The Lions once again complete an improbable comeback
by SEPN (blog)
LONDON -- Matthew Stafford saw the flag, heard the penalty announced and thought the comeback attempt was over.
Kicker Matt Prater and the Detroit Lions had just taken a delay-of-game penalty and it momentarily crushed Stafford. Minutes later, he would think it was the best delay of game he had ever seen.
“In the history of the world,” Stafford said.
Kicker Matt Prater and the Detroit Lions had just taken a delay-of-game penalty and it momentarily crushed Stafford. Minutes later, he would think it was the best delay of game he had ever seen.
“In the history of the world,” Stafford said.
ding the game. But it was not. The play ended as a dead play, pushing Prater from 43 yards to 48 yards and giving him one more chance to seal a 22-point second half comeback for Detroit in a 22-21 victory against the Atlanta Falcons.
The kick went through, clinching another comeback that could be called miraculous if Stafford hadn’t done this last week, last season and back in his rookie year. This time, though, he did it without Calvin Johnson or Reggie Bush, his biggest playmakers. Stafford instead relied on Golden Tate and Theo Riddick, who were targeted a combined 27 times.
Stafford got his chance after Detroit's defense forced a punt, giving the Lions the ball on their 7-yard-line with 1:32 left.
Stafford immediately went to Tate, who had seven catches for 151 yards, for a leaping 32-yard completion between multiple Falcons. The play gave Detroit room and the beginnings of a chance to win. Tate has done this all season and one reason the Lions are 6-2 without a healthy Johnson or Bush.
“He’s just a competitive son of a gun and you trust him,” Stafford said. “You want to throw him the ball. You feel good about it when you throw it to him and I’m proud of him, happy for him.
“I know he’s going to be excited when Calvin comes back to be that duo that they want to be.”
After a throwaway, Stafford found Riddick over the middle -- the pass was a little off -- and Riddick made a tough one-handed catch for 20 yards. It moved Detroit 52 yards in three plays, into Falcons territory, and turned the improbable comeback into a possibility.
“Theo, with the one-handed catch, everyone was just making catches,” Lions receiverJeremy Ross said. “Just was helping us to eat up ground.”
The kick went through, clinching another comeback that could be called miraculous if Stafford hadn’t done this last week, last season and back in his rookie year. This time, though, he did it without Calvin Johnson or Reggie Bush, his biggest playmakers. Stafford instead relied on Golden Tate and Theo Riddick, who were targeted a combined 27 times.
Stafford got his chance after Detroit's defense forced a punt, giving the Lions the ball on their 7-yard-line with 1:32 left.
Stafford immediately went to Tate, who had seven catches for 151 yards, for a leaping 32-yard completion between multiple Falcons. The play gave Detroit room and the beginnings of a chance to win. Tate has done this all season and one reason the Lions are 6-2 without a healthy Johnson or Bush.
“He’s just a competitive son of a gun and you trust him,” Stafford said. “You want to throw him the ball. You feel good about it when you throw it to him and I’m proud of him, happy for him.
“I know he’s going to be excited when Calvin comes back to be that duo that they want to be.”
After a throwaway, Stafford found Riddick over the middle -- the pass was a little off -- and Riddick made a tough one-handed catch for 20 yards. It moved Detroit 52 yards in three plays, into Falcons territory, and turned the improbable comeback into a possibility.
“Theo, with the one-handed catch, everyone was just making catches,” Lions receiverJeremy Ross said. “Just was helping us to eat up ground.”
Meanwhile, Stafford was yelling instructions to his team, but receiver Jeremy Ross didn’t sense anything different in their quarterback as he was telling everybody to “line up, line up” as he barked instructions. By the time they reached the line, they’d be ready to go for either another play or a spike.
Stafford’s final completion -- three yards to Ross -- followed a spike. Then the Lions ran once. Atlanta called an odd timeout and then a defensive holding call on another Joique Bell run gave the Lions five extra yards.
Then spike, kneel, spike set up Prater’s first field goal attempt.
“We didn’t want to risk a handoff or anything of that nature,” Lions coach Jim Caldwell said. “Been part of a game where I saw, one in particular, where you had a fumbled exchange trying to hand it off. So we just took the knee, certainly didn’t want to give up any ground.”
After the spike, Prater took his time lining up the first field goal. Holder Sam Martin yelled “hurry, hurry” to snapper Don Muhlbach and Prater to try to avoid the delay of game. Prater got the kick off a second or two late, which was not planned but “obviously worked out,” Martin said.
While that happened, emotions from other Lions were everywhere. Some didn’t see the flag. Some didn’t know the rule.
“Man, I’m not going to lie to you. I don’t know what I felt,” defensive end Ezekiel Ansahsaid. “I thought we lost the game for a second.”
So did Stafford.
But as has been the way with these Lions the last two weeks, they got one more chance to try and win a game -- and they did.
“That’s as high and as low and as high again as I’ve been on a football field,” Stafford said. “It was fantastic.
“Just glad the second one went through.”
Stafford’s final completion -- three yards to Ross -- followed a spike. Then the Lions ran once. Atlanta called an odd timeout and then a defensive holding call on another Joique Bell run gave the Lions five extra yards.
Then spike, kneel, spike set up Prater’s first field goal attempt.
“We didn’t want to risk a handoff or anything of that nature,” Lions coach Jim Caldwell said. “Been part of a game where I saw, one in particular, where you had a fumbled exchange trying to hand it off. So we just took the knee, certainly didn’t want to give up any ground.”
After the spike, Prater took his time lining up the first field goal. Holder Sam Martin yelled “hurry, hurry” to snapper Don Muhlbach and Prater to try to avoid the delay of game. Prater got the kick off a second or two late, which was not planned but “obviously worked out,” Martin said.
While that happened, emotions from other Lions were everywhere. Some didn’t see the flag. Some didn’t know the rule.
“Man, I’m not going to lie to you. I don’t know what I felt,” defensive end Ezekiel Ansahsaid. “I thought we lost the game for a second.”
So did Stafford.
But as has been the way with these Lions the last two weeks, they got one more chance to try and win a game -- and they did.
“That’s as high and as low and as high again as I’ve been on a football field,” Stafford said. “It was fantastic.
“Just glad the second one went through.”
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