news

Lions beat Stafford, Rams in OT after second-half rally

Vaseline September 9, 2024

Detroit — Jared Goff had two narrow victories over Matthew Stafford in Detroit on Sunday night: one on the coin toss at the start of the game and another on the coin toss at the start of overtime.

The second game resulted in a huge 26-20 victory for the Detroit Lions over the Los Angeles Rams in the season opener on Sunday Night Football before a raucous crowd of 66,530 at Ford Field.

After blowing a 17-3 lead in the second half, Goff and the Lions took the field with less than two minutes left and won the game 20-17. Jake Bates made his NFL debut with a 32-yard field goal to send the game into overtime.

The Lions got the ball first and moved it quickly with a 12-yard end-around by Kalif Raymond and a 21-yard run by David Montgomery that set up the Lions with first-and-10 at the LA 37-yard line. After Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs added a few touches to put Detroit in the red zone, and Montgomery forced his way to a first-and-goal at the 1-yard line, Montgomery, who had 91 rushing yards, punched it in to give the Lions a blowout comeback victory in the encore of Sunday’s Week 1 slate.

The Lions defense got a stop to get them there, too. The Lions went three-and-out after the Rams took a 20-17 lead with 4:30 to go, but the defense — aided by a false start that the Rams backed up — got Detroit the ball back before the two-minute warning.

Jameson Williams had a career-high 121 receiving yards and a touchdown, but receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and tight end Sam LaPorta had unusually quiet nights, combining for just 58 yards on seven catches.

Goff recovered after a near back-breaking interception that allowed the Rams to take the lead in the fourth. The Lions had a huge opportunity after the two-minute warning when an 18-yard reception was helped by a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty on Kamren Kinchens late in the play, giving Detroit first-and-10 at the Rams’ 31-yard line. Gibbs, who scored the Lions’ first touchdown of the season, picked up a huge first down on third-and-2 in Rams territory to lead Detroit to the red zone, where they eventually kicked a tying field goal.

▶ Scoreboard: Lions 26, Aries 20 (OT)

Lions linebacker Alex Anzalone had two tackles for loss on the opening drive and got the Rams offense off the field in three plays, but LA’s pass rush did the same with a third-down sack on Goff — Byron Young beat Kevin Zeitler cleanly on the inside — to force a three-and-out on the Lions’ opening drive.

The Rams moved the ball methodically on their second drive and reached the red zone, but Lions defensive tackle Levi Onwuzurike halted the drive with a second-down sack, followed by a false start for the Rams, which forced Joshua Karty into a 41-yard field goal. That ended the 13-play drive that had the Rams leading 3-0 with 4:50 left in the first quarter.

The Lions responded with a long field-goal drive (15 plays) of their own. Detroit spammed the David Montgomery button, allowing the veteran running back eight touches for 33 yards before Jake Bates connected on a 25-yard field goal on a third-down incompletion to Sam LaPorta in the end zone.

Detroit’s defense flexed its muscles after the Rams took the field midway through the second quarter. Brian Branch had a pass breakup, Marcus Davenport forced a throwaway with a push, and Aidan Hutchinson blew up Stafford on a third-down play before Carlton Davis had a pass breakup to Kupp on fourth-and-4 to get down the field.

The Rams lost All-Pro receiver Puka Nacua and offensive tackle Joe Noteboom to ankle injuries in the second quarter, forcing their third-string tackle, AJ Arcuri, to compete with Aidan Hutchinson for the rest of the game.

Jameson Williams started the next drive with a 36-yard completion over the middle and later added a 13-yard gain on an end-around that ended with him being watched by the training staff. Williams was strapped and returned to action. Shortly thereafter, Jahmyr Gibbs scored the Lions’ first touchdown of the season on a 1-yard run up the middle, where he was initially taken down at the 1-inch line.

Officials reviewed replays and ruled that Gibbs had cleared the ball across the goal line, leading to a touchdown for the Lions and a 10-3 lead with 1:57 left in the first half.

The Rams attempted to tie the game after taking the lead with less than two minutes remaining. They got a chance when Hutchinson was assessed a roughing-the-passer penalty that gave LA first-and-10 at Detroit’s 40-yard line instead of third-and-8 at LA’s 45-yard line.

However, once the Rams entered the red zone, Hutchinson turned the momentum around with a QB pressure that forced Stafford into a bad decision. A throw was intercepted in the end zone by Lions safety Kerby Joseph with 15 seconds left in the first half.

After both defenses quickly left the field to start the third quarter, the Lions broke the game open when Goff threw a deep ball to Williams down the sideline for a 52-yard touchdown on third-and-3 from Detroit’s 48-yard line.

The Rams responded with their first touchdown drive of the game after Terrion Arnold was penalized for defensive pass interference on a third-and-6 throw to Kupp in the end zone. The penalty gave the Rams first-and-goal at the 2-yard line, where Kyren Williams drove the ball in on the ensuing play.

After a quick three-and-out on defense, the Rams immediately went the other way to threaten Detroit’s lead in the fourth quarter. Branch and Davis both missed tackles on a short throw to Tyler Johnson, allowing the Rams receiver to take off for a 63-yard gain that set up first-and-10 at Detroit’s 23-yard line.

Arnold was again assessed a defensive pass interference penalty in the end zone, giving the Rams the ball on the 1-yard line again. This time, however, the Rams were assessed a second-down holding penalty, leading to second-and-goal at the 11. Branch broke up a throw to Kupp in the end zone, forcing a Rams field goal and preserving the Lions’ lead, 17-13, with 12:32 left in the fourth quarter.

The Lions made their first big mistake of the game when they tried to extend their 17-13 lead in the fourth quarter. On second-and-8 from the L.A. 30-yard line, Goff’s throw to St. Brown over the middle was intercepted by Rams safety John Johnson. The Rams marched down the field in 10 plays to take a 20-17 lead with a 9-yard passing touchdown to Kupp.

[email protected]

@nolanbianchi