DETROIT LIONS AT MINNESOTA VIKINGS HIGHLIGHTS
The following are post-game notes from the Detroit Lions’ 22-16 win against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday, November 6, 2016.
WITH THE WIN…
With the Lions’ 22-16 overtime victory at Minnesota, the Lions improved to 5-4 on the season.
The Lions have now won two of their past three games in Minneapolis, which includes a 17-3 win in 2014 at TCF Bank Stadium (University of Minnesota). Detroit has now won two out of three games on the road against the Vikings for the first time since the 1991-92 seasons (34-14 win in 1991; 30-27 win in 1993).
QB MATTHEW STAFFORD
The Lions’ 22-16 overtime win culminated with a 28-yard touchdown pass from QB Matthew Stafford to WR Golden Tate. Stafford threw his first career game-winning touchdown pass in overtime. He now has six career game-winning touchdown passes with 30 seconds left in the 4th quarter or overtime.
Stafford completed 23-of-36 passes (63.9 pct) for 219 yards and two touchdowns. Among his 219 passing yards included 73 yards in the air on the Lions’ 11-play, 87-yard drive in overtime. Of Stafford’s 219 passing yards against the Vikings, 126 occurred in the fourth quarter or in overtime.
Since the beginning of the 2014 season, Stafford has completed 60-percent of his passes in 24-of-25 games. He leads the NFL among all passers with 24 games compiling 60.0+ completion percentage.
With two touchdown passes and one interception, Stafford finished the game with a +1 TD-to-INT ratio and became the first quarterback in team history to reach a +30 TD-to-INT ratio over any 17-game span.
GAME-WINNING DRIVES: Stafford’s game-winning drive in overtime at Minnesota represents his 25th career game-winning drive (5th in 2016) when the team trailed or was tied in the fourth quarter or in overtime.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Stafford became the first quarterback since the 1970 merger to lead his team to five game-winning drives in each of his team’s first five wins of the season.
Now with 25 career game-winning drives, Stafford tied QB Peyton Manning and QB Jake Plummer (25) for the second-most game-winning drives by a player in his first 8 seasons.
His fifth game-winning drive of the season tied a career single-season high as well as the most in a season by a Lions quarterback since 1950 (5: Charlie Batch in 2000, Stafford in 2015).
Since Jim Caldwell became the Lions head coach in 2014, Stafford now leads the NFL with 13 game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime.
STAFFORD IN 8 SEASONS: Stafford’s 219 passing yards at Minnesota pushed him past QB Joe Flacco (28,322) for the fifth-most passing yards in a player’s first eight seasons. In eight seasons, Stafford now has 28,349 yards.
He also moved past Flacco (2,479) for the fifth-most pass completions by a quarterback in his first eight seasons. His 23 completions at Minnesota now gives him 2,496 completions for his career.
With two touchdown passes at Minnesota, he surpassed Hall of Fame QB Jim Kelly for the seventh-most passing touchdowns by a player in his first eight seasons. He also became the seventh player in League history with 180+ TD passes in a player’s first eight seasons.
WR GOLDEN TATE
WR Golden Tate tied a single-game career high with 11 receptions for 79 receiving yards and scored the game-winning touchdown on a 28-yard pass in overtime that gave the Lions a 22-16 road win over the Minnesota Vikings.
His 11 receptions tied his previous career high of 11 set against Miami November 9, 2014. He now has three career games with 10+ receptions.
The touchdown was Tate’s first career game-winning touchdown in overtime and the second game-winning touchdown catch of his career with less the two minutes to play in the fourth quarter or in overtime (24-yd vs. GB 9/24/12 with :00 left in 4th qtr).
TE ERIC EBRON
TE Eric Ebron set a career single-game high with 92 receiving yards and tied a career single-game high with 7 receptions in the Lions’ 22-16 overtime win at Minnesota.
He now has 5+ receptions in four of his six games played in 2016. He has set or tied a career high in receptions in each of the past two games (7 at Hou 10/30/16), and his 14 receptions represent a career-high over a two-game span.
Ebron’s new single-game career high in receiving yards surpassed his previous best of 89 yards against Minnesota on October 25, 2015.
His longest catch of the game proved crucial in overtime with he grabbed a 23-yarder on 3rd-and 3 at the Lions’ own 20-yard line that gave Detroit a first down to start the drive and moved the ball to the 43-yard line.
OFFENSIVE LINE
On 37 pass plays at Minnesota, the Lions offensive line yielded one sack against the Vikings, which occurred on the team’s overtime game-winning drive. The Lions have now yielded one or fewer sacks in three of the past four games. In 2015, the Lions allowed eight total sacks to the Vikings, including seven sacks the last time the two teams played (10/25/15 at Ford Field).
2ND QUARTER SCORING DRIVE
Detroit scored the first touchdown of the game with five seconds left to play in the second quarter to give the Lions a 10-3 lead at halftime. The touchdown completed a 17-play, 84-yard drive that chewed up 9:45 off the clock. The last time the Lions engineered a 17+play touchdown drive occurred at Minnesota on September 20, 2015.
Since 2000, this was the Lions’ fifth touchdown scoring drive consisting of 17+ plays.
In terms of possession time, this was the longest touchdown drive (9:45) by the Lions since at least 1998. Their previous long drive occurred in the third quarter against Baltimore on October 9, 2015 when they scored a touchdown on a 9:38 second drive. It was the second longest scoring drive in terms to time of possession since 1998 (vs. Chi 11/15/98; 10:11 resulting in FG.)
K MATT PRATER
K Matt Prater’s late-game performance at Minnesota forced the game into overtime where the Lions would claim a 22-16 win in overtime on an opening-drive touchdown.
Prater connected on 3-of-3 field goals at U.S. Bank Stadium, including kicks of 47, 53 and 58 yards. He joined K Jim Martin (vs. Bal 10/23/60) and K Jason Hanson (four times) as the only kickers in team history with two 50+-yard field goals in a single game.
Prater’s 58-yarder occurred with two seconds left to play in regulation. It was the second-longest field goal in team history and the longest game-winning or game-tying field goal in the fourth quarter or overtime.
He now has four game-tying or game-winning field goals this season with less than two minutes to play in the fourth quarter. For his career, this was his 12th career game-tying/game-winning field goal with less than two minutes to play in regulation or in overtime.
With 12:33 left to play in the fourth quarter, Prater connected on a 53-yard field goal that gave the Lions a 13-9 lead. That field goal was Prater’s 200th field goal of his career.
By making two 50-yard field goals at Minnesota, he now has 33 career 50-yard field goals and moved past K Adam Vinatieri for eighth on the NFL’s list of all-time career 50-yard field goals.
Prater converted a 58-yard field goal as time expired in the fourth quarter to force overtime in the Lions’ 22-16 win at Minnesota. It marked the second-longest game-tying field goal in the final minute of the fourth quarter in NFL history; Prater also holds the record for the longest such field goal (59 yards on December 11, 2011 with Denver against Chicago). In his career, Prater is now 23 of 23 on game-tying or go-ahead field-goal attempts in the fourth quarter or overtime.
WR ANQUAN BOLDIN
Detroit WR Anquan Boldin had a touchdown reception against Minnesota, his fifth touchdown catch this season. Boldin has now had a season with at least five touchdown receptions with four different teams (Arizona, Baltimore, San Francisco and Detroit) and is the fourth player in NFL history to accomplish the feat. Boldin joins Terrell Owens (five teams), Irving Fryar and Brandon Marshall as the only players in league annals to accomplish the feat.
DE KERRY HYDER
With two sacks at Minnesota in the Lions’ 22-16 overtime win, DE Kerry Hyder tied a career high with two sacks. He also gathered two sacks at Indianapolis (9/11) in the 2016 opener. On the season, Hyder leads the team with 7.0 sacks.
Hyder now has recorded sacks in five of the team’s nine games this season. His first sack of the game pushed the Vikings out of field goal range when he dropped the Vikings for a nine-yard loss on 3rd-and-23 at the Detroit 31-yard line.
BLOCKED FG
On the first drive of the fourth quarter, the Lions blocked a Vikings’ 46-yard field goal attempt and returned the block 32 yards to give the Lions possession at the Vikings 42-yard line. DT Tyrunn Walker blocked the kick and the ball was scooped up by S Glover Quin for the return. Walker’s blocked field goal was the first of his career.
This was the Lions’ first blocked field goal since S Isa Abdul Quddus at Green Bay December 28, 2014.
LB TAHIR WHITEHEAD
LB Tahir Whitehead tied a career single-game high with 12 total tackles (nine solo) in the Lions’ overtime win at Minnesota. He now has reached a single-game best of 12 tackles three times this season, including in each of the past two games (vs. Phi 10/9, at Hou 10/30, at Min 11/6).
With 86 tackles in 2016, Whitehead has surpassed a new single-season high. His previous best was 77 total tackles in 2014. He also has recorded a career-best 61 solo tackles this season that surpassed his previous best of 55 in 2014.
S GLOVER QUIN
With nine tackles (eight solo) at Minnesota, S Glover Quin registered his third-highest single-game career best and the most in a game since joining the Lions in 2013.
Among his tackle totals included a tackle for loss. He now has registered a TFL in back-to-back games for the first time since Week 4-5 of the 2012 season.