Don't laugh. I did actually manage to find five good defensive plays by the Detroit Lions from Sunday's loss to the Green Bay Packers. Here they are:
No. 5 - Lions' stop of Packers on third-and-one in third quarter
On the opening drive of the second half for the Packers, the Lions forced a three-and-out. This came after Matthew Stafford threw an interception on the Lions' first drive of the half. The Packers had a chance to start pulling away, but the defense came up with a big stop by forcing an incompletion on third-and-one.
No. 4 - Willie Young's one-yard sack of Matt Flynn in fourth quarter
Trailing 38-34 with seven minutes left, the Lions appeared to be in some serious trouble. Green Bay took over near midfield after another blown call (Jordy Nelson's muffed fair catch being blown dead) and could have made this a two-possession game with a touchdown. However, Green Bay wasn't able to get a first down, let alone a TD, on this drive. A big reason why was because on third-and-11, Young wrapped up Flynn and took him down for a sack. Young went fishing for his celebration, which was greeted with far less hostility than the celebration that took place after play No. 3 on this list.
No. 3 - Ndamukong Suh's eight-yard sack of Flynn in third quarter
The Lions finally managed to follow up a go-ahead touchdown with a stop as the third quarter was coming to a close. Suh broke through the Packers offensive line and brought down Flynn for a loss of eight yards. A flag was thrown in the vicinity of the sack, and immediately I thought to myself, "Here we go again." It turns out the flag, interestingly enough, was for holding on Evan Dietrich-Smith (the player on the receiving end of Suh's Thanksgiving stomp). The penalty was declined, and Suh celebrated his sack by doing Aaron Rodgers' "discount double check," much to the chagrin of Packers fans.
No. 2 - Alphonso Smith's interception of Flynn in second quarter
A couple plays after the whole Stefan Logan fumble/blown call/blown review debacle happened, the Lions got the ball back thanks to an interception by Smith. The whole secondary, including Smith, had a rough game, but he made a great play to pick off Flynn's pass, and he returned the interception 30 yards to the Green Bay 38. Had it not been for the blown call on what should have been a great touchdown catch by Titus Young on the ensuing drive, this pick could have been No. 1 on the list.
No. 1 - Sammie Hill's sack/forced fumble in first quarter
Before everything fell apart on defense, the Lions actually got off to a great start on that side of the ball thanks to Hill's sack-strip of Flynn on the fourth play of the game. Flynn lost the ball after being hit by Hill, and Stephen Tulloch was there for the Lions to recover it. The Lions offense took over at the Green Bay 35 because of the turnover, and Stafford threw a touchdown pass to Young four plays later. Although they ultimately lost, the Lions made a big statement at the start of this game with the turnover and quick touchdown.