The Green Bay Packers went into Detroit on Thanksgiving and escaped with a thrilling 31-24 victory over the Lions in a massive NFC North showdown.
Green Bay improved to 8-3-1 on the season, while the Lions dropped to 7-5. The Packers won the game on the back of their defense—particularly star pass rusher Micah Parsons, who may have delivered his best performance since being traded to Green Bay this past offseason.
Parsons recorded eight total tackles, four solo tackles, eight pressures, and a dominant 2.5 sacks. That performance pushes him to 12.5 sacks on the season and makes him the first player in NFL history (since sacks became an official stat in 1983) to record 12 or more sacks in each of his first five seasons.
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Parsons has now totaled 8.5 sacks in his career on Thanksgiving—a mark that ties the NFL record for the most sacks on the holiday. Most of that production came during his time with the Dallas Cowboys, making the feat even more impressive considering he’s only in his fifth NFL season.
He’s faced some criticism this year after a slower start, but that may have been the result of his offseason situation in Dallas, where he held out while seeking a long-term contract extension. That delayed his ramp-up compared to most players, not to mention the adjustment of joining a completely new team.
Green Bay has now put itself right back into the NFC hunt as the season heads down the stretch. The Packers will get a long week to prepare for their next opponent—the Chicago Bears on Dec. 7—in what will be a massive divisional matchup. They’ll face Chicago twice over the next three weeks.
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