Matthew Stafford found Corey Fuller for a 5-yard touchdown and a Detroit Lions offense that was stymied for most of Sunday afternoon had its first lead against the New Orleans Saints with just 1:48 remaining in the game. The defense stopped Drew Brees on the ensuing possession and the Lions held on for a 24-23 win.
Saints vs. Lions 2014 final score: 3 things we learned from Detroit’s 24-23 win
The offense struggled again without Calvin Johnson but used a late scoring surge to pull out the victory.
Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports
The winning touchdown was set up by a big interception of Brees. With New Orleans looking to put the game away by extending a clock-winding drive, Glover Quin picked off Brees on third-and-9 and raced back to the Saints' 14-yard line. The struggling Lions looked as though they had blown a golden opportunity when Stafford's fourth-down attempt fell incomplete, but a defensive pass interference gave them new life. Three plays later Stafford hit Fuller for the game-winner.
The Lions' offense was held in check for the majority of the game, but received a huge spark with under four minutes remaining when Golden Tate took a short pass, found some room on the sideline and raced 73 yards to pull the Lions to within 23-17. New Orleans had owned the fourth quarter up until that point, kicking a pair of field goals to set itself up with a late 13-point lead.
1) The Lions' offense is struggling without Calvin Johnson.
Before the late scoring burst, the Lions’ offense had been completely clamped down by a Saints secondary that has struggled for most of the season. It isn’t a coincidence that the league’s best receiver wasn’t on the field. Johnson, who hasn’t been right since tweaking his ankle in Week 3, was held out again Sunday. Without him, the Lions hadn’t broken the 200-yard passing mark until the fourth quarter.
Golden Tate has done a great job filling in, but he simply can’t stretch the field and rewrite offensive game plans the same way that Johnson can. There are other factors in the Lions’ offensive struggles, but Johnson’s injury is easily the most significant.
2) Detroit’s defensive front kept the Lions in the game.
The Lions, who entered the game with the second-best rush defense in the league (73.5 yards allowed per game), held the Saints to just 73 on the ground. Shutting down the pass-happy Saints might not sound all that impressive, but consider that New Orleans came into the game averaging 133 rushing yards per game, ninth-best in the NFL.
Nick Fairley and Ndamukong Suh helped make the Saints one-dimensional and in turn helped the secondary keep Drew Brees and the passing attack in check. The D-line prevented New Orleans from milking the clock out at the end of the game and the crucial interception at the end was forced by defensive pressure in the pocket.
3) The Saints’ defense finally forced some turnovers.
A defense that struggled to force turnovers a season ago came into Sunday having notched just two takeaways in 2014. The Saints doubled that mark on Sunday, picking off Stafford twice. The second one, grabbed by Kenny Vaccaro and returned for 45 yards near the start of the fourth quarter, ended a promising Detroit drive that had pushed into the red zone.
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