THE DETROIT LIONS bounced back from their loss to the St Louis Rams with a strong offensive performance against the New Orleans Saints, sealing a 35-27 win in the NFL last nght.
Detroit were beaten by the Rams 21-14 last week but the Lions picked up their fifth win of the season courtesy of quarterback Matthew Stafford, who completed 22-of-25 passes for 254 yards and three touchdowns.
In doing so, Stafford broke Jon Kitna’s franchise record as he set a single-game career high in passer rating for the second time in the past month.
Stafford produced his first midway through the first quarter with a short pass to Golden Tate, who received well to score the first of two touchdowns.
Tate received six passes for 45 yards as he troubled the Saints defence all game, with additional punt returns of 14 and 7 yards.
Despite the result, the game was one to remember for Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who threw 34 of 52 passes for 341 yards and three touchdowns to become just the fourth NFL QB with over 8,000 pass attempts for their career.
The Lions did the majority of the damage in the second quarter, scoring two early TDs, first through Michael Burton and then again through Tate as Stafford’s efficient ball use continued to open doors for Detroit receivers.
Ameer Abdullah compounded the Saints misery with a 15-yard touchdown to start the third quarter.
He would finish with 77 yards on nine carries, although he also delivered a costly fumbled which allowed a Saints touchdown in the final quarter.
New Orleans outscored Detroit 17-7 in the fourth but it was too little too late, despite Brandin Cook’s impressive 10 receptions for 124 yards.
