keep getting better and don’t worry about the irrelevant things,’’ Hand said.

4. Hand didn’t start in Week 1, playing 32 snaps (53 percent) in the loss to the Jets. He got his first start in Week 2 and has started the last three games. In four games he has 14 tackles and one sack.

5. Patricia likes Hand’s steady improvement. “ I think that’s the biggest thing with him in particular is that there’s been a big improvement from the spring, then to training camp, and I would say through the course of maybe the first couple weeks in training camp until we finally got to some preseason games where we could evaluate him against other talent and some other players,’’ Patricia said. “It just has continued to get better for him. I would say he’s got a long way to go. I think in general upfront we didn’t play particularly well enough all the way across the board. So, not real good (Sunday) but I think he’s working himself in the right direction.”

Lions Matt Patricia unconcerned about Kerryon Johnson’s light workload

Running back had 9 carries in loss at Dallas

ALLEN PARK — Lions coach Matt Patricia does not seem concerned that Kerryon Johnson only had nine carries in Sunday’s 26-24 loss at the Cowboys.

The previous week — in a win over the Patriots — the rookie running back carried the ball 16 times for 101 yards, averaging 6.3 yards per carry.

It seemed like it was his NFL coming out party.

On the first play from the line of scrimmage in Dallas on Sunday, Johnson scampered for 32 yards. Was it the start of another 100-yard game?

Uh, no.

Johnson got the ball five more times in the first half, but only had three second-half carries. His grand total was nine carries for 55 yards, averaging 6.1 yards per carry.

That 6.1 average is key — that’s a good number for most running backs. It was the exact same average as Cowboys’ running back Ezekiel Elliott who sliced and diced the Lions’ defense finishing with 25 carries for 152 yards. (He also had four catches for 88 yards.)

Patricia’s first question at his Monday press conference concerned Johnson’s workload or lack of it.

“I think we have a lot of good running backs and I think we try to use them appropriately. I think Kerryon played a significant amount of the game — 20 snaps of 55 — that’s a good amount,’’ Patricia said. “Plus we have two other running backs, we had a couple two-minute drives and other personnel packages and things like that. There were quite a bit of reps for Kerryon.’’

LeGarrette Blount, a short-yardage specialist, had seven carries for 12 yards, for a 1.7 yards per carry average.

Offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter is responsible for calling the offense during the games so Johnson’s number of carries were likely mostly his decision, although Patricia said it was “a staff decision.”

The rookie seemed wise beyond his years when asked about his workload last week. He didn’t petition for more carries, instead he seemed happy to be part of the running back by committee philosophy.

Wear and tear on running backs is a concern. There is no magic number for carries and it changes each game, but when a guy is effective running the ball in the Lions’ offense perhaps make it a point to get him the ball.

“We do look at studies on full seasons and when guys are at the end of the season especially running backs, especially that position you’ll find a lot of teams where guys earlier in the season were at a high productive level but by the time they get to the end of the season the wear and tear at that position is pretty extreme,’’ Patricia said.

“You get to the end of the year those guys aren’t out there as much, so you take a look at it from a big picture standpoint and game-by-game standpoint and play-by-play standpoint. We’re obviously trying to compete at a high level. So we want to have our best players out there at all times when we can,’’ Patricia said. “We feel we have a really good strong running back group – they’re all outstanding players. We’re going to try to continue to try to improve them just like we are at every position.’’

That’s all good and sounds fine, but if the Lions (1-3) don’t win now, it won’t matter that much how they play later in the season.