For the second straight week the Lions defeated an NFC South opponent in the closing stages of the game.
After a comeback victory over the Saints last weekend, the Lions scored an amazing 22 unanswered points in the second half to beat the Atlanta Falcons 22-21 from Wembley Stadium in London, England.
Down 21-0 entering the second half, the Lions stormed back as Matthew Stafford thew touchdown passes to Theo Riddick and Golden Tate before ultimately making it 21-19. The Lions then took over with 1:38 remaining in the 4th quarter driving down to the Atlanta 30-yard line where a defensive holding gave Detroit a new set of downs. From there the Lions advanced to the 25-yard line where they went for a game winning 43-yard field goal from Matt Prater to win the game that he missed.
However…
The Lions ended up taking a delay of game penalty which pushed them back five yards giving Prater a second chance to win the game which he took full advantage of.
But what about the runoff on the penalty? Well according to former VP of officiating Mike Pereira, because the Lions had spiked the ball on the previous play to stop the clock, there was no runoff for the penalty. This means there would have still been four seconds on the clock after the delay of game penalty.
https://twitter.com/MikePereira/status/526411836661325824
The Lions now head to the bye week sitting at 6-2 on the year.