The Detroit Lions, as you all know by now, pulled off a miracle win in the final seconds against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. This helped the Lion’s improve to a .500 record (3-3) and put them back in the playoff race. The win, however, was nothing short of a miracle. Of course, there was some Stafford magic thrown in there, and the winning drive was possible due to the “game-losing touchdown” mistake made by Atlanta Runningback Todd Gurley.
But, should we be surprised that the game came down to the wire? I mean, let’s take a look back at the last two times the Lions played the Falcons. You can see that close & weird endings are NOT out of the norm between these two teams.
2014: The London Comeback Miracle
First, if you thought that it was odd that Matthew Stafford has never played a game in Georgia since he played at the University of Georgia, then you wouldn’t be alone. In 2011, the Lions hosted the Falcons at Ford Field, which culminated in a 23-16 loss. In 2014, however, when Atlanta was the home team, the matchup was played at Wembley Stadium in London, England. Of course, this was in the heyday of the Lions “comeback machine”, which usually won games in the final seconds (not much different than this last weekends game), but this comeback was a lot different. Let’s return to October 26th, 2014.
Atlanta dominated the first half of the game, putting up 21 unanswered points. It seemed like this would be a definite defeat for the Lions. So much so, that I stopped watching before the end of the first half. At halftime, Atlanta was winning 21-0. What followed was nothing short of a Lions miracle mixed with some offensive & defensive magic. The Lions had a massive deficit and a win just seemed improbable. However, the Lions defense managed to shutdown the Falcons offense, not allowing them to score a single point in the second half. The offense, on the other hand, rallied. At first, points were finally put up, but it was only 3 by a Matt Prater field goal. After Atlanta punted the ball away, the Lions marched downfield for a touchdown pass to Golden Tate. The score was now 21-10. At the tail end of the 3rd quarter, Matt Ryan attempted a pass to Julio Jones, which was intercepted by Cassius Vaughn. While the Lions couldn’t turn this terrific turnover into a touchdown, they did turn it into points with another field goal. The score was now 21-13 heading into the 4th quarter.
The Lions got the ball back again after the defense shut the Falcons offense down and were forced to punt. After 13 plays, the Lions scored a touchdown via a pass to Theo Riddick with 3:56 left on the clock. This brought the score to 21-19. The comeback was in full swing and all the Lions needed was a two-point conversion to tie the game. However, they failed and the score remained 21-19.
The Lions had one final shot to win when Atlanta was forced to punt the ball away again. 1:38 was left on the clock and all the Lions needed to win was a field goal. With no timeouts, the Lions had to play no huddle and spike the ball. They were able to get within field goal range and, with 2 seconds left in the game, the Lions lined up for Matt Prater to kick a 43 yard winning field goal. But….he missed…wide right. But, just when the Lions thought they had lost the game, turns out they had not yet. A flag was thrown when the play clock reached 00, meaning that the result was a “no play” and a five-yard penalty. So, Matt Prater, with no time left on the clock, in the final play of the game, had a chance to redeem himself. And that he did, he split the uprights and gave the Lions a 22-21 win over the Falcons. The Lions put-up 22 unanswered points to win this game.
As you may recall, just two seasons later, the Falcons would lose the SuperBowl in similar fashion.
2017: The Infamous No Touchdown & 10 Second Run-Off
The Lions were on the other side of the heartbreak in 2017. Both the Lions & Falcons came into the game undefeated at 2-0. The Lions needed the win to show that they should continue to be taken seriously. The Falcons had just blown a lead in the SuperBowl earlier in the year and lost to the Patriots, so they wanted to keep their undefeated streak going! Both teams actually put up a good fight during the whole game. In fact, only one offensive touchdown was scored in the first half and that was by the Falcons. Detroit’s only touchdown of the half was a pick-six. At halftime, the score was 20-13, with the majority of the points coming from field goals.
With 4:51 left in the 3rd Quarter, Matt Stafford connected with Golden Tate for a TD. Matt Prater made the extra point and the score was 20-23. Atlanta was only ahead by a field goal. With 2:54 left in the 3rd, Matt Ryan attempted to throw a pass to Tevin Coleman, but it was intercepted by Darius Slay. Slay ran the ball for 15 yards and the Lions were already in field goal range. The offense stalled and Matt Prater was forced to kick a field goal, tying the game. Atlanta turned around and, with only barely a minute and a half of possession time, the Falcons scored a touchdown. This brought the score to 30-23. Following the touchdown, the Lions received the ball on kickoff and moved down field. However, once again, they had to settle for a field goal. Score: 30-26.
After the Lions picked off another pass from Matt Ryan, a game of back-and-forth punts ensued. However, just before the two minute warning, the Lions got the ball back and proceeded to march down the field. With 24 seconds left, Stafford threw an incomplete pass to Marvin Jones, Jr. who was deep. However, Desmond Trufant (who is now a Lion) was flagged for Defensive Pass Interference. This gave the Lions the ball at the 1 yard line. With 15 seconds left in the game, Stafford threw an incomplete pass to Kenny Golladay. On third down, with 12 seconds left, the Lions snapped the ball and a 1 yard pass was thrown to Golden Tate. TOUCHDOWN! Well…at least it was ruled a touchdown on the field.
After review, the call was reversed and there was no touchdown. That’s ok, it was only 3rd down, so the Lions get another chance right? Wrong! Per NFL rule, seeing as this was a scoring play that was reviewed and then overturned, a 10 second run-off of the clock was required (because the initial call of a touchdown stopped the clock). This means that Atlanta won the game because the catch was made with 8 seconds to go. The only way the run-off could’ve been prevented was if the Lions had a timeout remaining…and they didn’t. Arguments have been made that Tate was actually in the endzone. However, he was touched as he was catching the ball and his knee went down before he crossed the goal line. The big kicker is, if the play had been spotted correctly on the field, and a touchdown was never called, the Lions would’ve had another chance.
Oh well, sadly, the Lions lost. And, also sadly, the Lions failed to make the playoffs…and this one win would’ve ensured they did. Instead, they ended up losing six more after this heartbreaking loss and won nine. A winning record sure, but this was the season that lead to Jim Caldwell’s departure from the team and the hiring of Matt Patricia as head coach.
The Lions Miracle Returns in 2020
Well, I’m actually going to save this for a completely different post which will be coming soon. That was just one crazy game played on Sunday. Thankfully, this one didn’t involve any runoffs, but it still lead to high blood pressure for many. Stay tuned for the next post soon!
Until next time…it’s dagger time! Go Lions!
Adventure Brett
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