Lions edge Dolphins with last-minute touchdown strike
DETROIT — Three quick passes had the Lions on the outskirts of field-goal range, but as Matthew Stafford walked to the sideline for the two-minute warning, it was clear the Comeback Kid wanted nothing to do with overtime.
Offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi reminded Stafford to keep taking completions and not force any bad passes, then player and coach looked each other dead in the eye.
"We both looked at each other like, 'Let's go score, let's go win this thing,'" Stafford said. "And that's the fun part of this game is having the opportunity to do that."
Stafford led the 15th game-winning drive in the fourth quarter or overtime of his short career Sunday, driving the Lions 74 yards in 11 plays and hitting Theo Riddick for the go-ahead 11-yard touchdown with 29 seconds to play as the Lions beat the Miami Dolphins, 20-16, at Ford Field.
The Lions improved to 7-2 with the victory, their fourth straight, and are off to their best start since 1993, the last time they won a division title.
Next week, they visit the Arizona Cardinals (8-1) in a game that pits the two best records in the NFC and could decide homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.
"Tremendous," Lions coach Jim Caldwell said of Stafford's late-game performance. "You don't find many guys that can handle what he does. There's a lot of pressure out there in those situations. I mean, there's a lot on the line. And every single time he goes out there and attacks the exact same way. He never gets flustered, he never loses his poise, he's got good focus. And in that time, you just listen to him talking, I mean, he's got a crystallized through process going all the time. We certainly appreciate that and that's why he's able to bring you back when most teams probably would falter."
The Lions have rallied for late wins in each of their last three games, and Stafford has been at least partially responsible for the comebacks.
On Sunday, he completed 25 of 40 passes for 280 yards and two touchdowns, and he was a deadly 8 of 11 with the game on the line in the Lions' final possession.
"It's one of those unique situations in sports where everybody's kind of, your back's against the wall and it's a total team thing, it's not an individual thing," Stafford said. "You got to rely on everybody and everybody stepped up. There's no better feeling than when you come out of that drive successful, as a team, as an offense. So obviously you fight tooth and nail for that feeling."
The Lions scored on their first two drives Sunday and held the Dolphins to 1 net yard in the first quarter before their sputtering offense made things interesting.
Matt Prater opened the scoring with a 26-yard field goal six plays after Sam Martin hit Jed Collins with a 24-yard pass on a fake punt, the first of two fakes the Lions ran Sunday. And Calvin Johnson, playing his first game in a month, beat Brent Grimes deep for a 49-yard touchdown to give the Lions a 10-0 lead.
Miami went ahead 13-10 late in the third quarter after a blocked field goal set up Ryan Tannehill's 3-yard touchdown pass to Mike Wallace, and the two teams traded fourth-quarter field goals before Stafford's heroics in the end.
The Lions started their final drive at their own 26 with 3:13 to play, but after penalties by each team, Stafford zipped passes to Johnson for 6 yards, Golden Tate for 17 and Johnson for 18 to move into Dolphins territory.
Tate dodged two tackles on a 10-yard gain on third-and-10 to give the Lions a first down at the Miami 17, and three plays later, with the Dolphins triple-covering Johnson, Riddick beat safety Reshad Jones down the Miami sideline for a touchdown.
"Theo had just kind of like a quick flat route-ish play and we were trying to get it to him quick, but they did a good job of playing over the top of it," Stafford said. "Theo did a great job of wheeling up the sideline, staying in bounds, making himself available and that's just instinct there. You draw them up and then sometimes the way football goes, you got to go out there and make a play and we were able to do that."
Ryan Tannehill finished 27 of 38 passing for 207 yards with one touchdown and one interception the Dolphins (5-4). Miami had a chance to go up seven points with just over 4 minutes to play, but James Ihedigbo made a diving breakup on a Tannehill pass to Charles Clay in the end zone to force a field goal.
Johnson, who sat out the Lions' last three games with a high ankle sprain, finished with seven catches for 113 yards and Tate added a game-high 11 catches for 109 yards for the Lions, who matched last season's win total with seven games to play.
"I don't put a ceiling (on what this team can accomplish)," Johnson said. "We'll go as high as possible."
Birkett also writes for the Detroit Free Press.