Lions beat Stafford, Rams in OT after second-half rally

DETROIT — Jared Goff picked up two small wins over Matthew Stafford in Detroit on Sunday night: One on the coin toss to start the game and one more on the coin toss to start overtime.

The second one led to a massive 26-20 victory for the Detroit Lions over the Los Angeles Rams in the season opener on Sunday Night Football before a raucous crowd of 66,530 at Ford Field.

After coughing up a 17-3 second-half lead, Goff and the Lions marched down the field in a 20-17 game with under two minutes remaining to set up a 32-yard field goal from Jake Bates in his NFL debut that forced overtime.

The Lions got the ball first and moved it quickly with a 12-yard end-around by Kalif Raymond and a 21-yard run by David Montgomery that set the Lions up with first-and-10 at the LA 37-yard line. After Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs added another pair of touches to put Detroit in the red zone, and Montgomery pushed his way to a first-and-goal at the 1-yard line, Montgomery, who had 91 rushing yards, punched it in to give the Lions a rousing comeback victory in the encore of Sunday's Week 1 slate.

The Lions defense got a stop to get them there, too. The Lions went three-and-out after the Rams took a 20-17 lead with 4:30 remaining, but the defense — aided by a false start that backed the Rams up — got Detroit the ball back before the two-minute warning.

Jameson Williams went off for a career-high 121 receiving yards and a touchdown but receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and tight end Sam LaPorta had uncharacteristically quiet nights, combining for just 58 yards on seven catches.

Goff rebounded after throwing a near-back-breaking interception that set the Rams up for their go-ahead score in the fourth. The Lions caught a huge break coming out of the two-minute warning as an 18-yard reception was aided by a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty on Kamren Kinchens at the end of the play, giving Detroit first-and-10 at the Rams 31-yard line. Gibbs, who scored the Lions' first touchdown of the season, picked up a huge first down on third-and-2 in Rams territory to carry Detroit into the red zone, where they'd eventually hit a tying field goal.

Lions linebacker Alex Anzalone had a pair of tackles for loss on the opening drive to get the Rams' offense off the field in three plays, but LA's pass rush returned the favor with a third-down sack of Goff — Byron Young cleanly beat Kevin Zeitler on the interior — to force a three-and-out of their own on the Lions' opening drive.

The Rams moved the ball methodically on their second drive and reached the red zone, but Lions defensive tackle Levi Onwuzurike stopped the drive in its tracks with a second-down sack, followed by a false start on the Rams, forcing a 41-yard field goal from Joshua Karty that ended the 13-play drive with the Rams ahead, 3-0, at 4:50 in the first quarter.

The Lions answered with a long field-goal drive (15 plays) of their own. Detroit spammed the David Montgomery button, giving the veteran running back eight touches for 33 yards before Jake Bates hit a 25-yard field goal after a third-down incompletion to Sam LaPorta in the end zone.

Detroit's defense flexed its muscles after the Rams drove down the field midway through the second quarter. Brian Branch had a pass breakup, Marcus Davenport forced a throwaway with a pressure, and Aidan Hutchinson blew up Stafford on a third-down play before Carlton Davis had a pass breakup to Kupp on fourth-and-4 to get off the field.

The Rams lost All-Pro receiver Puka Nacua and offensive tackle Joe Noteboom to an ankle injury in the second quarter, leaving their third-string tackle A.J. Arcuri to deal with Aidan Hutchinson for the remainder of the game.

Jameson Williams got the next drive started with a 36-yard completion over the middle and later added a 13-yard gain on an end-around that ended with him being looked at by the training staff. Williams was taped up and returned to action. Shortly after, Jahmyr Gibbs scored the Lions' first touchdown of the season on a 1-yard run up the middle where he was initially ruled down at the 1-inch line.

Officials went to replay review and ruled that Gibbs stretched the ball across the goal line for a Lions touchdown and a 10-3 lead with 1:57 left in the first half.

The Rams made a push to tie the game after taking over with under two minutes remaining. They caught a break when Hutchinson was flagged for a roughing-the-passer penalty that gave LA first-and-10 at the Detroit 40-yard line instead of third-and-eight at the LA 45.

After the Rams got in the red zone, though, Hutchinson helped flip the momentum again with a pressure that forced Stafford into a bad decision that was picked off in the end zone by Lions safety Kerby Joseph with 15 seconds left in the half.

After both defenses got off the field quickly to start the third quarter, the Lions busted open the game when Goff threw a deep ball to Williams down the sideline for a 52-yard touchdown on third-and-3 from the Detroit 48-yard line.

The Rams answered with their first touchdown drive of the game after Terrion Arnold was called for defensive pass interference on a third-and-6 throw to Kupp in the end zone. The penalty gave the Rams first-and-goal at the 2-yard line, where Kyren Williams punched it in on the next play.

After netting a quick three-and-out on defense, the Rams went right back the other way to threaten Detroit’s lead entering the fourth quarter. Branch and Davis both missed tackles on a short throw to Tyler Johnson, allowing the Rams receiver to take off for a 63-yard gain that set up first-and-10 at Detroit’s 23-yard line.

Arnold was called for another defensive pass interference in the end zone, again giving the Rams the ball at the 1-yard line. This time, though, the Rams were called for a second-down holding penalty, which backed it up to second-and-goal at the 11. Branch broke up a throw in the end zone to Kupp that forced a Rams field goal and held the Lions' lead, 17-13, with 12:32 to go in the fourth quarter.

The Lions made their first big mistake of the game when trying to add to their 17-13 lead in the fourth quarter. On second-and-8 from the LA 30-yard line, Goff's throw to St. Brown over the middle was intercepted by Rams safety John Johnson. The Rams marched down the field in 10 plays to take a 20-17 lead on a nine-yard passing touchdown to Kupp.