Ansah, Ebron, Levy out for Lions against Eagles

The Eagles started slow as Carson Wentz worked to shake some rookie-riding-high nerves while the Lions defense got to him early. The Lions were by no means done after the Eagles answered with a sustained scoring drive of their own to cut the lead to 14-7 on Wentz’s 1-yard TD pass to Ryan Matthews. Nearly all of the Lions’ scoring came by way of special teams, in the form of 2 field goals from Matt Prater and an 85-yard Andre Roberts punt return for a touchdown late in the 4th but it was too late for Detroit.

DETROIT (AP) – Matt Prater kicked a 29-yard field goal with 1:28 left and Darius Slay made an over-the-shoulder interception on the next snap, helping the Detroit Lions hand Carson Wentz his first loss with a 24-23 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. They allowed the Lions to score on each of their three drives. After narrowly avoiding throwing two interceptions earlier in the game, Wentz finally threw his first pick on his 135th pass attempt of the season. Hopefully we are right this time.

LIONS defense really misses DE Ezekiel Ansah (left ankle; missed last 2 games) and LB DeAndre Levy (quadriceps; missed last 3 games). Tyrunn Walker recovered and the Lions came up with a huge turnover.

“I don’t care about getting mine”, Marvin Jones said.

Up: Wentz’s overall play – With his team behind for most of the contest, Wentz continued to show why he’s been selected as the franchise’s cornerstone. “I just want to win”.

“I don’t know”, Whitehead said. “This team needed that”.

Chicago Bears wide receiver Kevin White (13) tries to block Detroit Lions outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy (53) during an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2016, in Chicago. This one ended with Stafford’s dump-off pass to Riddick that went for 17 yards.

As the two minute warning loomed, Golden Tate caught the ball on third down and rushed down towards the red zone, and earned some supplemental yardage when a late hit penalty was accepted against Philadelphia.

Despite Wentz’ deep ball to Agholor that was picked off to end the game, the rookie had another impressive performance in Week 5.

Wentz finished the day with 238 yards, completing 75.8% of his passes for two touchdowns and the one interception.

“I was in great position, ” Slay said.

The rookie was again almost flawless, but all that will be remembered was his decision to throw deep on the first play of the last drive.

Detroit jumped to a 21-10 lead in the first half as they dominated the Eagles defense.

Philadelphia hadn’t allowed more than 14 points in any of its first three games. Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, who was Detroit’s coach from 2009 to 2013, has helped turn around a unit that ranked among the NFL’s worst defenses the previous three years. In his career, Stafford has lead the Lions back in the fourth quarter or overtime 21 times.

UP – The Eagles kicker was flawless on three field-goal tries, splitting the uprights from 50, 49 and 33 yards.

Defensive tackle Haloti Ngata injured his shoulder in the third quarter and did not return.

Slot receiver Jordan Matthews was among the Eagles’ pass-catchers who ran shorter routes on the play.

Baltimore won its first three games by taking advantage of weak competition, and that’s exactly what they’ll do on Sunday.