An NFL football team, as a general rule, does not want its season opener to suggest a Britney Spears song (“Oops! … I Did It Again”). But here we were Sunday afternoon, in the first half, with Matthew Stafford throwing a bad interception to kill a drive, then throwing a bad interception to kill another drive, then throwing a bad interception (oops … he you-know-what) to kill another drive and result in an opponent’s touchdown.
Three picks in the first half? He’d never done that before.
Detroit fans expected new things this season. This is not what they had in mind.
But thanks to an upgrade in talent and experience, what in years past would have been an all-day storm now can be just a passing shower. This Lions offense is good enough to overcome many things, including, apparently, itself. So amidst the cries of “What’s wrong with Matthew?” and “Why can’t the receivers hang onto these passes?” the Lions kept slinging it and slinging it until, in the fourth quarter, like a parachute suddenly opening after several failed attempts, a silky smooth finish made you forget the bumpy drop.
“They don’t always look pretty,” Stafford said when this was over and the Lions had survived to beat the Rams with a last-minute touchdown, 27-23. “You can’t always throw for 500 (yards) and five touchdowns, but it’s about getting wins in the NFL.”
And years from now, that’s all that history will say about this game. A win for Detroit. For today, however, fans will be shaking their heads and nervously laughing at how Stafford, on his first, third and fourth drives, could get so fooled by defenders cutting under passes – and yet, in his final two drives, could go 80 yards each time, engineer two touchdowns, complete 10 passes and be nearly perfect on his accuracy.
“Doesn’t matter how it gets done if it gets done,” he said.
Amen to that.
Keeping the faith
And amen to an era where a bad start doesn’t doom this team or – even more remarkably – the fans’ attitude. Throughout the afternoon, as the highly touted Lions offense struggled with a team that was abysmal last year, there was no sense of predestined defeat. Not even when St. Louis edged ahead, 23-20, with less than two minutes left.
“There wasn’t a single person on our sideline that was worried when they kicked the go-ahead field goal,” defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch said. “We knew we were going to score.”
Amazingly, it seemed, so did the fans. Perhaps because the Lions came back so often last year, perhaps because the Rams are not exactly the New York Giants, perhaps, most likely, because on the previous drive, the Lions had splashed water on their collective faces and had gone 80 yards in about 21/2 minutes, earning first downs on the first four snaps and a touchdown on the fifth.
Suddenly, Stafford was whipping it with the confidence he normally inspires. And it wasn’t just a pitch-and-catch with Calvin Johnson. On the final drive he opened with a 20-yard connection to Johnson, but followed with a 20-yard strike to Nate Burleson, then went to tight end Tony Scheffler over the middle for five yards, then to running back Kevin Smith for nine, then back to Scheffler for three. And then, as if not to forget about his superstar, he returned to Johnson for a perfect bullet over the middle, 18 yards, crowd going crazy, and…hello? They were on the 5 with 17 seconds left.
After a spike and a play call, Stafford took the snap, dropped, waited, let the defense swarm around Johnson, then found Smith in the right flat all alone. Smith scampered in for a touchdown with 10 seconds on the clock.
How unlikely was that score?
“Kevin is the last option on that play, probably behind ÃÂthrow it away,'” coach Jim Schwartz later explained. “(I) was on the headphones going, ÃÂThrow it away, Matt, throw it away!’… Shows you what a good quarterback I’d be.”
Well, it’s not his job to be the quarterback.
Just to direct him.
And sometimes watch him, like the rest of us.
Maintaining Big Mo
Now, make no mistake. Despite Stafford’s late heroics (he finished 32-for-48 for 355 yards), the Lions owe their defense a very big game ball Sunday for shutting down rushing star Steven Jackson (53 yards) and harassing quarterback Sam Bradford (three sacks) whenever he had a chance to do real damage.
As a result the Lions dodged a huge bullet. Had they somehow blown this expected victory, they would be heading to San Francisco for a primetime showdown with the 49ers, and a distinct chance of starting the season 0-2. The NFL is a momentum league, we’ve seen that in the last two Super Bowl winners barely making the playoffs. You can’t afford to drop games you can’t afford to drop. The Lions needed to start with a victory.
It’s also nice to see a young group jelling around its own reputation. “We’ve been together a little bit now and guys believe in each other,” Stafford said. “I trust my teammates and my teammates trust me no matter what happens in the first half, however bad I look. That’s what being a team is all about.”
Next week, they won’t be able to do this. Next week, three interceptions likely gets them defeated. But next week is next week. This one ended the way you want it to end, with a team ignoring its skinned knees and running home to victory. The truth is, late miracles happened a lot last year, and perhaps they are repeating. Perhaps “Oops! … We Did It Again” means the Lions will be grinning after all.
Contact Mitch Albom: 313-223-4581 or malbom@freepress.com. He will sign copies of his new book, “The Time Keeper” (Hyperion, $24.99, 224 pages), at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Schuler Books in Grand Rapids. Catch “The Mitch Albom Show” 5-7 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760). Follow him on Twitter @mitchalbom. To read his recent columns, go to www.freep.com/mitch.
An NFL football team, as a general rule, does not want its season opener to suggest a Britney Spears song (“Oops! … I Did It Again”). But here we were Sunday afternoon, in the first half, with Matthew Stafford throwing a bad interception to kill a drive, then throwing a bad interception to kill another drive, then throwing a bad interception (oops … he you-know-what) to kill another drive and result in an opponent’s touchdown.
Three picks in the first half? He’d never done that before.
Detroit fans expected new things this season. This is not what they had in mind.
But thanks to an upgrade in talent and experience, what in years past would have been an all-day storm now can be just a passing shower. This Lions offense is good enough to overcome many things, including, apparently, itself. So amidst the cries of “What’s wrong with Matthew?” and “Why can’t the receivers hang onto these passes?” the Lions kept slinging it and slinging it until, in the fourth quarter, like a parachute suddenly opening after several failed attempts, a silky smooth finish made you forget the bumpy drop.
“They don’t always look pretty,” Stafford said when this was over and the Lions had survived to beat the Rams with a last-minute touchdown, 27-23. “You can’t always throw for 500 (yards) and five touchdowns, but it’s about getting wins in the NFL.”
And years from now, that’s all that history will say about this game. A win for Detroit. For today, however, fans will be shaking their heads and nervously laughing at how Stafford, on his first, third and fourth drives, could get so fooled by defenders cutting under passes – and yet, in his final two drives, could go 80 yards each time, engineer two touchdowns, complete 10 passes and be nearly perfect on his accuracy.
“Doesn’t matter how it gets done if it gets done,” he said.
Amen to that.
Keeping the faith
And amen to an era where a bad start doesn’t doom this team or – even more remarkably – the fans’ attitude. Throughout the afternoon, as the highly touted Lions offense struggled with a team that was abysmal last year, there was no sense of predestined defeat. Not even when St. Louis edged ahead, 23-20, with less than two minutes left.
“There wasn’t a single person on our sideline that was worried when they kicked the go-ahead field goal,” defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch said. “We knew we were going to score.”
Amazingly, it seemed, so did the fans. Perhaps because the Lions came back so often last year, perhaps because the Rams are not exactly the New York Giants, perhaps, most likely, because on the previous drive, the Lions had splashed water on their collective faces and had gone 80 yards in about 21/2 minutes, earning first downs on the first four snaps and a touchdown on the fifth.
Suddenly, Stafford was whipping it with the confidence he normally inspires. And it wasn’t just a pitch-and-catch with Calvin Johnson. On the final drive he opened with a 20-yard connection to Johnson, but followed with a 20-yard strike to Nate Burleson, then went to tight end Tony Scheffler over the middle for five yards, then to running back Kevin Smith for nine, then back to Scheffler for three. And then, as if not to forget about his superstar, he returned to Johnson for a perfect bullet over the middle, 18 yards, crowd going crazy, and…hello? They were on the 5 with 17 seconds left.
After a spike and a play call, Stafford took the snap, dropped, waited, let the defense swarm around Johnson, then found Smith in the right flat all alone. Smith scampered in for a touchdown with 10 seconds on the clock.
How unlikely was that score?
“Kevin is the last option on that play, probably behind ÃÂthrow it away,'” coach Jim Schwartz later explained. “(I) was on the headphones going, ÃÂThrow it away, Matt, throw it away!’… Shows you what a good quarterback I’d be.”
Well, it’s not his job to be the quarterback.
Just to direct him.
And sometimes watch him, like the rest of us.
Maintaining Big Mo
Now, make no mistake. Despite Stafford’s late heroics (he finished 32-for-48 for 355 yards), the Lions owe their defense a very big game ball Sunday for shutting down rushing star Steven Jackson (53 yards) and harassing quarterback Sam Bradford (three sacks) whenever he had a chance to do real damage.
As a result the Lions dodged a huge bullet. Had they somehow blown this expected victory, they would be heading to San Francisco for a primetime showdown with the 49ers, and a distinct chance of starting the season 0-2. The NFL is a momentum league, we’ve seen that in the last two Super Bowl winners barely making the playoffs. You can’t afford to drop games you can’t afford to drop. The Lions needed to start with a victory.
It’s also nice to see a young group jelling around its own reputation. “We’ve been together a little bit now and guys believe in each other,” Stafford said. “I trust my teammates and my teammates trust me no matter what happens in the first half, however bad I look. That’s what being a team is all about.”
Next week, they won’t be able to do this. Next week, three interceptions likely gets them defeated. But next week is next week. This one ended the way you want it to end, with a team ignoring its skinned knees and running home to victory. The truth is, late miracles happened a lot last year, and perhaps they are repeating. Perhaps “Oops! … We Did It Again” means the Lions will be grinning after all.
Contact Mitch Albom: 313-223-4581 or malbom@freepress.com. He will sign copies of his new book, “The Time Keeper” (Hyperion, $24.99, 224 pages), at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Schuler Books in Grand Rapids. Catch “The Mitch Albom Show” 5-7 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760). Follow him on Twitter @mitchalbom. To read his recent columns, go to www.freep.com/mitch.
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