DETROIT LIONS VS CAROLINA PANTHERS WEEK 11 2018 RECAP
The following is from the Detroit Lions (4-6) 20-19 win against the Carolina Panthers (6-4) at Ford Field on Sunday, Nov. 18, 2018.
LIONS SCORING PLAYS
First Quarter: RB Kerryon Johnson capped a 12-play, 72-yard drive with an eight-yard touchdown rush with 2:36 left in the quarter. K Matt Prater converted the extra point to tie the game at 7-7.
Second Quarter: K Matt Prater connected on a 54-yard field goal with 37 seconds left in the half to give the Lions a 10-7 lead.
Third Quarter: K Matt Prater launched a 32-yard field goal to extend Detroit’s lead to 13-7 with 3:47 left in the quarter.
Fourth Quarter: WR Kenny Golladay caught a 19-yard pass from QB Matthew Stafford with 5:13 remaining to push Detroit’s lead to 20-13.
TEAM NOTES
Have now recorded 2.0-or-more sacks nine-straight home games, the longest active streak in the NFL. This mark is tied for the fourth-longest streak in franchise history and longest since the Lions did it in 11-straight games over the 1997-98 seasons.
Recorded 14-or-more points for the 28th-straight home game, the second-longest streak in the NFL. The mark is the longest streak in franchise history.
Recorded two sacks and one interception in the first half.
Posted 2.0 sacks from linebackers. Of the team’s 28.0 sacks this season, 14.0 have come from linebackers. This is the first time the Lions have had at least 28.0 sacks in the first 10 games of a season since they had 28 sacks in the first 10 games of the 2007 season.
Have now recorded 20-or-more points in 83 games played at Ford Field. In those 83 games, the Lions are now 52-31.
Produced a player with 85 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown (Kerryon Johnson) and a player with 85 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown (Kenny Golladay) in the same game for the first time since Joique Bell and Calvin Johnson did so on Nov. 27, 2014 vs. Chicago.
Held Carolina to only 56 rushing yards, their fewest since gaining 28 rushing yards at Detroit on Oct. 8, 2017.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
WR KENNY GOLLADAY
Finished with eight receptions for 113 yards and one touchdown.
Recorded his second 100-yard game of the season and of his career.
Became the first Lion to record at least 45 receptions, average at least 15 yards per reception and log five receiving touchdowns through the first 10 games of a season since Calvin Johnson did so in 2013. This mark has only been reached six times in franchise history, with Herman Moore doing so in 1994, Germane Crowell doing so in 1999, and Johnson also doing so in 2008 and 2011.
Registered his seventh game this season with 50-or-more receiving yards.
QB MATTHEW STAFFORD
Finished 23-of-37 passing for 220 yards and one touchdown pass.
Now has 10 touchdowns passes of 15-or-more yards on the season.
Dating back to last season, Stafford has now thrown at least one touchdown pass in nine-straight home games. This marks the third-longest streak of his career.
CB DARIUS SLAY
Finished with four tackles (three solo) and two pass defenses.
Posted two pass defenses to reach 83 for his career. He passed Brent Grimes (81) for the most pass defenses since entering the NFL in 2013.
RB KERRYON JOHNSON
Finished with 15 carries for 87 yards (5.8 avg.) and one rushing touchdown. Added two receptions for 10 yards to finish with 97 yards from scrimmage.
Became the first Lions player to produce 640+ rushing yards with three touchdowns and 210+ receiving yards and one touchdown in a season since James Stewart did so in 2002. He joins Billy Sims (1980) as the only rookies in franchise history to do so. Johnson, Kareem Hunt (2017) and Ezekiel Elliott (2016) are the only rookies to produce that stat-line since the 2013 season.
Recorded his third game with 95-or-more yards from scrimmage. He becomes the first Lions rookie to produce at least three games with 95-or-more scrimmage yards within his first 10 career games played since Barry Sanders did so in 1989. He joins Sanders (1989), Billy Sims (1980), Steve Owens (1971), Mel Farr (1967), Dave Middleton (1955), Doak Walker (1950) and Cloyce Box (1950) as the only Lions to do so.
Became the first Lions rusher to record three games with 85-or-more rushing yards in a season since Reggie Bush had six such games in 2013. He also became the first rookie to do so since Kevin Smith had six such games in 2008.
Notched six carries for 42 yards and one reception for three yards on the opening drive, which he capped off with an eight-yard touchdown rush. His touchdown marked his first at home for the Lions. On the season, Johnson has accumulated 206 rushing yards in the first quarter of games, the fifth-most in the NFL and most by a Lions running back in the first quarter of games through Week 11 since Kevin Jones had 260 in 2006. His first three carries of the game all resulted in first downs, as did five of his first six runs.
With 64 rushing yards in the first half vs. Carolina, Johnson now has 392 rushing yards in the first of games through Week 11, the most since Kevin Jones totaled 394 in 2006.
LB DEVON KENNARD
Finished with four tackles (three solo) and 1.0 sack.
Notched his sixth sack of the season in the first quarter, extending his personal-high and team-lead. He is the first Lions linebacker to have 6.0 sacks through Week 11 since Michael Cofer had 6.0 through Week 11 in 1990.
DB TRACY WALKER
Recorded his first career interception in the second quarter. He became the first Lions rookie defensive back to record a pick since Miles Killebrew did so at New Orleans on Dec. 4, 2016.
K MATT PRATER
Finished two-of-two on field goals and two-of-two on extra point conversions for eight points scored on the day.
With a 54-yard field goal today against the Panthers,Prater converted on his third field goal from 50+ yards this season. This marks the ninth time since 2008 that he has logged at least three field goals of 50+-yards in a single season, which ranks second in the NFL during that span behind only Seahawks K Sebastian Janikowski (10).
Is now 46-of-61 on field goals of 50+ yards in his career, good for a conversion rate of 75.4 percent. His field goals made and percentage on kicks of at least 50 yards both rank second in NFL history.
DE EZEKIEL ANSAH
Finished with two tackles (one solo) and 1.0 sack.
Reached 3.0 sacks on the season and 47.0 in his career.
WR BRUCE ELLINGTON
Finished his Lions debut with six receptions for 52 yards.
LB JARRAD DAVIS
Logged six solo tackles and 1.0 sack.
Extended his single-season high to 4.0 sacks on the year.
P SAM MARTIN
Punted six times for 281 yards (46.8 avg., 43.7 net) and pinned three punts inside of the 20-yard line.
LIONS HEAD COACH MATT PATRICIA
“Obviously, real happy for our team here. I think those guys went out and fought really hard and did a good job of trying to execute the game-plan. We knew it was going to be a hard-fought game. Coach (Ron) Rivera and the Panthers, that’s a really good team. A lot of really good players, well-coached, an established team in this league for a long time. Tough team, physical team, and we knew that’s what kind of game it was going to be. We knew it would take all 60 minutes, which it did, and I’m glad and proud of our guys for fighting all the way through it. I think they showed a lot of mental toughness all the way through the game, definitely some situational football that came up that they needed to go out and execute at a high level. A lot of little things in there situationally that came up, like with the clock and field position and a couple of those things that we had to do a good job of, so, I think those guys just tried to battle and followed through with the game-plan. We knew the game was going to be tight and we just had to go and execute and finish all the way up to the last play. So, (I’m) proud of our guys for that. I think they handled the week well. Again, like I had mentioned maybe a little bit earlier in the week, we’re all so very grateful for those of our friends and family that are in the military and everyone that’s in the military right now. So, our guys, they did a couple great things this week and I was really proud of them for doing that to show their appreciation. We’re all real blessed from that standpoint.”
LIONS T TAYLOR DECKER
On Stafford playing with replacement players: “I think it’s good to give him some completions early, so he feels comfortable back there. It’s probably a broken record, but over and over again the run game going early is huge. We know we have a good group up front. We’ve had some poor performances on our part but at the end of the day we have some good players up front that want to play at a high level.”
LIONS WR KENNY GOLLADAY
On how him and Lions QB Matthew Stafford seemed a little off in the first half and how they corrected it: “I mean, those guys watch film, you know. We just stay with it. I trust him, he trusts me and that’s all it takes.”
LIONS CB DARIUS SLAY
On the defense’s ability to contain Panthers QB Cam Newton: “It was, I mean, we practiced it. We knew that’s what we had to do. If we stop him, he’s the show. If we stop the show, we can win. And he’s the show and we stopped him and did our best we could against him and handled that.”
LIONS QB MATT STAFFORD
On the offensive performance today without WR Marvin Jones Jr.: “You know, obviously Marvin (Jones Jr.) is a spectacular player. I have a lot of history with him, throwing the ball to him quite a few times. We’ve made some great plays, we have a lot of chemistry. Having him not out there was tough, but I’m proud of the guys that stepped in. We had Bruce (Ellington) obviously came in and played a bunch for us. Andy Jones, TJ Jones has been here for a while, doing his thing. Then obviously Kenny (Golladay) had a great day. Kerryon (Johnson) ran the ball great. We knew it was going to be a collective effort, it was going to have to take everybody doing a little bit here and there to make things go for us. We didn’t light the scoreboard up by any means, but we got enough points to win the game, which was nice.”
LIONS DB TRACY WALKER
On his interception: “I’m definitely blessed and definitely honored to even be able to make plays like that. With that being said, I’m just happy. I’m very excited. Like I said, I’m just going to enjoy this win.”
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