The Detroit Lions and New Orleans Saints face off in a big NFC showdown. Both teams are in the thick of the NFC Playoff picture, but both aren’t trending in great directions. The Saints ceded the NFC South lead to the Falcons after losing to Atlanta last week. And while the Lions are still comfortably first in the NFC North, two shaky performances against divisional foes has fan confidence at a season low.
The good news for them is that they’re getting a couple players who looked like they may miss the contest, particularly WR Chris Olave and defensive lineman Cameron Jordan.
The Lions are a much healthier team heading into Sunday. The only starter who will miss the game is linebacker Alex Anzalone, who is dealing with a hand injury. Most importantly for Detroit, they are getting back starting left guard Jonah Jackson, who has missed the five out of the last six games. His return will give Detroit their five starting offensive linemen available for just the third time this season.
Will that be enough to get back on the winning track? Or will it be the Saints who break their losing streak and make a big step toward recapturing the NFC South lead?
We will be providing live updates for Lions vs. Saints as they come in. Just come back to this page at kickoff (1 p.m. ET) and refresh as the game continues on.
The Saints won the toss and deferred, giving Detroit the opportunity to get the ball first. After a false start to start the drive, the Lions ran the ball twice to David Montgomery and got themselves into a third-and-7. Detroit went right back to MOntgomery on a draw play and it moved the chains. A few plays later, Jared Goff withstood a hit and found Jameson Williams for 12 yards—and a roughing the passer added another 15 to it. From there, Jahmyr Gibbs picked up 36 yards on a brilliant run to set the Lions up first-and-goal. David Montgomery punched it in for there for an early 7-0 Lions lead.
On the very first play of the Saints’ first offensive possession, a Derek Carr pass bounced off a tight ends hands, and rookie Brian Branch made an impressive catch for the interception.
Three plays later, Goff found tight end Sam LaPorta for a 13-yard touchdown and an early 14-0 Lions lead.
Detroit’s defense showed up again, with a couple of pass breakups: one by Jalen Reeves-Maybin and another by Cameron Sutton—to force a quick three-and-out.
It only took three plays for the Lions offense to tack on a third touchdown. After a failed run, LaPorta picked up 29 yards on a catch-and-run. Then Amon-Ra St. Brown followed it up with his own YAC King impression, taking a short pass for a 25-yard touchdown. 21-0 Lions.