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Lions vs Saints: What just happened?

Thoughts on the Lions' Week 13 win.

By Mike Payton
Crystal LoGiudice-USA TODAY Sports

Wow, what a game! The Lions win with yet another comeback... wait.... what? They dominated? Ok. Let me switch up my approach here. The Lions went out and simply won a game on Sunday with a 28-13 win over the Saints. I'm not sure what to feel right now, but I know what to think. I know what I thought. Here are those thoughts:

Who are you guys?

The Lions I know have a really bad defense. The Lions I know were supposed to be dominated in this game. The Lions I know were the underdog; they weren't even selected to win by any major analyst. I even picked them to lose. This was supposed to be a giant, embarrassing failure. Instead, the Lions never looked in doubt of themselves all day. So who are guys?

De-Fense

This Lions defense might be for real, everyone. They've gone from allowing 26 points per game early on the season to allowing 17 points per game in the last six. They've forced seven turnovers in that time as well. Sunday, they shut down the league's No. 1 offense, and I mean shut down. They held Drew Brees to 326 yards and picked him off three times. They did all this without two of their starting linebackers. Man oh man.

Stafford for MVP

Yeah we've flirted with this idea all season. Now I'm saying just go ahead and give it to him. If you're an outsider and you want to show someone how good Stafford has  been all season, show them the tape of this game. They'll understand. Then be sure to tell them that he played that way with no run game, a young offensive line and without his No. 2 receiver. I can't believe people wanted to trade or bench this guy for Kellen Moore.

Fairly Dirty

Nicholas. What are we going to do with you, man? Nothing, that's what, because you're no longer our problem. It's pretty clear Nick Fairley has not quite grown up yet. You have to be glad he's gone. You and Joe Lombardi have fun together. Have a drink on Pride Of Detroit.

Golden Is!

It wasn't long ago when the header said Golden Ain't. Remember those days? Remember when Golden Tate got benched and the Lions were 1-3? Remember when nobody could figure out what was wrong with Golden Tate? Those days are over. He's doing this kind of stuff now.

Yeah keep doing stuff like that please.

The legend of Zenner

Why is it that the Lions refuse to use Zach Zenner more often? He didn't do anything crazy on Sunday, but when he had the ball he generally looked pretty fluid running with it. He was cutting through the Saints defense with ease at times and looked like a starter. I like Dwayne Washington just as much as the next preseason fan, but I'm not seeing the point here. If Washington can't go next week, it would be nice to see Zenner get the call. However, I would bet Justin Forsett has turned his car around and headed back to Detroit already.

Ziggy

I have to add one slightly bad thing here. Where are you Ziggy? Yes he's getting pressure and that's great, but man it would nice to see a sack by Ansah this year. Just one at this point. Luckily the Lions are getting great play from everyone else on the line.

Here's the thing Patrick. I try to do the same thing myself. But this time I won't ignore how big of a win this is. After a week of everyone saying they couldn't do it, they went out and did it better than you could have imagined. To go out and stop the league's best offense the way they did and control the game the way they did on offense, that's a big deal. The Lions just showed that they aren't the wild and rambunctious team they used to be. They are a mature team that does what it takes to win and adds a little bit of flash just for taste.

This team is really something. That's really all I can say.

Oh yeah. One last thing. Houston Texans, this is for you.

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