Detroit Lions Take Advantage of Epic Falcons Collapse in Miracle Win

The Detroit Lions are doing their best to keep cardiologists, bartenders and psychiatrists all over Michigan quite busy. Somehow, some way, the Lions pulled off another miraculous, heart-stopping comeback win, shocking the Atlanta Falcons 22-21 in London. 

Just as it was a week ago in the late comeback win over the New Orleans Saints, Detroit played a tale of two halves in the land of Dickens. Fortunately for the Lions, so did Atlanta.

The first half might have been the worst display of Lions football since the winless 2008 campaign. Matthew Stafford was consistently off the mark, the defense was losing the war in the trenches and the Falcons were playing like the playoff contender many expected them to be over the summer.

"

TD No. 2 for the Falcons and they jump out to a quick 14-0 lead. #Lions not playing like No. 1 defense. Look slower than Atlanta. #DETvsATL

— Tim Twentyman (@ttwentyman) October 26, 2014"

"

Stafford, offensive line, defensive line, secondary, running backs, all brutal today.

— Justin Rogers (@Justin_Rogers) October 26, 2014"

With a myriad of offensive injuries and such an awful performance, it would have been easy for the Lions to admit defeat and head into the bye week licking their wounds. Down 21-0, it felt like double that margin, which was Atlanta's yardage advantage at the half (211 to 103). 

Stafford's performance in particular left little reason for optimism.

"

Halftime QB stats: Ryan = 14-17, 160, 2TD, 145.1 rating. Stafford = 9-20, 85, 0TD, 1INT, 36.5 rating.

— Tim Twentyman (@ttwentyman) October 26, 2014"

And then the Lions roared. It started as a soft murmur. A methodical 15-play, 76-yard drive culminated in a short Matt Prater field goal. Three third-down conversions and a nice mix of run and pass plays showed instant payoff for some nice halftime adjustments by offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and his staff. 

"

The #Lions coaching staff has to take some heat for the team coming out so flat. It also deserves credit for the halftime adjustments.

— Brandon Alisoglu (@BrandonAlisoglu) October 26, 2014"

The defense roared louder. Jason Jones, playing tackle for the injured Nick Fairley, single-handedly destroyed the Falcons on their first drive, a quick three-and-out.

"

Jason Jones forcing the three and out. #Lions

— Tom Leyden (@TomLeyden) October 26, 2014"

Just as the Lions' confidence was starting to perk up, Atlanta's own mojo was visibly shaken. The pendulum of coaching advantage swung swiftly to Detroit.

It never swung back. 

The drive chart from the second half tells a tale...

"

A Tale of Two Halves, from the land of Dickens #DETvsATL pic.twitter.com/WJzm2bD5zp

— Jeff Risdon (@JeffRisdon) October 26, 2014"

Yet a big part of the story is some truly inexplicable choking by the Falcons. A litany of errors, both from the players and the Atlanta coaches, allowed the Lions to claw back into the game.

Matt Ryan's interception really helped. It's one of the worst decisions you will ever see a viable NFL quarterback make. 

Even though the Lions only converted the takeaway into three points, the Falcons were clearly shaken as much as Detroit was inspired. 

On Atlanta's next series, a strip-sack by Ezekiel Ansah—Detroit's third of the day, all recovered by the Falcons—kept momentum firmly in Detroit's corner. The Lions were a step ahead of the Falcons on seemingly every snap.

"

Lions DE Jason Jones on DC Teryl Austin's halftime speech: "I can’t repeat that one. Just know he lit a fire under us."

— Josh Katzenstein (@jkatzenstein) October 26, 2014"

The offense also dramatically improved. A pretty touchdown toss from Stafford to Theo Riddick, set up by a nice fake end-around to Golden Tate, made the score 21-19. The two-point conversion failed on a blown defensive holding call.

"

Repeating what I said on-air, holding should have been called on Trufant during the 2-pt conversion. It was within a yard of the LOS

— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) October 26, 2014"

Fast-forward a bit to the two-minute warning, when Falcons coach Mike Smith began to systematically destroy his own team's chances at victory. A litany of ridiculous decisions and Falcons' gaffes continued to breathe life into the Lions...

A holding penalty on Nate Stupar stopped the clock after a run by Steven Jackson that lost a yard. That was a free timeout for a Lions team which had just used its final one after the prior play. 

The Falcons needed to run as much clock as possible. Instead, this happened:

Instead of getting the ball back with just over a minute, Detroit gained an extra 30 or so seconds thanks to the ponderous play call. 

"

Mike Smith, trying to lose this game? You gotta run the football there, man. I know it just worked, but this is inside 2 mins, get a clue

— Jason McIntyre (@jasonrmcintyre) October 26, 2014"

Smith wasn't done mismanaging the game. Stafford completed the first pass to Golden Tate against strangely passive coverage and no discernible pass rush. The Lions were in business with the 32-yard pickup. 

A 20-yard pass to Riddick, who made an outstanding one-handed catch on a shaky throw from Stafford, pushed the Lions across midfield. The clock, not the Falcons, was Detroit's opponent...and Smith called timeout. 

Two plays later, with the clock again Detroit's most dangerous enemy, Smith did it again. 

"

Mike Smith calling timeout there has to be one of the three or four most incomprehensible coaching decisions ever.

— numberFire (@numberFire) October 26, 2014"

Worse, that was his final timeout. Now he had no chance to ice Detroit's famously shaky kicking game.

He almost got a reprieve when Prater missed his kick, but a delay-of-game penalty—which might have been a mistaken call—gave the Lions one more chance.

Prater drilled the next kick, bending it like Beckham inside the left upright and capping one of the more remarkable, heart-stopping comebacks in NFL history. 

In his postgame press conference, a portion of which is available via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Smith noted his team "did a lot of uncharacteristic things." The Lions, now 6-2 thanks to consecutive thrilling comebacks, unapologetically took advantage.

"

The #Lions have now outscored their opponents 43-13 in 2nd halves of the last two games for a pair of epic comeback wins. #OnePride

— Detroit Lions (@Lions) October 26, 2014"

Detroit trailed by two possessions in the fourth quarter of both games. Coach Jim Caldwell deserves credit for never panicking and coaxing amazing victories from his Lions, but this week his opposing foil certainly helped. The tale of two coaches produced a happy ending for Detroit.