Gameday

For a second-straight week, the Lions lost a key component of their offensive game plan in the first few minutes of the contest.

Last week, it was receiver Ryan Broyles, who tore the ACL in his right knee on the second possession of the game.

Sunday, it was tight end Brandon Pettigrew, who injured his left ankle on the team's first possession.

Pettigrew was injured on Matthew Stafford’s 4-yard touchdown run that capped off the opening drive of the game. He did not return.

“I don’t really know what’s wrong with it at this point,” Pettigrew said after the game. “It’s obviously disappointing. Playing in Lambeau Field in these conditions, I was just excited to get out there and be a part of that.”

Will Heller and Tony Scheffler picked up some of the slack in Pettigrew's absence with seven catches for 41 yards between them, including Scheffler’s 3-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter.

“Brandon's certainly a key part of our game plan,” Lions head coach Jim Schwartz said. “We had to do some adjusting when he went out of the game.”

Pettigrew has been a go-to guy for Stafford since the two were taken in the first round in 2009. He is second on the team with 57 catches for 556 yards.

"It always hurts to lose a guy that's a really good tight end in this league,” Stafford said.

“I thought Will (Heller) came in and did a heck of a job, made some catches for us in those two minute drives. That's one of the great luxuries of having a guy like Will Heller. He can step in and play all those tight end positions when you need him to.”

DURHAM'S NIGHT
Receiver Kris Durham went from practice-squad player to starter opposite Calvin Johnson in the course of a week.

Talk about your whirlwinds.

Who knows, Durham might even be featured on SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays, too, after a spectacular one-handed catch on a 27-yard pass from Stafford that set up the team’s second touchdown.

All told, Durham caught four of the nine passes thrown his way for 54 yards.

It was a play he didn’t make that had him talking after the game, though.

In the second quarter, on a 1st-and-10 inside Green Bay Packers territory, Stafford looked for Durham on a deep post.

Unfortunately, Durham didn't run a post. Instead, the second-year receiver tried to get behind the defense.

“The interception I’ll take blame for,” Durham said. “The way the guy was playing me I thought I could go over the top and take the home run shot and obviously (Stafford) wanted me to cross his face for an easier throw for him. I’ll take the blame for that."

Packers cornerback Sam Shields stepped in front of Stafford's pass, and returned it 32 yards.

"I thought he was going to cross (Shields') face, and looking back at the pictures, he made the right decision," Stafford said of Durham. "We just weren't on the same page."

SUH HOLD
Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh received a roughing-the-passer penalty in the third quarter that helped set up a 27-yard touchdown run by Aaron Rodgers five plays later. It's the first penalty on Suh this season for anything other than encroachment.

The referee explained the call on the field as Suh taking two extra steps before shoving Rodgers after he’d been flushed from the pocket and gotten rid of a pass near the right sideline.

Schwartz wasn't as mad with that penalty after the game as he was with the hold on Suh right before his hit on Rodgers that he felt should have been called.

“That was a frustrating thing because he got tugged from behind, but if he's out of the pocket they get a little bit more leeway,” Schwartz said. “But in this case obviously not that much.”

REDUCED ROLE
The Lions used rookie Jonte Green as their nickel corner this week, which left veteran Drayton Florence out of the mix. Lions coaches were not happy that Florence got beat for a long touchdown last week against the Colts in a two-minute situation.