Detroit earns last second win over Vikings.
A win is a win is a win. It does not have to look pretty, and the Lions 34-28 victory over division rival Minnesota Vikings at Ford Field was not pretty. In fact, it was a nail biting, nerve racking, hang on for dear life win.
“We played as good as we needed to play to get the win,” said quarterback Matthew Stafford. “I don’t know if you call it dodging a bullet; but we got the win. That’s one down. We’ve got three left.”
Added coach Jim Schwartz: “The game was definitely not pretty. The only thing pretty is that ‘W.’ ”
The victory was very important in the Lions’ (8-5) march toward earning a Wild-Card spot in the NFL Playoffs. With three games left starting with next week’s game on the road against the Oakland Raiders, followed by their last regular season home game versus the San Diego Chargers and concluding on the road in Green Bay. By all accounts the Lions need to win at least two of those games to squeeze into the post season.
It appeared the Lions had rebounded mightily from the disappointing showing last week in New Orleans, as they jumped out to a 31-14 lead going into halftime, but Minnesota fought back and gave themselves a chance to snatch the victory from the Lions.
Fueled by the stellar effort of defensive end Cliff Avril, who on the Lions’ opening defensive series, registered a 10-yard sack and forced a Christian Ponder fumble resulting in a fumble recovery for a touchdown in the end zone by linebacker Stephen Tulloch. It was Avril’s eighth sack this season and he finished with a game high 8 tackles (7 solo), 2.0 sacks, 3 tackles-for-loss, 1 forced fumble and 1 fumble recovery. He is currently tied for a League-high 6 forced fumbles and tied for second with 3 fumble recoveries.
Stafford followed up Avril and Tulloch’s efforts with two first quarter touchdown passes to Titus Young (57 yards) and Brandon Pettigrew (12) and it looked like the Lions were going to bury the Vikings, but the offense did not score another touchdown in the next three quarters.
No matter, reserve cornerback Alphonso Smith latched onto two interceptions, returning one 30 yards for a touchdown. Cornerback Eric Wright halted another drive with his fourth interception of the season.
“Yeah, Alphonso made a couple really nice plays,” Schwartz said. “He’s always been a good player around the football. He’s playing very good technique football now. Our secondary did a good job of making a bunch of plays.”
The Lions patch-work secondary did do an excellent job of stopping drives, but the play of the game occurred on the final play of the game with the the Vikings having 1st-and-goal at the Lions 1-yard line. Linebacker DeAndre Levy sacked Vikings quarterback Joe Webb for a 10-yard loss and forced a fumble that was batted and recovered by Avril as the clock winded down to zero.
“It had me sweating out there,” Stafford exclaimed. “You know, our defense did a great job of hanging in there. Had some guys get knicked up, had Rashied Davis out there playing nickel a little bit I saw. It was a tough one; we had to battle on both sides of the ball.”
Said Schwartz: “A couple months ago, we were in a very similar situation (vs. San Francisco). We had a chance to make a fourth-down stop and win the game. We didn’t get it accomplished. The big thing is we had that situation today and we made the play and got the win. You don’t get style points, but we’ll take it.”
The Vikings seco
nd year backup quarterback, Webb, came in and gave the Lions fits, driving his team one yard from a last second victory. “We prepared for Ponder,” explained Avril, “and then (they) put a running quarterback in and we just did not adjust quick enough to his skill set.”
nd year backup quarterback, Webb, came in and gave the Lions fits, driving his team one yard from a last second victory. “We prepared for Ponder,” explained Avril, “and then (they) put a running quarterback in and we just did not adjust quick enough to his skill set.”
The Lions played without defensive tackles Ndamukong Suh (suspended) and Nick Fairley (foot), cornerback Chris Houston (knee), safety Louis Delmas (knee) and defensive end Lawrence Jackson (thigh). During the game, linebacker Justin Durant (hamstring), cornerback Aaron Berry (shoulder) and Wright (hamstring) went out.
Leland Stein can be reached at lelstein3@aol.com or at Twitter @lelandsteinIII
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