Detroit Lions pivotal play of the game: Gurley score allows Lions comeback

The Detroit Lions beat the Atlanta Falcons and it was a mistake committed by Todd Gurley that ended up being the pivotal play this week

WHAT. A. GAME!

The Detroit Lions pulled off a miracle to beat the Atlanta Falcons 23-22 — with Matthew Stafford throwing an 11-yard game-winning touchdown pass to T.J. Hockenson, capped off by a go-ahead extra point from Matt Prater as time expired.

The Lions run defense showed up again this week, only allowing 66 yards on the ground, making the Falcons’ offense one-dimensional. The Lions did allow the Falcons to sustain long drives, but most of the day, they were able to hold their own and made key plays to give the Lions’ offense more opportunities.

The Lions offense did have some questionable play-calling, especially in the run game, but most good old No. 9 stepped up in the spotlight when it mattered. At the end of the day, the Lions’ players didn’t falter down the stretch and brought home a victory.

The pivotal play

For a minute, it looked like the curtains had closed on a potential Lions comeback.

After a Falcons first down conversion and the Lions out of timeouts, the Lions defense made the decision to allow Falcons running back Todd Gurley to score in order to get the ball back into the hands of the Lions offense.

Falcons coach Raheem Morris commented after the game that the plan was for Gurley to take go down on the one-yard line, but as Gurley tried to stay out of the endzone, he lost his balance and fell into the end zone for the touchdown.

That produced a rare NFL moment where the defense celebrated an opponent scoring a touchdown:

That score gave the Lions offense 1:04 left on the game clock to muster a drive to win this game potentially.

It was a long shot, but don’t tell that to Stafford. He drove the offense down the field bringing back memories of previous 4th quarter comebacks and showing glimpses of what we have been begging for this season.

After completing a couple of nice passes to Hockenson and Danny Amendola along with some spikes sprinkled in for clock management, Stafford found Golladay deep in the red zone on a beautiful 29-yard pass to put the Lions within reach if evening the game up.

There was a heart-stopping moment when they reviewed the catch — and bad memories of the 10-second run-off were running through every Lions fans heads — but it was clear Golladay made the catch. Luckily when the ruling came back, the play stood and the Lions would get the ball with just three seconds remaining.

After another spike gave the Lions more time to come with the perfect play, and as the clock expired, Stafford weaved his way through pressure and fired a dart to Hockenson to tie the game.

Amendola was flagged for a bone head unsportsmanlike conduct penalty — he took his helmet off while on the field — making the extra point a 48-yarder instead of a 33-yarder, but was no problem for Prater as he sailed it through the uprights and gave the Lions a sweet comeback victory to get them to .500 on the season.

Celebrate the win, Lions fans.

Some areas need addressing, but it was wonderful to see vintage Stafford and the run defense continuing their dominance. The Lions will ride their two-game winning streak back home to face the Indianapolis Colts in Week 8.