Stafford leads another rally
DETROIT — Matthew Stafford started slow, getting sacked on his first snap and throwing a pick on his second drive.
He bounced back and threw three touchdown passes in the second half to help the Lions come back and beat the winless Browns 38- 24.
The Lions ( 5- 4) rallied from firstand second- half deficits to earn consecutive victories for the first time since winning the first two games this season.
“I’ve had a lot of bad situations,” Stafford said. “I knew there was a whole lot more time left.”
Browns coach Hue Jackson may be running out of time to save his job.
Cleveland ( 0- 9) is headed toward NFL infamy a year after losing the first 14 games in Jackson’s debut season and finishing 1- 15. Jackson is 1- 24, a 25- game record since 1960 that is better than only Tampa Bay’s John McKay, who went 0- 25.
In Stafford’s latest comeback win, he was 17- for- 26 for 249 yards with three touchdown passes and an interception.
After trailing by seven, Stafford threw an eight- yard pass to Theo Riddick for a touchdown, had a scoring toss to Eric Ebron and a screen pass to Golden Tate that Tate turned into a 40- yard score to put Detroit up 38- 24 with 4: 36 to go.
The Browns looked as if they might finally win when they led 10- 0, giving them their first doubledigit lead of the season, and again as they led 24- 17 in the third quarter after DeShone Kizer led two consecutive touchdown drives.
But their chances were hurt when Kizer took a shot to the ribs by blitzing defensive back Quandre Diggs late in the third and didn’t return until late in the game.
Kizer converted three fourth downs with throws on his final drive before getting picked off by Darius Slay in the end zone with 1: 19 remaining.
“I thought DeShone played his best game,” Jackson said. “We had an NFL quarterback on the field today in every way. He was making plays and he was leading the team. Is he perfect? No, but this was the best version of him that we’ve seen this year.”