Acme Packing Company

WR Isaiah Neyor is on the Packers' practice squad and could be elevated for the first time this season if Matthew Golden cannot play on Thursday due to his shoulder/foot injury.

RB Kaleb Johnson was a healthy scratch last week and will almost certainly be scratched again for Thursday's game-day roster, as the Packers work down from their 53-man active roster to a 48-man game-day roster.

WR Matthew Golden (shoulder/foot) was a non-participant in Tuesday's walkthrough. Head coach Matt LaFleur expressed hope that Golden will be available against the Carolina Panthers on Thursday, but the team is 'still kind of working through it,' leaving his status uncertain heading into the game.

Love executes the Mesh Sit concept on 4th & 4, reading DJ Reed at the snap; the play design attempts to catch the Lions mid-communication with a quick-snap. On the 3rd & 5 play, Love reads the Lions' single-high safety look and takes the vertical route to Jacobs, lofting the ball over the top. Pierre Strong notes that if Love had felt able to wait a tick on the 4th & 4 play, he could have potentially moved off Reed's coverage and found Strong on the backside, though Strong would be the 5th read.

Jacobs motions out at the snap on the final 3rd & 5 play to gain outside leverage on his defender and is designated as the Alert read—the throw-this-at-the-top-of-the-drop option if given a specific look. Love takes the vertical route to Jacobs after the Lions stay in single-high safety coverage, lofting the ball over Lions DB Derrick Moore. Jacobs gets the separation he needs but drops the pass despite it hitting him in both hands, failing to convert a critical late-game opportunity. The Packers had already hit Jacobs on multiple choice routes earlier in the game (Angle route on Texas concept in 2nd quarter, out route TD in 3rd quarter), suggesting the Lions were aware of the tendency.

Kraft runs a dueling drag route with Pierre Strong on the 4th & 4 Mesh Sit concept, crossing a couple yards down the field; on the 3rd & 5 play, Kraft shifts wide before the snap and runs a shallow crossing route as part of a two-man stack with Golden, serving as a secondary read if the Lions rotate to two-high safety.

Williams runs a drag route followed by a Sit route in the middle of the field on the 4th & 4 Mesh Sit concept as part of the second-level read progression; on the 3rd & 5 play, Williams releases vertically to the inside as part of what initially appears to be an Arches concept.

Strong aligns as the inside man in the bunch on the 4th & 4 play and runs a dueling drag route as part of the Mesh Sit concept, crossing a couple yards down the field; he would be the 5th read on the play if Love were to work off DJ Reed's coverage, making him difficult to reach in the progression.

Golden aligns in the backfield on the 4th & 4 play and runs a flat route as the final read in the Mesh Sit concept; the play design uses the bunch receivers to create a wall of commotion to spring Golden open, but Lions CB DJ Reed avoids the traffic and drives down on Golden to defend the route. On the 3rd & 5 play, Golden runs a shallow crossing route as part of a two-man stack with Watson.

Watson is the primary vertical read on the 4th & 4 Mesh Sit concept, running a corner route as the first progression in the play design; also runs a corner route over the top on the final 3rd & 5 play with a two-man stack alignment just outside the right hash.

Running back returned from suspension to produce 36 yards on 11 attempts against the Lions; excluding one 10-yard carry, averaged only 2.6 yards per attempt on his other runs, indicating severe efficiency problems in the Packers' non-functional rushing attack.

Running back relegated to healthy scratch despite Packers trading draft capital to acquire him; when given carries against Tampa Bay, contributed 58 yards on two carries, but remains benched despite the team's desperate rushing situation.

Running back unable to produce in Packers' historically bad rushing attack; part of a backfield where no option has been able to generate consistent ground-game production.

Running back unable to produce in Packers' struggling rushing attack; contributed only 58 yards on two carries against Tampa Bay, the team's peak rushing performance of the season, indicating limited effectiveness even in favorable circumstances.

Packers running back struggling as part of a historically bad rushing attack; specific issue is getting lost between his backfield position and the line of scrimmage, suggesting mechanical or decisional problems in the run game.

RB Kaleb Johnson was a healthy scratch against Detroit and is expected to be scratched again for Thursday's game against Carolina as the Packers trim their 53-man roster to 48-man game-day roster.

WR Matthew Golden (shoulder/foot) was an estimated non-participant in Monday's practice estimation ahead of Thursday's game against Carolina; he finished Sunday's game against Detroit but his shoulder/foot injury status is a key monitoring point for game-day availability.

Tight end Thomas Yassmin is on injured reserve.

Tight end Luke Musgrave is on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list.

Wide receiver Skyy Moore is on injured reserve.

Wide receiver Jayden Reed is on injured reserve.

Running back Chris Brooks is on injured reserve.

Running back Kaleb Johnson is expected to be scratched from the game-day roster for Thursday's action against the Carolina Panthers to get the Packers down to a 48-man game-day roster.

Bijan Robinson's dominant performance against Green Bay in the Packers' previous TNF game earlier this season—when he ran over, around, and through the defense—is cited as historical context for the current Week 8 matchup; the Packers are favored by 4.5 points, the same spread as that earlier TNF game where Robinson had success.

Bo Melton was one of multiple Packers receivers to drop passes in the game, contributing to the offensive drop epidemic. The source groups Melton with Josh Jacobs as part of 'the dropsies' plaguing the Packers offense, though specific stats for Melton are not provided.

Josh Jacobs finished with 11 carries for 36 yards, 5 catches for 55 yards, and 1 TD but dropped a go-ahead touchdown that cost the Packers the game. The source categorizes him as a 'Loser' and notes his drop 'in particular, cost the team a go-ahead touchdown,' highlighting a critical mistake in a 3-point loss.

Matthew Golden led the Packers in targets with 12 from Jordan Love but caught only 6 for 39 yards, a 50% catch rate that underperformed his role as one of Love's favorite targets. The source identifies Golden as 'a playmaker, and he's hard to beat without getting called for PI,' but notes that drops continue to plague the Packers offense and Golden's production despite high volume.

Jordan Love completed 27 of 45 passes (60%) for 274 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT despite losing two starting offensive linemen (Sean Rhyan and Jacob Monk) in the first quarter and dealing with multiple receiver drops. The source notes Love 'is once again making do while the world falls apart around him,' highlighting his ability to execute high-difficulty throws on 4th and 5 to Savion Williams and 4th and 3 to Christian Watson while running for his life with a collapsing pocket.

Josh Jacobs had a crucial drop that directly led to a field goal attempt in the Packers' 20-17 loss to the Lions; while the field goal was blocked, the drop represented a critical offensive failure in a close game and prompted Jacobs to apologize to his team.

Jordan Love cannot consistently will the Packers to a 50 percent third-down conversion rate every game, particularly when the team struggles on first and second down and receivers drop passes; the source cites this as a key reason the Packers' 5-for-15 third-down performance (33%) was insufficient in their 20-17 loss to Detroit.

Chris Brooks has a -1.4 ADOT among Packers running backs, the lowest on the team, indicating he is being targeted on the shortest routes near the line of scrimmage compared to other Packers backs.

Pierre Strong has a -0.7 ADOT among Packers running backs, indicating he is being targeted on short routes near the line of scrimmage, consistent with the team's approach to most of their running back group outside of Josh Jacobs.

Kaleb Johnson has a -0.33 ADOT among Packers running backs, indicating he is being targeted on short routes near the line of scrimmage, in contrast to Josh Jacobs' 5.1-yard ADOT. This reflects the Packers' differential usage patterns for their running back group in the passing game.

MarShawn Lloyd showed improvement in Week 7, posting his best EPA on runs outside the tackle. The source notes he 'looked better this week than he had'—displaying more decisiveness and strong finishes—though with the caveat 'he may never turn into anything.' The source expresses cautious optimism: 'I thought there was a bit of promise this week,' while acknowledging this could be 'pure hope.'

Josh Jacobs' Week 7 return was described as 'fine'—36 rushing yards on 11 attempts with 30 yards after contact. As a receiver, he showed more promise: 5 catches on 7 targets for 55 yards (+1.25 EPA per Reception) with a 5.1-yard ADOT, making him the only Packers running back targeted downfield. Other Packers RBs had negative ADOTs (Kaleb Johnson -0.33, MarShawn Lloyd -0.69, Pierre Strong -0.7, Chris Brooks -1.4), suggesting a shift toward vertical passing routes for Jacobs.

Jordan Love was under pressure on 37.0% of his dropbacks in Week 7, matching the Lions' season pressure rate (36.7%), but the Lions' time to pressure was 2.4 seconds—second-best in the league. Love averaged 2.61 seconds to throw, which would rank 2nd-fastest among all 2025 QBs (behind Aaron Rodgers at 2.59 and ahead of Tua Tagovailoa at 2.65). Despite pressure and drops, Love averaged 10.9 ADOT and +0.14 EPA per Play; the source notes EPA and Success Rate would improve significantly if drops were removed from the calculation.

Jonnu Smith played 15 snaps in Week 7 as the Packers' TE3; he typically comes in for route-running situations rather than blocking opportunities.

Mark Redman played 16 snaps in Week 7 as the Packers' TE2; he typically comes in for blocking situations rather than route-running opportunities.

Tucker Kraft played 57 snaps in Week 7, maintaining his role as the Packers' primary tight end.

Coleman Owen has played two consecutive weeks without an offensive snap, limited exclusively to the punt returner position.