Detroit Lions survive late scare, get big win in Philly, 27-24

Stay tuned here as we’ll be providing live updates and highlights for the Detroit Lions’ Week 3 matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles.

First quarter

The Detroit Lions won the toss and deferred, giving the Eagles the first chance at points. Philly hadn’t scored a first-quarter point in their first two games, but thanks to broken coverage, the Eagles connected on a 40-yard pass to running back Miles Sanders. That got the Eagles in field goal position, and a key pass interference penalty converted a third-and-11 for Philly. Still, the Lions defense stiffened up in the red zone and the Eagles settled for a field goal. 3-0 Eagles.

Redemption, thy name is Jamal Agnew. After last week’s benching the Lions return man made a statement, taking the ensuing kickoff 10 yards for the score.

7-3 Lions.

But the Eagles offense came for a fight. With almost no resistance, the Eagles marched down the field for a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to go back up. Key on the drive was a third-and-6 conversion from Carson Wentz, scrambling right up the middle of the defense for a 19-yard scramble. Jordan Howard punched it in from the 1-yard line on the next play. 10-7 Eagles.

Already three scores into the game, the Lions offense would get their first crack at the football, and Matthew Stafford led Detroit on an impressive-looking drive. Eating up plenty of clock to finally give the defense some rest, the offense picked up an efficient 21 yards on the ground to go with a couple of key catches from Kenny Golladay and Logan Thomas. As the game turned over into the second quarter, the Lions found themselves second-and-goal from the Eagles 1-yard line.

Second quarter

Kerryon Johnson would punch it in shortly after for his first rushing touchdown of the year. 14-10 Lions.

The Eagles offense looked to pick up where they left off, but after an offensive pass interference penalty set them back in the downs, Justin Coleman broke up a third-and-6 pass to Nelson Agholor, forcing the Eagles to punt.

The Lions managed just one first down before giving the ball back to Philly, but a nice punt from Sam Martin had them backed up on their own 10-yard line.

The Lions defense continued to struggle a bit, but they forced two fumbles on the drive. On the first, the Eagles got a lucky bounce. They would not get so lucky again, as Jarrad Davis forced the fumble and A’Shawn Robinson fell on it.

On the very next play, J.D. McKissic took a beautiful reverse for 43-yards, setting the Lions up first-and-goal.

But Detroit couldn’t punch it in and had to settle for an easy three from Matt Prater. 17-10 Lions.

The Eagles worked their way into Lions territory, hoping to tie it up before the half, but Eagles receiver Nelson Agholor made a horrible mistake, fumbling the ball with no contact, and Darius Slay picked it up and ran it back to the Eagles’ 22-yard line.

The Lions took things a little conservative from there, attempting to run clock and make the Eagles use timeouts. As a result, they had to settle for a field goal and gave the Eagles the ball back with 57 seconds and one timeout remaining. 20-10 Lions.

That turned out to be just fine for Detroit, as Carson Wentz couldn’t find anyone on second down and just took a sack, ending the first half.

Second half

The Lions offense started the half stuck in neutral, with a couple of misses from Stafford. One first down was all they could manage before Martin, again, pinned the Eagles inside their own 20.

The Eagles were driving, and with Darius Slay out after a near pick, Wentz targeted his replacement, Mike Ford. But Ford was in brilliant position on a third-and-7 play, and forced the incompletion (and offensive pass interference). Eagles punter Cameron Johnston, though, knocked a perfect punt that pinned Detroit on their own 2-yard line.

Detroit was able to get out of their own end zone thanks to a third-down conversion by Jesse James, but, again, one first down was it. A shorter punt would give the Eagles the ball on Detroit’s side of the field.

Philly took advantage of the shortened field, converting two third downs, including a 20-yard touchdown to Nelson Agholor, in which the Eagles receiver broke several poor tackling attempts. 20-17 Lions.

The Lions offense started to finally get things in gear, thanks to a couple of key plays from Stafford. He connected with Marvin Jones on a big third-and-4 conversion, then Nick Bawden came in with the FULLBACK LEAP:

Fourth quarter

The Lions capped off the drive with this absolute dime to Marvin Jones Jr.

27-17 Lions.

Give the Lions secondary some credit on the next drive. Without Darius Slay, Wentz still struggled to find an open receiver, leading to back-to-back coverage sacks. A forced incompletion on third down got the Lions defense off the field in three plays, and a good punt return by Agnew gave the Lions field position in Eagles territory.

But Detroit went conservative, running on first and second down. Kenny Golladay just barely stepped out of bound on a potential third-and-9 conversion, and the Eagles got the ball right back.

Philly would make it a game, but not without the Lions’ help. Trey Flowers committed a devastating roughing the passer penalty after the Lions got a third-down stop, then Jarrad Davis followed it up with a personal foul hit. A few plays later, the Eagles punched it in with a third-and-goal pass to Agholor. 27-24 Lions.

The Lions finally came out throwing, hoping to run clock with just under seven minutes remaining. They continued to move the clock thanks to an outstanding catch from Danny Amendola.

But after two unsuccessful runs, Stafford short-hopped Marvin Jones on third down, and the Eagles had a chance to go ahead or win with 3:16 left.

But the Lions defense came up huge and forced not just a three-and-out, but a FOUR-AND-OUT, and the Lions took over on downs at Philly’s 28-yard line.

The Eagles still had three timeouts and the two-minute warning, so Detroit still had work to do. Again, Detroit started the drive out with two unsuccessful runs, running the clock to the two minute warning while exhausting only one Eagles timeout.

And then the Eagles blocked the field goal and returned it into Lions territory. A penalty pushed them back to midfield.

But the Lions defense would stand tall when they needed to. The Eagles would not convert and the Lions ran out the clock for the big road win.

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Pregame

The Detroit Lions are looking to string together wins in back-to-back weeks for the first time since Week 15... in 2017. That is a tad little misleading since they won back-to-back games last year against the Packers and Dolphins, but there was a bye week in between games there, so that remains technically true .

The main point, anyways, is that this team has rarely been able to string together wins lately, and a win over the Philadelphia Eagles would be huge for that—and other reasons. Getting a big win on the road against an in-conference opponent would bode well for this team’s chances in 2019, and would guarantee that they’d head into their Week 5 bye with a winning record—something many believed would be a huge accomplishment given the tough nature of their early schedule.

Will they be able to pull it off? Here’s how to watch Sunday’s game against the Eagles.

How to watch Lions-Eagles

Date: Sunday, September 22, 2019
Time: 1 p.m. ET
Location: Lincoln Financial Field — Philadelphia, PA
TV: FOX
Week 3 TV Map: Courtesy of 506 Sports here
Announcers: Thom Brennaman, Chris Spielman, Shannon Spake
Online streaming: Yahoo Sports app
Local radio: WJR-AM NEWS TALK 760
Radio announcers: Dan Miller, Lomas Brown
Odds: Eagles by 5