'We bounced back': Lions jump out to huge lead, survive second-half rally to beat Saints

New Orleans — The Lions forced two takeaways, didn't turn the ball over once and jumped out to a three-score lead before some fans even reached their seats.

Still, it was barely enough. The New Orleans Saints pieced together a furious comeback effort in the second half before falling just short Sunday at the Superdome, 33-28.

The Lions couldn't have dreamed up a better start to the matchup. Setting an immediate tone after last week's embarrassing loss to the Green Bay Packers, the Lions' offensive line exerted its will during a seven-play touchdown drive to open the contest.

The team handed the ball to running back David Montgomery four consecutive times to open the series. They'd end up keeping it on the ground six of the seven plays, with Montgomery capping the action with a 2-yard score around the right side of his formation.

"I know that was a point of emphasis for us this week was to get that going," Lions quarterback Jared Goff said. "I'm sure we'd like to do it even a bit more, but I thought it was a great job by (offensive coordinator) Ben (Johnson), getting that going early on, and us feeding off of it from there."

BOX SCORE: Lions 33, Saints 28

That lead quickly blossomed to 21 in the next three minutes, thanks to a similarly strong start by Detroit's defense.

On the Saints' first snap of the day, quarterback Derek Carr's pass ricocheted off the hands of tight end Juwan Johnson and into the waiting arms of rookie defensive back Brian Branch, who returned the takeaway into the red zone. From there, the Lions (9-3) needed just three plays to return to the end zone, with Goff connecting to tight end Sam LaPorta out of motion for a 13-yard touchdown, the rookie's sixth score of the season.

Following a three-and-out for the Saints (5-7), the Lions once again needed three plays to cross the goal line. LaPorta delivered the first chunk, gaining 29 yards on a post pattern. And on the next snap, receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown took a short throw, broke an immediate tackle attempt and split the safeties en route to a 25-yard score that put the Lions up 21-0.

That matched the most points by the Lions in the first quarter of a game in franchise history, but the scoring frenzy fizzled out the remainder of the frame, prior to the Saints getting on the board six minutes into the second quarter. Detroit had its opportunities to get a stop, but the secondary surrendered completions that converted a pair of third-and-longs, setting up a 6-yard strike from Carr to tight end Jimmy Graham, who bested the man-to-man coverage of safety Tracy Walker.

The sides briefly traded punts before the Lions drove into the red zone during the closing minutes of the half. The series stalled when rookie guard Colby Sorsdal gave up immediate pocket pressure on third down from the 8-yard line, hurrying Goff into an incompletion. That left the Lions to settle for a short Riley Patterson field goal to go into the locker room with a 24-7 edge.

The Saints sliced that to 10 coming out of the break, driving 75 yards on 10 plays with the opening possession of the second half. Early in the series, part-time quarterback Taysom Hill underthrew a deep shot to a wide-open Chris Olave, but Carr didn't miss on a second long ball to the talented receiver, netting 33 yards down to the 2-yard line, setting up a scoring plunge by running back Alvin Kamara.

Hindered by a false-start penalty against LaPorta, the Lions didn't have an answer, going three-and-out and punting the ball back to the Saints. And the opposition stayed hot to open the third quarter, piecing together a second touchdown drive.

Continuing to attack deep, the Saints got a quick 28 yards on a throw to Olave, followed up by a 19-yard completion to tight end Foster Moreau. Five snaps later, after a short touchdown run by Kamara was overturned by replay, Hill powered through for a 1-yard score, cutting Detroit's lead to 24-21.

Needing to stop the bleeding, the Lions turned back to LaPorta, who drew a defensive holding penalty to start the possession before coming open on a play-action pass that gained 48 yards into the red zone. But the offense couldn't capitalize, as Montgomery's third-down run was stuffed, bringing in Patterson for a 32-yard field goal to push Detroit's lead back to six.

LaPorta finished his day with nine receptions for 140 yards, both career highs, to go with the early touchdown.

New Orleans' ball security woes would crop again on the ensuing possession as Josh Paschal pounced on a fumble after Carr had the ball knocked from his grasp by one of his offensive linemen. With new life, the Lions rediscovered the end zone on a reverse handoff to Jameson Williams, who took the ball from teammate Kalif Raymond before slicing through the Saints defense and leaping across the goal line for the 19-yard score.

"Obviously, great call by Ben," Lions head coach Dan Campbell said. "(That's) something that's been in the laboratory cooking for awhile. It felt like it was the right time to call it up. Listen, he executed it great. The thing was well blocked. … Just pure gasoline around the edge. Heck of a play."

Detroit's two-point conversion attempt failed, leaving the Saints down 33-21 with a little more than 14 minutes remaining.

This time, the Saints had a response. Despite losing Carr to injury after he was hit hard by edge rusher Bruce Irvin — drawing a roughing the passer penalty — Jameis Winston came off the bench to complete the 12-play touchdown drive. The biggest blow came when Olave hauled in a 30-yard pass that was deflected by Branch. Had the rookie not tipped the ball, it was heading directly toward cornerback Jerry Jacobs for a potential interception.

Two snaps later, Kamara worked across the goal line for the second time, trimming the Lions' lead to 33-28 with 7:30 still on the clock.

Detroit's efforts to close the door proved feeble, as they lost 6 yards on first down and Montgomery dropped a third-down pass with space to run after Goff had escaped pressure, leading to a quick punt.

But the Saints couldn't capitalize. Driving into Detroit territory behind Kamara and Hill, Winston went on to throw three straight incompletions, including a forced misfire by a fourth-down blitz, resulting in a turnover on downs.

Taking over with 2:56 remaining, the Lions managed to run out the clock with a pair of third-down conversions.

"We've got a special group," Goff said. "I think that's the best way to put it. Dan talks about it all the time, when the pressure goes up, who comes down and is level and is calm? Our guys are. Our guys really are. Certainly, I feel like I've got trust in all our receivers in those moments, and Sam was a guy we targeted there, then Josh (Reynolds). They made great plays, made great catches and I was able to find them."

The win kept the Lions from losing back-to-back games for the first time this season.

"I think that's what this league is all about," Campbell said. "I think the teams that are able to respond after you lose a tough one. To me, it's not easy to gain confidence in losses, but I think you have to be able to do that, because you understand your own errors, you understand what you have to clean up, and then you don't want to lose that way again. Or like that again, or from that again.

"We bounced back. I'm not surprised, knowing the guys that we have and the coaches that are in that locker room. The players that we have. I'm not surprised. I'm going to tell you, that's some of the best practices we've had all year, what we had the last three days. It was competitive. It was intense. It was fiery."

Up next for the Lions is the back end of their annual divisional series with the Bears. That will take place in Chicago next Sunday, three weeks after the Lions scored two touchdowns in the final three minutes to pull off a stunning, come-from-behind win at Ford Field.

jdrogers@detroitnews.com

@Justin_Rogers