Every team has an off game, and it looked that way for the Detroit Lions until the team roared back for a 26–23 victory over the Houston Texans on Sunday.
Lions quarterback Jared Goff went from hyper-efficient, as he has been all season, to highly turnover-prone with five interceptions against the Texans (6–4). Goff rallied the Lions nonetheless from a 23–7 deficit and became the first NFL team since 1970 to win a game amid five interceptions and at least a 15-point deficit.
“And the good ones respond, and we’re one of those games.”
Detroit, which improved to 8–1 for the first time since 1954, looked like the Lions of the past 70 years, where the team didn’t win consistently for half of the night. Things started off on the wrong foot for Goff when Texans safety Jimmie Ward picked him off following a deflected pass—that set up an 8-yard touchdown run for Texans running back Joe Mixon.
While Detroit didn’t fall apart after a Texans field goal for a 10–0 lead, the Lions couldn’t keep pace as the interceptions and punts mounted. After Goff made it 10–7 on a 20-yard touchdown pass to tight end Sam LaPorta, the Lions’ next five drives ended in a punt or interception. Houston, meanwhile, built a 23–7 behind two more field goals and a 15-yard touchdown pass by quarterback C.J. Stroud to wide receiver Jay Metchie.
The Lions’ defense kept it from getting any worse by pitching a second-half shutout, which started with an interception by cornerback Carlton Davis III. Detroit then picked off the Texans again and held the team to punts on the three following drives, and Houston helped out the Lions with a missed field goal with 1:56 remaining.
“We talked about it [at halftime], we need to just get our takeaways,” Campbell said. “And I knew we would wake up on offense. It was just a matter of time.”
Offensively, the Lions crept back in with a 3-yard touchdown by running back David Montgomery in the third quarter, 23–13. Detroit didn’t sustain the momentum, however, after another interception and a punt.
Goff changed that early in the fourth quarter when he capped a seven-play, 64-yard drive with a 9-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. Lions kicker Jake Bates then tied the game on a 58-yard field goal, the third-longest in team history, with 5:01 left.
Detroit also took advantage of Houston’s late miss, and Goff drove the Lions into field goal range with an 11-yard strike to Brown on third down. Bates walked off the Texans with a 52-yard field goal for the win.
“He’s kicking as well as anyone in the league right now,” Goff said. “We’ve seen him at practice making these long ones all the time, so we’re pretty aware of what his range is. And both of those looked good from a lot further than where they were kicked from.
“It’s really cool for a guy that’s that young and that amount of experience to walk out there cold-blooded twice now on the road.”
