The Detroit Lions returned from their bye this week, and while the timing seemed to work out well from an injury standpoint, quarterback Matthew Stafford said it all comes down to how you play when you get back.
"If you play well after it, it came at a great time," he said. "If you play bad after it, everybody wants to tell you it didn't come at the right time.
"You just do everything you can to play well after it and obviously we have a long stretch of games ahead, so we'll just take it one at a time and go from there."
The Lions have a tough test this week as they prepare for their first division game of the 2019 season, a Monday Night Football matchup in Green Bay against the Packers.
"We only got one Monday night game this year," safety Quandre Diggs said in the locker room Wednesday. "So, I think we have to take advantage of that and let everyone know the type of team we are and the type of players we are and just go out there and have fun and enjoy the bright lights."
SCOUTING THE PACKERS
The Packers, led by new head coach Matt LaFleur, are off to an impressive 4-1 start to their season.
"It's a credit to our players," LaFleur said in a conference-call interview. "We've got some really good players on both sides of the ball. Our team, I think, has really come together and is battling for each other.
"I can't say enough about the guys in that locker room."
The two biggest ares where the Packers are showing improvement over last year have been the defensive performance as a whole and the addition of a consistent rushing attack to the offense, led by running back Aaron Jones.
"We know what a great player (Aaron Rodgers) is, (but) I think the added element for him this year is the run game." Lions head coach Matt Patricia said of the Packers' offense this week. "I think Aaron Jones and what he has been able to do and the consistency he has been able to show in the run game.
"I think what you're seeing is upfront, they're just creating the holes with space. You're really seeing the stretch run game. (It's) a lot of influence from Matt LaFleur's time with (49ers head coach) Kyle Shanahan and some of the different run schemes back in the day, when they were together."
For Mike O'Hara's full scouting report on the Packers, click here.
OTHER NOTEWORTHY ITEMS
- Watch as T.J. Lang meets up with offensive lineman Graham Glasgow at The Petting Farm in Ann Arbor on this week's episode of Goin' Nuts With T.J.
- Click here for the full Lions-Packers injury report with game designations for Monday's contest.
- Check out the Lions' Top 5 plays through the first four weeks of the season.
- Catch up on all the news from Darrell Bevell and Paul Pasqualoni's Tuesday media sessions.
- View photos from the Huddle for 100 event where the Lions partnered with Kroger and volunteers to pack more than 50,000 boxes of food for families across Michigan.
