Sunday Night Football: Saints Pull Away For 31-17 Win

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Detroit Lions running back Kevin Smith came into Sunday night’s matchup with the New Orleans Saints gimpy after suffering an ankle injury on Thanksgiving day. Smith was clearly favoring the ankle throughout the first half, though he did continue to play through the injury. However, early in the second half, his ankle gave way, forcing him from the game.

Smith appeared to roll the same ankle, going to the turf in a heap during the Lions first drive of the second half. He was helped off the field after trainers attended to him, and may be done for the game. Through a firm update on his status hasn’t been passed along, the Sunday Night Football announcers did speculate his evening was over.

That score gave the ball back to the Lions with 0:22 remaining in the half. Detroit was able to get itself into field goal range, but their field goal attempt was deflected and they came up empty.

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So the Saints decided to treat Johnson like a gunner. Not only did they press Johnson, trying to jam him at the line of scimmage; they put two defensive backs on him. It was exactly what we’d expect to see on a punt, with two guys trying to take the wide man out of the play.

The good news for New Orleans: Johnson didn’t catch a jump ball. The bad news: He was just a decoy and the Lions scored a touchdown anyway. Whatever, it was a good try.

Stafford is 11-for-14 so far in the game with 110 passing yards and no interceptions.

To keep up to date with the Saints, please visit Canal Street Chronicles. For news and information regarding the Lions, please visit Pride of Detroit.

To keep up to date with the Saints, please visit Canal Street Chronicles. For news and information regarding all things Lions, please visit Pride of Detroit.

The Lions had done an exceptional job of stopping the Saints rushers, as most of the New Orleans first downs had come as a result of long Drew Brees passes and nifty catches by his wide receivers. A nifty run by a Saints running back in the second quarter allowed New Orleans to extend their lead.

Mark Ingram was able to scramble past Lions defenders on an end-around and wind up in the end zone with a 14 yard run and the first touchdown of the game to put New Orleans on top by a score of 10-0 in the second quarter.

The Lions were stopped early on by the Saints defensive line, which was able to effectively shut down Detroit rushers and force lost yardage for a three-and-out.

To keep up to date with the Saints, please visit Canal Street Chronicles. For news and information regarding the Lions, please visit Pride of Detroit.

Detroit Lions running back Kevin Smith will be active for tonight’s prime time game against the New Orleans Saints. Smith was dealing with an ankle injury suffered in the Lions’ Thanksgiving Day loss to the Green Bay Packers. His status for the Lions’ Sunday night game this week was in doubt, and the subject of much consternation from fantasy football managers as well as Lions fans.

The Detroit Free Press confirmed the news earlier this evening.

The Detroit Lions are coming off a tough loss to the Packers on Thanksgiving Day and will hope to be able to rebound against the Saints on the road, to get right back in the race for the NFC wild card. Quarterback Matt Stafford is coming off a poor performance that saw him throw three interceptions in the loss, and the Lions defense was run over by one of the best offenses in the NFL. They’ll have a tall task playing one of the other best offenses in the NFL on the road against the Saints.

Game Date/Time: Sunday, December 4; 8:20pm ET

Peter King of Sports Illustrated likes the Saints to continue their hot streak:

No one at ESPN has any faith in the Lions to beat the Saints.