Detroit – Jared Goff picked up two small victories over Matthew Stafford on Sunday night in Detroit: one on the coin toss at the start of the game and another on the coin toss at the start of overtime.
The second game resulted in a convincing 26-20 victory for the Detroit Lions over the Los Angeles Rams in the season opener on Sunday Night Football before a cheering crowd of 66,530 at Ford Field.
After blowing a 17-3 lead in the second half, Goff and the Lions marched down the field with the score tied at 20-17 with less than two minutes left and set up a 32-yard field goal by Jake Bates in his NFL debut that forced overtime.
The Lions got the ball first and moved it quickly with a 12-yard end-around by Kalif Raymond and a 21-yard run by David Montgomery that gave the Lions first-and-10 at the LA 37-yard line. After Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs added two more touches to put Detroit in the red zone and Montgomery worked his way to a first-and-goal at the 1-yard line, Montgomery, who had 91 rushing yards, punted the ball to give the Lions a stirring comeback win in Sunday’s Week 1 encore.
The Lions’ defense was able to stop them from getting there, too. The Lions went three-and-out after the Rams took a 20-17 lead with 4:30 left, but the defense — aided by a false start that set the Rams back — got the ball back to Detroit before the two-minute warning.
Jameson Williams set a new career high with 121 receiving yards and a touchdown, but receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and tight end Sam LaPorta had unusually quiet nights, combining for just 58 yards on seven catches.
Goff recovered after throwing a near game-winning interception that gave the Rams the lead in the fourth quarter. The Lions got very lucky after the two-minute warning, as an 18-yard pass was aided by a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty on Kamren Kinchens at the end of the play, giving Detroit first-and-10 at the Rams’ 31-yard line. Gibbs, who scored the Lions’ first touchdown of the season, picked up a huge first down on third-and-2 in Rams territory, bringing Detroit into the red zone, where they eventually scored a field goal to tie the game.
▶ Result: Lions 26, Rams 20 (extra time)
Lions linebacker Alex Anzalone had two tackles for loss on the opening drive to get the Rams offense off the field in three plays, but LA’s pass rush retaliated with a sack of Goff on third down – Byron Young beat Kevin Zeitler cleanly inside – forcing a three-and-out of its own on the Lions’ opening drive.
The Rams moved the ball methodically on their second drive and reached the red zone, but Lions defensive tackle Levi Onwuzurike stopped the drive with a sack on second down, followed by a Rams false start that forced Joshua Karty to make a 41-yard field goal that ended the 13-play drive with a 3-0 Rams lead 4:50 into the first quarter.
The Lions responded with a long field goal drive of their own (15 plays). Detroit fired the David Montgomery button, which saw the veteran running back touch the ball eight times and cover 33 yards before Jake Bates kicked a 25-yard field goal after an incomplete pass on third down to Sam LaPorta in the end zone.
Detroit’s defense flexed its muscles after the Rams stormed down the field midway through the second quarter. Brian Branch had a pass breakup, Marcus Davenport forced a throw with pressure and Aidan Hutchinson blasted Stafford on a third-down play before Carlton Davis had a pass breakup to Kupp on fourth-and-4 to leave the field.
The Rams lost All-Pro receiver Puka Nacua and offensive tackle Joe Noteboom to ankle injuries in the second quarter, leaving their third tackle, AJ Arcuri, to take care of Aidan Hutchinson for the rest of the game.
Jameson Williams opened the next drive with a 36-yard pass up the middle and later added a 13-yard gain on an end-around that ended with him being examined by the coaching staff. Williams was taped up and returned to the game. Shortly after, Jahmyr Gibbs scored the Lions’ first touchdown of the season with a 1-yard run up the middle that initially had him ruled down at the 1-inch line.
The referees reviewed the replay and ruled that Gibbs had kicked the ball over the goal line, leading to a Lions touchdown and a 10-3 lead with 1:57 left in the first half.
Trying to tie the game after taking the lead with less than two minutes left, the Rams got lucky when Hutchinson was penalized for “unnecessary roughness on the passer,” giving LA first-and-10 at the Detroit 40-yard line instead of third-and-8 at the LA 45-yard line.
However, after the Rams entered the red zone, Hutchinson helped turn the momentum around by putting pressure on the quarterback and forcing Stafford to make a bad decision: a throw was intercepted in the end zone by Lions safety Kerby Joseph with 15 seconds left in the half.
After both defenses quickly left the field early in the third quarter, the Lions won the game when Goff threw a long ball to Williams on the sideline on third-and-3 at Detroit’s 48-yard line for a 52-yard touchdown.
The Rams responded with their first touchdown drive of the game after Terrion Arnold was penalized for defensive pass interference on a throw to Kupp in the end zone on third-and-6. The penalty gave the Rams first-and-goal at the 2-yard line, where Kyren Williams punched the ball in on the next play.
After quickly getting a three-and-out on defense, the Rams went right the other way and threatened Detroit’s lead in the fourth quarter. Branch and Davis both missed tackles on a short throw to Tyler Johnson, allowing the Rams receiver to make a 63-yard gain that set up first-and-10 at Detroit’s 23-yard line.
Arnold was again flagged for defensive pass interference in the end zone, giving the Rams the ball at the 1-yard line again. This time, however, the Rams were assessed a holding penalty on second down, forcing a second attempt and goal at the 11-yard line. Branch blocked a throw in the end zone to Kupp, who forced a Rams field goal and kept the Lions ahead 17-13 with 12:32 left in the fourth quarter.
The Lions made their first big mistake of the game trying to extend their 17-13 lead in the fourth quarter. On second-and-8 at LA’s 30-yard line, Goff’s throw to St. Brown over the middle was intercepted by Rams safety John Johnson. The Rams marched down the field in 10 plays and took a 20-17 lead with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Kupp.
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