Lions-Packers player of the game: Who gets the game ball?

The Detroit Lions defeated the Green Bay Packers on Monday night and it wasn’t particularly close. The final score may have been just 30-17, but that score is inflated by two fourth-quarter touchdowns by Green Bay, one coming as time expired.

The Lions had dominant performances all over the field, and several players deserve post-game honors, making this the toughest game ball to date.

But before we get into this week’s five candidates, here are the Game Ball standings through seven games.

Glover Quin - 6
Matthew Stafford - 5
Darius Slay - 4
Matt Prater - 4
Ezekiel Ansah - 3
Anthony Zettel - 3
Jarrad Davis - 3
A’Shawn Robinson - 3
Jamal Agnew - 3
Darren Fells - 2
Golden Tate - 2
Kenny Golladay - 2
Ameer Abdullah - 2

Matthew Stafford

Stats: 26/33, 361 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, 132.4 passer rating

Matthew Stafford had a near perfect game against the Packers. He was accurate, lethal and devastating against a beat-up Packers secondary. He had maybe one or two poor throws all game, but he didn’t let up for all four quarters.

Stafford started out hot and finished hot. As a result, he finished with a season high in completion percentage (78.8%), yards per attempt (10.9) and passer rating (132.4).

Marvin Jones Jr.

Stats: 7 catches, 107 yards, 2 TDs

A quarterback is nothing if his receivers aren’t catching the ball, and for the most part, Marvin Jones was catching everything coming his way. When a team is struggling in the red zone, sometimes it only takes the effort of one man to turn things around. Jones made some difficult, contested catches, and his two touchdowns were absolutely key in Detroit’s victory.

Darius Slay

Stats: 1 tackle, 1 pass defended

It bears repeating again this week, but Darius Slay is absolutely a shutdown corner. He was targeted just three times on Monday, allowing two catches for only 13 yards (according to Pro Football Focus). Sure, Brett Hundley isn’t the greatest of quarterbacks to face, but when you hold Jordy Nelson to just three catches and 35 yards on the day, you know you did something right.

Golden Tate

Stats: 7 catches, 113 yards

While Marvin was hauling in the touchdowns, Tate was busy moving the chains catch after catch.

Per usual, Tate was a YAC machine. 73 of his 113 receiving yards came after the catch and only two passes that came his way fell incomplete. For a receiving duo that had been much-maligned through the first six games, these two have really come on in the past two weeks.

Glover Quin

Stats: 7 tackles, 1 tackle for loss

Glover Quin didn’t have much of an impact in the passing game. The ball wasn’t thrown his way often and he didn’t register a single pass breakup on Monday.

However, Quin was a tackling machine against the Packers and had the play of the game when Green Bay attempted to convert a fourth-and-2 with the game still in reach. Quin shot down from the secondary and caught 27-year-old Randall Cobb three yards in the backfield.

VOTE!