Bradford’s Desire For “Explosive Plays” Could Be A Pipe Dream

The yardage was short enough that a quarterback sneak on second or third down-or both-could have easily picked up the first down and given the Lions a chance at a game-winning touchdown rather than a game-tying field goal. “I dont care where or when. “I felt pretty confident we were going to be able to close the game out at the end”.

They liked the idea of playing at 1 p.m. on Sundays, being underneath the national consciousness, taking it week to week and just seeing what happens.

And then they got another score.

Detroit has inflicted the two most stinging defeats of the season on the Vikings.

On Nov. 6 at Minnesota, Stafford led the Lions into range for Prater’s 58-yard field at the end of regulation, and Detroit went on to win 22-16 in overtime. On third-and-2 at the Vikings 33, wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson was called for an illegal formation for not being on the line of scrimmage, nullifying a 7-yard catch by Jerick McKinnon and moving the ball back to the 28. It was the second time in less than three weeks the Lions have defeated the Vikings on the final play of the game.

They will get the job done.

“The corner made a good play, ” Bradford said. “We’re going to keep fighting”. Maybe you aren’t impressed that the Lions season has hinged on a few plays.

Not that this team could relate to such a notion. You can argue that they were limited a little on Thursday because Stefon Diggs was out, but they still had Kyle Rudolph and since pat Shurmur took over as offensive coordinator, they have rarely tried to use Diggs or anyone deep anyway. “It does not bother them. “They find a way and believe in one another”.

There’s a reason that this offense doesn’t attempt anything further than a three-step drop anymore, and that’s because the offensive line isn’t capable of blocking for anything more than that. Leave it to rookie Willie Beavers, who grew up in suburban Detroit, as the latest offensive lineman to spin through the revolving door.

Oh, and just a side note here — in both of those seasons, the Manning boys led their teams to the Super Bowl. That’s up 5 percent from the 13.7 overnight rating for the early game past year, when the Lions beat the Eagles in a blowout. Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford and cornerback Darius Slay were the other two recipients.

It isnt only Stafford, though.

An unusual Thursday-to-Thursday schedule leaves the Vikings nursing a second fall-from-ahead loss in 18 days to Detroit but having to reconvene Sunday to start their on-field preparation for a Thursday night game against the Dallas Cowboys at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

Lets not forget Slay. “You know, I’ve seen this team play well against good teams”. “We dont just go out there to stop them. This four game-winning streak represents the team’s longest on Thanksgiving Day since winning four in a row from 1997-2000. “We didn’t give it to him”, Detroit Lions coach Jim Caldwell said with a chuckle. The Lions have now claimed victory over the Vikings in each of the last two Thanksgiving Day games between the teams dating back to a 44-38 win in 1995.