Detroit — The Detroit Lions blew a 21-point second half lead and let the New Orleans Saints match an overtime-opening touchdown drive, but a failed two-point try allowed the Lions to narrowly escape with a 31-30, season-opening victory at Ford Field on Sunday.
It looked like it was going to be a far easier day at the office for the Lions. After taking a 7-0 lead into the half, they expanded that advantage to 21 behind an opportunistic defense and a pair of touchdowns off turnovers.
But the dominance couldn’t be sustained through the finish line as the Saints chipped away with 17 unanswered points, including back-to-back touchdown drives to end the third quarter.
The Lions had a chance to put it away late in the game, with first-and-goal at the 1-yard line with just under five minutes remaining. However, they were knocked back by a holding penalty, leaving them to take a short field goal instead of going up double-digits with a touchdown.
That left the door open for the Saints, who drove 75 yards to tie the game with a 9-yard touchdown from quarterback Tyler Shough to tight end Juwan Johnson.
After Detroit went three-and-out in response, New Orleans got into position to attempt a 62-yard, game-winning field goal, but Daniel Carlson’s boot came up short as time expired, sending the game to overtime.
In the extra frame, the Lions rediscovered their footing, driving 70 yards on 10 plays, scoring a go-ahead touchdown on a 4-yard pass from Jared Goff to Amon-Ra St. Brown.
But the Saints matched the score with a 75-yard touchdown drive before Shough’s two-point pass for Bryce Lance went incomplete, giving the Lions the victory.
Game ball
Running back Jahmyr Gibbs carried the Lions’ offense with 34 touches netting 186 yards and two scores.
Scoring summary
First quarter
● 3:39 — After going three-and-out on the game’s opening possession, Detroit marched 89 yards on 12 plays for the first touchdown of the contest. Gibbs had 57 yards from scrimmage on the drive, including a 1-yard touchdown run after Jameson Williams converted third-and-8 with a grab across the middle, just shy of the goal line. LIONS 7, SAINTS 0
Second quarter
● None
Third quarter
● 11:18 — Taking over in Saints territory after an interception, the Lions needed seven plays to go 41 yards for a touchdown. Again, it was Gibbs doing the heavy lifting, carrying the ball four times for 23 yards, including another 1-yard touchdown. LIONS 14, SAINTS 0
● 8:54 — Operating with another short field following a fumble recovery, Goff hit St. Brown on a post pattern for a 19-yard touchdown. LIONS 21, SAINTS 0
● 4:27 — Evading a sack by rolling to his right, Shough found Chris Olave on a deep shot for 47 yards into Detroit territory. After converting two third-down plays into the red zone, running back Kendre Miller got the Saints on the board with an 8-yard touchdown run. LIONS 21, SAINTS 7
● 0:28 — New Orleans needed just seven plays to slice Detroit’s advantage to a single score. One snap after Rock Ya-Sin was flagged for pass interference on a third-down shot into the end zone, the veteran cornerback was beat on a Devaughn Vele fade route for a 1-yard score. LIONS 21, SAINTS 14
Fourth quarter
● 7:41 — A 31-yard, third-down deep ball to Vele, over the coverage of Avonte Maddox, pushed the Saints into the red zone, but Detroit’s defense held the opposition out of the end zone, limiting New Orleans to a short field goal to preserve the narrow lead. LIONS 21, SAINTS 17
● 2:32 — Benefitting from two 15-yard infractions against the Saints, the Lions had first-and-goal from the 1-yard line before being undone by a holding call against Ben Bartch. That left the Lions to settle for a short Jake Bates field goal to push their advantage back to seven. LIONS 24, SAINTS 17
● 1:07 — Fueled by a fourth-and-12 conversion and another deep ball — this one 42 yards to Olave — the Saints were able to drive 75 yards in eight plays to tie the game, capping the successful rally with the 9-yard touchdown from Shough to Johnson. LIONS 24, SAINTS 24
Overtime
● 5:04 — Gibbs ran for 35 more yards and Williams delivered a 22-yard grab down to the 5-yard line, setting up an impressive St. Brown touchdown, where the All-Pro receiver held on to a slant through contact before crossing the goal line to put the Lions back on top. LIONS 31, SAINTS 24
● 1:34 — Detroit’s defense continued to flounder, especially in coverage as Shough carved up the secondary on a 75-yard response that was capped with an 8-yard touchdown to Fant.
The Saints went for two instead of the tie, but Shough’s pass went incomplete on the try. LIONS 31, SAINTS 30
Turnovers
● Attempting to reverse field after a short reception in the second quarter, Gibbs took a big hit from behind by 311-pound defensive lineman Vernon Broughton, resulting in a fumble that the defender also recovered.
● With the Saints knocking on the outer edge of field-goal territory in the second quarter, Lions safety Chuck Clark intercepted a pass that was behind tight end Noah Fant.
● On the first snap of the second half, Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes jumped Fant’s sit-down route for an interception.
● A second-down sack had the Saints facing third-and-14 in the third quarter. On that snap, cornerback Roger McCreary came unblocked on a blitz, jarring the ball free from the grasp of Shough. Defensive lineman DJ Wonnum recovered the fumble, giving the Lions possession at the Saints’ 25-yard line.
Key stats
● Goff completed 26-of-39 for 206 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions.
● Gibbs carried the ball 29 times for 156 yards and two touchdowns.
● St. Brown paced the Lions with 10 grabs for 67 yards and a touchdown.
● Cornerback DJ Reed led the Lions with 10 tackles, while Hutchinson scored two of the team’s five sacks.
Notable
● With his first-quarter score, Gibbs became the sixth player in NFL history to score 50 touchdowns in his first 50 games, joining Marcus Allen, Jim Brown, Chuck Foreman, Larry Johnson, and Steve Van Buren.
● A Goff second-quarter fumble that was scooped up and returned for a touchdown by the Saints was overturned by replay review when it was determined the quarterback had begun his passing motion at the time the ball came out.
● With a third-down sack in the closing seconds of the first half, Aidan Hutchinson knocked the Saints out of field-goal range, keeping the visitors scoreless through two quarters.
Injuries
● While climbing to the second level on a first-quarter run play, guard Christian Mahogany stumbled and went down. He was tended to by trainers and gingerly walked off the field without assistance before being carted to the locker room to be evaluated for a knee injury.
Initially listed as questionable to return, Mahogany was downgraded to out shortly after halftime.
Inactives
The Lions made the following players inactive for the contest: Cornerback Ennis Rakestraw, defensive back Christian Izien, linebacker Jimmy Rolder, defensive tackle Mekhi Wingo and defensive lineman Ahmed Hassanein.
Izien had been listed as questionable coming into the contest with a groin injury. The others didn’t have a pre-game designation and would be considered healthy scratches, although Rakestraw, Wingo and Rolder did appear on the injury report earlier in the week.
Next game
The Lions head on the road for a Thursday night matchup in Buffalo (1-0), which will mark the first regular season contest played at the Bills’ new Highmark Stadium.
Some of these comments are silly. Relax, its week 1 and The Lions are 1-0.
Look, I'm the first guy to be mad at a W if the team looked bad, but I'm not mad at this game. The offense was "fine", and the O-line held up. Typical first game jitters and drops, but nothing alarming here. Gibbs was absolute beast mode, and Amon-Ra did his thing. Would like to get the tight ends more involved, and Teslaa, but overall I think we'll be good. The defense was GREAT in the first half. Not sure what happened in the second half other than players got tired. Special teams, I thought, had an exceptional game. Unless I missed something. So, overall, super sound in all three facets, assuming we fix those chunk plays. Lastly, I think the Saints are a very good team, and possibly a great defense. This was not a bad team. So I'm happy with the win. We battled. The superstars did superstar stuff. Yes, the play-calling was at times suspect, and yes, our secondary sprung some leaks in the 2nd half, but I'm very, very happy with this win.