Detroit, MI

It all came down to one play that the Detroit Lions had to make in order to keep their playoff hopes alive.

They made it and the bid for a playoff spot continues.

Matthew Stafford threw two touchdown passes and the defense scored twice to give the Detroit Lions a 34-28 victory over the Minnesota Vikings at Ford Field on Sunday.

The Lions defense stopped a Viking scoring bid on the game's last play.

With Detroit leading 31-14 at halftime, the Vikings changed quarterbacks after starter Christian Ponder threw his third interception of the game. New quarterback Joe Webb raced 65 yards on the keeper for a touchdown late in the second half.

Jason Hansen's 25-yard field goal gave Detroit a 34-21 lead early in the fourth.

Webb passed 2 yards to Toby Gerhart with less than eight minutes to play for a 34-28 score. With just over 3 minutes to play, the Vikings started another drive. Webb took his team to the 1-yard line but was sacked by Deandre Levy and fumbled the ball on the game's final play to preserve the Detroit victory.

"A couple of months ago, we were in a very similar situation," said Detroit coach Jim Schwartz. "We had a chance to make a fourth-down stop and win the game. We didn't get it accomplished. There were a lot of things that happened today from the first play of the game. But we made the play and got the win. You don't get style points but we'll take it."

"The guys fought their tails off against a team that's vying for a playoff spot (and) just couldn't get it done. That play...just the ways our guys are fighting every week, I told them after the game I'm extremely proud of the effort that they had and I know there's not a lot of solace when you don't win when you evaluate only the losses in our league."

On Minnesota's first play from scrimmage in the first quarter, Cliff Avril knocked the ball out of the hands of Ponder. Stephen Tullock recovered in the end zone for Detroit.

"That's the first time I've ever started a game like that," Avril said. "I kind of had the feeling it was going to be a pass and kind of beat him off the edge and ended up getting a sack-fumble. It's a good way to start a game, I guess."

Later in the quarter, Stafford threw touchdown passes of 57 yards to Titus Young and 12 yards to Brandon Pettigrew to give Detroit a 21-0 lead.

The Vikings came back with Ponder throwing a 7-yard scoring pass to Visanthe Shiancoe.

But early in the second quarter, Alphonso Smith intercepted a Ponder pass and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown. Ponder came back with a 6-yard scoring pass to Percy Harvin.

Hanson booted a 30-yard field goal for a 31-14 Lions lead late in the half.

Detroit, at 8-5, is still battling for a wild card playoff spot. The Lions are 3-5 after a 5-0 start.

The last play didn't come without some controversy as it appeared Levy may have grabbed Webb's facemask while making the sack.

"We get a lot of calls against us, so I mean, they owed us one if I did," Levy said.

"I didn't see a replay but people he told me that they grabbed Joe's facemask and that was one of the reasons he wasn't able to get his head up to make a throw," Frazier said. "I wish they would have seen it and called it. I wish that had happened."

Stafford passed for 227 yards on 20-of-29 while the Lions rushed for 72 yards. Webb had 109 of Minnesota's 269 rushing yards. He passed for 84 yards and Ponder passed for 115.

The Lions were performing without Ndamukong Suh, who is serving a two-week suspension for stomping on a player on Thanksgiving Day against the Green Bay Packers.

"When we were at a full complement of players who went into the game today, we were doing a lot of really good things offensively and defensively," Schwartz said. "I never like to point to injuries, but we had a very, very difficult time with injuries, particularly on defense. We didn't even have a nickel at the end."

The Vikings are 2-11 and have lost four straight.

 

 

NFL 2011 Week 14 Recap

 

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