Big-money game for big-money NFL pivot
Fourth-quarter magic makes up for slow start in big home win over Cardinals
Quarterback Matthew Stafford didn’t just simply collect a paycheque on Sunday.
In his first game as the highestpaid player in the NFL, Stafford delivered another fourth-quarter comeback win as the Detroit Lions rallied for a 35-23 win over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday at Ford Field.
“The first one’s obviously big at home,” Stafford said of Sunday’s season-opening win. “It’s always great to get off to a good start. You want to win pretty, but you want to win more than anything. We won a little bit ugly today.”
Stafford’s day got off to a shaky start of its own.
Detroit safety Tavon Wilson picked off Arizona quarterback Carson Palmer to put Detroit at the Arizona 26. However, Stafford tried to hit Golden Tate in the middle with his first pass and was picked off on the play as Justin Bethel returned it 72 yards for the opening score.
“I’m not fired up having to try and make a tackle on the first pass I throw,” said Stafford, who was steamrolled trying to race over to tackle Bethel after the pick. “Not fun. GT (Tate) got banged by the Mike (linebacker).
“Unfortunately, I wish I would have seen it a little bit better than that. Shoot, anything ’s better than that. Not fun, but I’ve thrown interceptions in this league. I’ll probably throw another one but I have to keep playing.”
But the man now making $27 million a season did far better than Palmer, who is the fourth-highest paid player in the NFL at $25.175 million.
Palmer was picked off three times in the game and sacked once by the Lions, which gave Detroit a chance to rally from an early 10-0 deficit.
“I think we should consider ourselves very blessed and lucky,” said Tate, who had 10 catches for 107 yards. “You make that many mistakes early, it can get out of hand real quick.
“Because our defence played so great today. We looked up and thought it should be 21-0, but it was only 10-0 and we just have to stay with it, keep playing football and it will turn around.”
The first of Stafford’s four touchdown passes went to Marvin Jones Jr., but a poor hold cost the team the extra point. After Phil Dawson missed a 32-yard field goal with 44 seconds to play in the second quarter, Stafford drove the team 38 yards in 39 seconds allowing Matt Prater to get Detroit within 10-9 at the half on a 58-yard field goal.
“We’ve got a lot of different players, but the guys that have been in the NFL, that’s the way the game goes,” said Stafford, who hit Theo Riddick with a seven-yard scoring pass to pull Detroit within two after the Cardinals had taken an eight-point lead in the third quarter.
“Very rarely do you just sit there and dominate a team for four quarters. It doesn’t happen.”
The Lions were down 17-15 entering the fourth quarter, but that’s where Stafford took over.
The 29-year-old, who engineered an NFL-record eight comeback wins in the fourth quarter last season, completed seven-of-eight passes for 122 yards in the final quarter and threw two touchdowns to rookie Kenny Golladay.
“We’ve got a fantastic quarterback,” Tate said.
Stafford was five-for-six for 63 yards on a 67-yard drive that finished with Golladay pulling in a 10-yard scoring reception to put Detroit ahead for good at 21-15.
“Matt threw a great ball,” Golladay said of his first NFL touchdown. “I just had to get it and, you know, the rest is history.”
Stafford was two-for-two on Detroit’s next driving, which finished with a diving Golladay pulling in a 45-yard touchdown.
Safety Miles Killiebrew put the game out of reach by picking off Palmer and returning it 35 yards for Detroit’s final score.
“Can we better in some spots?” said Stafford, who won for the first time in five tries against Arizona. “Absolutely. That’s everybody, myself included.
“We had our fair share of mistakes and got in our own way early. Kind of got of out our own way and started playing some of the ball we’re used to playing later in the game and played better. We just got to get out of our own way early.”