Roger McCreary Shuts Down Matthew Golden in Lions' Win Over Packers

Green Bay's passing game was supposed to be the test that exposed Detroit's secondary, and most of the pre-game chatter pointed that way. Plenty of people would have argued the Lions' cornerback group was the weakest unit in football. Nobody expected the most productive piece of it to be a slot defender on a modest one-year deal.

Roger McCreary was that piece on Sunday, and he deserves more attention than he's getting.

Why the Packers matchup looked so dangerous

Green Bay came into Ford Field with an MVP-caliber quarterback and arguably the most explosive receiving duo in the league this season. Christian Watson and Matthew Golden gave the Packers real vertical threats, and on paper they were the kind of pairing that exposes a secondary still searching for consistency. The Lions' outside corners have taken heat all year, so the concern was understandable.

Here's the thing about a matchup like that, though: the teams that handle it well usually do so by taking away one primary target rather than trying to bracket everything. That's what Detroit did, and McCreary was the man doing the work.

Golden never got going

Golden entered the game with 30 catches for 501 yards and three touchdowns, and he was coming off back-to-back games with more than 100 yards. Those are the numbers that make a receiver a problem in a 1-on-1 game. McCreary was the one primarily responsible for him, and the final line tells the story: five catches on 11 targets for 38 yards and no touchdowns.

The volume didn't disappear, either. Golden kept getting looks. The difference was where the ball went and what happened after it arrived. McCreary sat in the throwing lanes between the numbers, kept Golden in front of him, and didn't let him turn short routes into big gains. The one catch that really hurt came on a 22-yard play that moved the chains, but that was the exception in a game where Golden spent most of his afternoon making little progress against him.

Credit the scheme too. A corner can only hold a receiver that well if the rest of the defense keeps the quarterback from finding easy throws elsewhere, and the Lions' pass rush and coverage shells gave McCreary enough help to play his own game. That's the sort of detail that doesn't show up in a box score but explains why a slot corner can look so composed.

Watson's day was quiet too

McCreary also matched up with Watson on a handful of occasions. On the one time Jordan Love looked his way during those matchups, Watson caught a pass for eight yards, three of which came after the catch, and the play didn't convert a first down. Watson is a different type of threat than Golden, and holding him to that kind of short gain is a useful result for a defender who was asked to handle the most dangerous target in a few different situations.

Roger McCreary just had his best game with the Lions

The outside corners have drawn most of the criticism, and that makes sense given how many big plays Detroit has allowed. But McCreary has quietly been solid in the slot all season. This was his toughest assignment yet, and he handled it like a player who belongs in a bigger role.

That matters for the rest of the season. Detroit sits at 4-2 after seven weeks, and a team with a sloppy defense can still win if one part of the back end is holding up. The Lions have shown they can win without a dominant secondary, but they'll need more of this kind of work from the group to keep pace in a conference where quarterbacks can exploit any weakness.

The good news is that the pieces are coming together. Kerby Joseph is expected back at some point this season, and his return should give the Lions another reliable piece on the back end. If Joseph slots in alongside a McCreary who is playing this well, the defense has a real chance to look like a unit rather than a collection of question marks.

A signing worth remembering

The Lions signed McCreary to a one-year, $1.21 million deal this offseason. It was a quiet move at the time, overshadowed by the larger extensions Detroit handed out elsewhere. Sunday made it look like one of the best value additions on the roster. A player who can shut down a receiver of Golden's caliber on a modest salary is exactly the kind of depth piece that good teams need.

That's why the case for a longer contract is starting to build. If McCreary keeps playing at this level, his next deal will cost a lot more than the one he signed this spring, and the Lions would be wise to decide early whether he's part of the long-term plan. For now, the slot corner who was supposed to be a footnote has become one of the more important players on the field.