Packers get away with big play to end 3rd quarter vs. Lions with no time left on clock

The Detroit Lions were dominating Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime, jumping out to a commanding 27-3 lead in the first half. But in the third quarter, the Green Bay Packers began mounting a furious comeback. And they also got some clear help from the officials at the end of the third quarter, when Jordan Love connected with Jayden Reed for a 44-yard toss down the right sideline. The only problem was, the ball wasn’t snapped until after the clock had clearly hit zero.

Check out the video below and decide for yourself.

Here's a look at the "official" clock for those who don't think the Amazon clock is good enough.

Packers got away with it….. and we have a ballgame.pic.twitter.com/Ih38vF1wZp https://t.co/9pKvF7j0oD

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 29, 2023

The Green Bay Packers clearly got away with one

Thursday Night Football’s Rules Analyst Terry McAulay also chimed in on the missed call from officials. “Yeah, Al, the clock clearly hits zero before the ball is snapped. It’s not treated like the play clock where there’s somewhat of a delay between shutting it down for a delay of game. Once the game clock hits zero, it’s over. It should be shut down on the field by the officials. Final note, it’s not a reviewable play. They could not go back and fix that,” McAulay said on the Thursday Night Football broadcast.

Green Bay ended up scoring on that drive, with a quarterback sneak by Jordan Love, which cut the Lions lead to 27-17 early in the fourth quarter.

The Lions eventually got another touchdown from running back David Montgomery. That made it 34-17 with 6:00 left in the fourth quarter. Officials are lucky the missed call didn’t affect the outcome of the game, because it could have been much worse.

The Packers defense could simply find no answer to stop Montgomery and the Lions rushing attack on Thursday night. He racked up 121 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 32 carries. Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love threw two interceptions, which proved to be costly in the end.

The Detroit defense also stifled the Packers’ rushing attack, which only gained 27 total yards and a touchdown on 12 carries. Lions star defensive end Aidan Hutchinson earned Player of the Game honors, racking up 1.5 sacks and three pressures on the night. He currently has 3.5 sacks this season, the most on the team.

The Lions were dominant in the first half, scoring 27 points, whereas the Packers only gained 20 total yards of offense. Green Bay dug themselves a hole that was simply too deep and they couldn’t overcome it. Even though they did cut the Detroit lead to 34-20 with less than three minutes remaining.

One bright spot for Green Bay was the play of Romeo Doubs, who had nine catches for 95 receiving yards.

With the win, Detroit moved to 3-1 overall and the Packers dropped to 2-2 overall, just behind the Lions in the NFC North Standings.

On3’s Nick Schultz also contributed to this article.