Mack Hollins likes how the Patriots answered his challenge before the Lions game in Munich

Mack Hollins spent Sunday night telling teammates that anyone at peace with a blowout loss should look for another team. By Wednesday, the veteran receiver said the New England Patriots had answered him. Speaking before the team flew to Germany for Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions, Hollins said the locker room had turned its attention to the next opponent, and he did not take back anything he said after the 45-27 home loss to Green Bay, SB Nation's Pats Pulpit reported.

"I think it's good," the 33-year-old said of the team's response, according to Pats Pulpit. He added that the group was taking things one week at a time. He also explained what he had meant. His target, he said, was not players who were slacking in practice. It was players willing to walk off the field after a loss like that and decide the result was not on them. He said he did not believe the roster had anyone like that.

The message lined up with what came from the top. Mike Vrabel said after the Packers game that he wanted "48 guys who care" in uniform in Germany, and on WEEI he invited anyone who did not fit to say so before the trade deadline, the Boston Herald's Karen Guregian wrote. The Herald also noted that the problems went beyond any one player and pointed to Christian Gonzalez, who had his worst game as a Patriot against Green Bay. The 45 points were the most the defense has allowed under Vrabel, Patriots.com noted. Hollins himself only recently came back from injured reserve, which gives Drake Maye a deeper receiver group than he has had for much of the fall.

What it means for Detroit

New England is 5-4 and has not won or lost two in a row since the start of October. The Green Bay loss followed a 24-19 win at Miami, which came a week after a 30-24 loss at Chicago. The Patriots have looked their best against weaker teams, scoring 45 on Las Vegas, and their worst against strong ones, including the 35-6 loss at Jacksonville. On WEEI, Vrabel was told that his New England teams are 6-6 against opponents with winning records and 16-2 against everyone else, Boston.com reported. Detroit came into the week 6-2. Sunday's game in Munich, with the Lions as the designated home team, kicks off at 9:30 a.m. Eastern on Fox. It is New England's second regular-season game in Germany.

On this site's Patriots-Lions board, which tracks 12 venues, Detroit is a modest favorite. Novig has the Lions at -141 on the moneyline and the Patriots at +138. On the spread, Novig lists Detroit as 2.5-point favorites at -117, with New England +2.5 at +113. The best Patriots number anywhere is Pinnacle's +3 at -113, so the venues disagree by about half a point on the margin. The total is 51.5 at Novig, while the best price on the over is FanDuel's 50.5 at -115. The sportsbooks are holding roughly 3 to 5.5 percent across those markets.

That is a high total for a team that just gave up 45, and the narrow spread suggests the market still sees this as close. Whether the response Hollins described carries over onto the field in Munich will decide whether New England ends a skid before it starts or falls to .500.