Packers’ Top Player Limped Off in Agony, Leaving Fans Stunned and Season Hopes Hanging by a Thread.QQ
Few Packers have been happier with the introduction of defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley’s defense in the past two seasons than lineman Devonte Wyatt. For the first two years of his career, Wyatt had been a disappointment, a former first-round pick from Georgia in 2022. He began playing more last year, and after the Micah Parsons trade sent out Kenny Clark before the season, he was slotted into a starting spot.
“I definitely do love the system we’re in,” Wyatt said of playing in Hafley’s defense. “I’m a lot more comfortable and I can move a lot faster. Just being aware of what’s going on in the system. … Definitely playing in this system for this first year, it gives me an advantage for next year and being in this system again.”
Wyatt has had some ups and downs with injuries earlier in the year, missing three games with a knee problem, but he’d been effective when on the field. And then came the big 31-24 Thanksgiving win in Detroit. Late in the fourth quarter, Wyatt badly rolled his ankle and needed to be carted off the field.
Devonte Wyatt: Ankle Fracture?
There’s no telling yet how serious the Wyatt injury will be, but it did not look good as he lay on the Ford Field turf being attended to by Packers doctors.
Packers coach Matt LaFleur felt the same.
“It doesn’t look good, guys,” LaFleur said. “I’m sick for him. I am sick for us. That’s a critical loss for our football team, for our defense. And I can’t say enough good things about him, watching him mature not only as a football player, but as a person. I have got a lot of love for Devonte Wyatt, and the whole locker room does. It’s a little bittersweet.”
Sports medicine physician Jesse Morse, who did not examine Wyatt and just gives superficial diagnoses on social media, speculated on Twitter/X that Wyatt could have a season-ending ankle injury.
Wrote Morse (and again, it’s speculation): “Devonte Wyatt Concern for left ankle fracture. Potentially season-ending.”
Packers Played Most Complete Game
The Wyatt injury was the big drawback in what was otherwise the best, most complete game the Packers have played since Week 2. It was a critical matchup, as Green Bay now vaults to 8-3-1, while the Lions drop to 7-5. The Packers are 3-0 in the NFC North, and the Lions are 1-3–including 0-2 vs. the Packers, meaning Detroit is facing very long odds of making up enough ground down the stretch to capture the division.
The two teams were extremely well-matched, as both ran 60 plays. The Packers were efficient, posting 359 yards to 352 for the Lions, but the difference was on the margins. Jordan Love was not sacked at all, while the Packers tallied three sacks (2.5 for Parsons) on Jared Goff. The Packers were called for three penalties, and there were five Lions penalties.
But the big swing was on fourth-down efficiency: The Packers were 3-for-3, and the Lions were 0-for-2. The final fourth down was clutch, as Love and Dontayvion Wicks connected on a fourth-and-3 for 16 yards with 1:55 to play and the Lions out of timeouts. The Packers made a bold call to go for it, converted it, and in doing so, they ended the game.
