Emptying my notebook on a Friday ...

• Jon Kitna said he saw first-year Atlanta coach Mike Smith's decision to throw two passes in the final 1:15 of the first half last week, when the Lions were out of timeouts, not as bad coaching but rather a sign of disrespect to the Lions. "They threw two passes with a rookie quarterback and we had no timeouts left," Kitna said. "To me, that's disrespectful. That's a disrespect to who we are, saying we can really work on this because we don't really think that it's going to bother us if we do turn it back over to them. I hope we all take it that way."

• Of the 14 snaps he played last week, rookie middle linebacker Jordon Dizon said none of them came with the new defensive speaker system in his helmet. Dizon and Paris Lenon are outfitted with the helmets on Sundays, but only one speaker-equipped helmet can be on the field at a time (the other is guarded by NFL security). Since he played only as an injury replacement, Dizon said there was no point switching helmets. "I didn't need it," he said. "I felt comfortable with (the hand signals)." Assuming he rotates in for a full series Sunday, not just individual plays — "there's no way in (heck) we're going to" rotate plays, Dizon said — Dizon said he will use the speaker system against the Packers.

• Lions coach Rod Marinelli on Dizon: "The instinctive part, the tackling is good. We just got to keep helping him grow in terms of how to run a system." The Packers use different personnel groups as well as anyone in the NFL. Dizon may not play more than a few series this week, but how he does against one of the most difficult offenses in the league — and for that matter, how much time he gets — could determine if he's ready to take over the middle-linebacker position full-time later this year.

• Left guard Edwin Mulitalo said Sunday's game is a must-win. "It's a must-win, but it's not a season-killer," he said. "We went 6-2 last year and even though we stunk it up at the end, it took to the last two games to figure out we were really out of it. That's the beauty of winning early instead of losing early and just trying to inch your way in somehow."

• The hamstring injury Dan Campbell suffered last week against the Falcons was not the same injury he incurred after he came off the PUP list during training camp. "This was a different injury to the same hamstring, way up where it attaches up in your rear end there," offensive coordinator Jim Colletto said. Colletto said Campbell's loss won't affect how much the Lions use multiple-tight-end formations.

• Lions receiver Roy Williams always likes playing against Green Bay's Al Harris, but Williams dropped Harris a notch to No. 2 on his list of top cornerbacks in the NFL. "I think Nnamdi's No. 1 over in Oakland," Williams said of Raiders corner Nnamdi Asomugha. "But Al's a good corner. Everybody knows that. We're not going to back down from him, we're going to go after him and see if he can make the play."