The Detroit Lions got off to a slow start for the second consecutive week when they fell behind 27-3 to the Dallas Cowboys. The offense sputtered, stalled, and turned the ball over. The defense surrendered two touchdown passes from Tony Romo to receiver Dez Bryant in the first half, followed by one to tight end Jason Witten to open the second half. After almost five minutes of play in the third quarter, the Lions trailed by 24 points, the cowboys were moving the ball at will, and a blowout seemed imminent.
Then, the defense took over. The tide turned when Bobby Carpenter, starting at outside linebacker for the injured Justin Durant, intercepted close friend Tony Romo and returned the ball 34 yards for a touchdown. On the ensuing drive, Romo was intercepted again, this time by Chris Houston, and again, it was returned 54 yards for a touchdown. In a matter of minutes, the Lions had closed the deficit to ten points without the offense gaining a single first down. The Lions defense simply took over control of the game, giving up only a field goal the rest of the way. This ignited the Lion offense, and Stafford was able to engineer a scoring drive to open the fourth quarter, capped by a 23 yard touchdown pass to Calvin Johnson. The defense again stifled the Cowboy offense, and after a three and out, the Lions moved into field goal range where Jason Hanson closed the gap to three points with just over four minutes left to play. Rather than run out the clock, the Cowboys came out throwing on the ensuing drive, and Romo, being pressured by Ndamukong Suh, threw a dangerous pass over the middle that was intercepted by linebacker Stephen Tulloch, who was arguably the player of the game, with 12 tackles to go along with the pick. This set up the game winning drive, as Matthew Stafford hit Calvin Johnson with the game winner inside of the two-minute warning. The defense again held strong, forcing a turnover on downs on the Cowboys’ final drive.
For the second straight week the Lions were able to erase twenty plus point deficits in the second half of a game. In the first two weeks it appeared that the Lion offense would be the strength of the team, and help compensate for a porous defense. After the past two games, however, it has become apparent that it is the Lions’ defense that will be the backbone of this team, and help to spark the offense when it struggles. This is not the ideal way to win games, but in a town devoid of a respectable football team for so many years, beauty matters not, and at the end of the day, the Detroit lions are undefeated heading into Monday Night Football.
Ref: The Guardian (image)