Gameday

For three quarters Sunday against the Rams, Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford looked like a three-point shooter who’d lost his touch. But like any good shooter, Stafford kept firing away, and in the fourth quarter, made all the right plays in a 27-23 Lions victory.

“The good news is that the last two times we had the ball I don’t know if anyone has ever played better,” Lions head coach Jim Schwartz said of Stafford's performance in the fourth quarter after throwing three interceptions in the first half.

In the final two offensive possessions of the game, Stafford led the Lions for two touchdown drives, completed 11-of-12 passes for 142 yards and the game-winning score with 10 seconds left.

“A guy that threw three interceptions, maybe at the end you’re sitting there going, ‘Hey let’s get into field goal range; let’s try to take it to overtime,’” Schwartz said.

“That was never even in our thought. The whole time we were talking about, ‘We’ve got plenty of time, let’s go down and score a touchdown and win this game.’ We can’t do that without a quarterback like Matt.”

Stafford took the reins of the offense trailing 23-20 with 1:55 remaining in the game and the ball at his own 20-yard line. Over the next one-minute and 45 seconds, Stafford calmly, collectively and methodically moved the Lions 80 yards downfield for the game-winning touchdown. The final play was a 5-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Smith with just 10 seconds left.

Stafford finished 32-of-48 passing for 355 yards with that one touchdown and three interceptions.

“I trust my teammates and my teammates trust me no matter what happens in the first half, however bad I look,” Stafford said after the game. “That’s what being a team is it’s all about.

“Our defense did a hell of a job in the second half. I swear every time I looked up we were right about the 50-yard line having a chance to go down and put some points up. Didn’t do it a whole bunch, but guys stuck with me; we all stuck together.

All of Stafford’s interceptions came in the first half. The first came at the end of 15-play drive with the Lions on the Rams doorstep. The third was returned 31 yards for a touchdown by Cortland Finnegan that gave the Rams a 13-7 lead at the time.

Stafford had plenty of help orchestrating a comeback, including Smith. He finished with 62 rushing yards and 92 total yards with two touchdowns. Who thought entering the game that Smith would out-rush Rams running back Steven Jackson (62 yards to 53 yards).

The Lions defense did a great job on Jackson all day, limiting the NFL’s yards-from-scrimmage leader last year to just 84 total yards.

“They ran some plays that we struggled with last year,” Lions defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch said. “They ran some whams and draws and some reverses, a little of everything, and our linebackers did a really good job."

The Lions also got a one-yard touchdown from running back Joique Bell, the first of his career.

Jason Hanson, who became the first player to play 21 years with the team that drafted him, added two field goals.

Rams quarterback Sam Bradford was harassed by the Lions’ stout defense line all game. He was pressed seven times, hit five times and sacked three times and finished with 198 yards and one touchdown.

Defensive tackles Ndamukong Suh, Nick Fairley and Corey Williams all recorded sacks for the Lions.