Mike Daniels Says Packers Players Need to Punch People 'In Their Throat,' Send Message After Loss to Lions

Packers, Lions Packers defensive end Mike Daniels was not impressed after his team gave up 561 yards to the Detroit Lions on Thursday.

Daniels wants his defense to get tougher, and he’s got an idea for how to do that.

“We need to choke people, punch them in their throat,” Daniels told the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

The 300-pound, second-year player even gave an example from the Lions squad of how he expects his team to perform.

“I mean, that guy got a helmet-to-helmet on us, you know what, but he was trying to send a message,” Daniels said. “Every now and then, you’ve got to do that. I’m not condoning illegal hits, but we’ve got to punch somebody in their throat for once.”

Detroit linebacker DeAndre Levy was assessed an unnecessary roughness penalty after his head-first tackle of Green Bay’s Ryan Taylor knocked the tight end out of the game. The Lions didn’t just send a message on a physical level, either. Detroit had possession of the ball for nearly two-thirds of the game and nearly produced two 100-yard rushers in the 40-10 beat down.

“They just played a better game than us,” Daniels said. “But, like I said, we need to get more violent. I think we’ve lost some of that violence. Somewhere down the line, we’ve just got to get it done.”

Losing quarterback Aaron Rodgers to a broken collarbone on Nov. 4 certainly didn’t help the Pack’s leadership. Since then, the defense has allowed an average of 440 yards per game in four losses and one tie.