Darius Slay saves the day as Lions stun Eagles, 24-23
"Big Play” Darius Slay hadn’t exactly been living up to his nickname of late.
Slay was one of the few bright spots in the Detroit Lions’ 1-3 start, playing stout coverage as the team’s best cornerback. But he hadn’t intercepted a pass since before Christmas last year and the Lions had one measly takeaway in their first four games as a whole.
But with their season teetering on the brink of disaster Sunday and the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles likely one first down away from a victory, Slay came up with his two biggest plays of the season.
Slay forced a Ryan Mathews fumble with just under three minutes to play to set up Matt Prater’s go-ahead field goal, then intercepted a Carson Wentz pass less than 90 seconds later to send the Lions to a 24-23 victory at Ford Field.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak and pulled the Lions (2-3) out of the cellar in the NFC North.
“That’s why they pay him that money,” cornerback Nevin Lawson said. “To make plays like that.”
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Slay’s first career forced fumble came on a third-and-2 toss to Ryan Mathews with 2:41 on the clock after the Lions had exhausted their final timeout.
Mathews took a pitch and ran to his right, and Slay shot up from his left cornerback spot and aimed his shoulder directly at the ball.
Tyrunn Walker recovered the fumble after a scrum of players tumbled into the Lions sideline, and four plays after Matthew Stafford converted a third down with a 27-yard pass to Golden Tate, Prater trotted on for the winning 29-yard field goal.
“I just came out as a defense like, ‘We need to make a play,’ ” Slay said. “We knew he was going to run the ball, so we were being a lot more aggressive so I just came up there, I think I stuck him pretty good and the ball came up. He had a big thing, we saw that he carried the ball out wide so we knew he was going to fumble once in a while. So I just made a play there.”
The Eagles (3-1) had one final drive to win and started their final possession at the 25-yard line, but Wentz overlooked an open receiver running underneath the coverage and threw deep to Nelson Agholor on the first play.
Slay, who signed a four-year, $51 million extension in July, said he knew what was about to happen as the ball came his way.
“The interception, I was surprised he even threw that cause I was in great position so I’m like, ‘OK,’ ” Slay said. “But then I looked in the air. I said, ‘Oh, the ball is coming for real. Oh, he’s really throwing this. Oh well, it’s time for his first career pick.’ So I was like, ‘Oh, this is me right here, for sure.’ ”
Slay’s heroics came after the Lions nearly squandered another double-digit first half lead.
The Lions scored touchdowns on all three of their first-half possessions and led 21-10 at halftime before allowing 13 straight second-half points.
Matthew Stafford led touchdown drives of 11, nine and nine plays in the first half, and threw two first-quarter touchdowns to Theo Riddick.
Riddick scored on a 1-yard pass two plays after the Lions converted a third-and-11 on their opening drive, then caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Stafford on a misdirection play when Tate lined up as a running back.
Tate, who had just 14 catches for 95 yards in the season’s first four games, was much more involved in the Lions' offense Sunday. He had three carries for 6 yards as the Lions used him as to supplement their short-handed backfield, and his 27-yard catch late in the fourth quarter was the team’s longest offensive play.
Had Stafford not completed that third-and-4 pass to Tate, Prater likely would have come on to attempt a 58-yard field goal.
“I needed that,” Tate said. “This team needed that. It was good to be found and make a play at the end to help us win.”
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Wentz, who played turnover-free football in his first three NFL games, completed 25 of 33 passes for 238 yards and two touchdowns. Mathews scored on a 1-yard pass early in the second quarter and Josh Huff had a 1-yard touchdown catch on the opening drive of the second half.
Stafford finished 19 of 25 passing for 180 yards and Marvin Jones (four catches, 37 yards) caught his third touchdown of the year for the Lions, who play their second of three straight home games against the Los Angeles Rams next Sunday.
“It’s just one game,” Lions coach Jim Caldwell said. “It’s one game and the first of (the second) quarter (of the season). We have a lot of work to do, so we got to go back to work, see if we can do it again. It’s not one of those things where you look at it, it’s a defining moment. There’s no shortcuts. Everybody thinks there’s some miracle pill or some great turnaround with one game. It takes work. It takes work and it takes time, and we’re still a long way away and we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.