DETROIT – The Detroit Lions snapped a three-game losing streak in a 31-26 win over the New York Giants Sunday.
The Lions led the whole way in a game they needed to win at home. Matthew Stafford had another great game and the Lions' defense was able to stop Saquon Barkley.
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The win moves the Lions out of last place in the NFC North and means the Lions have survived another week as their schedule eases up.
It wasn't perfect, but the Lions still got the job done. Here are three takeaways from Sunday's game.
Stafford leads team to win: Matthew Stafford turned in another impressive performance Sunday. He went 25/32 with 342 yards and 3 touchdowns, with two of those touchdowns deep passes of more than 40 yards. He didn't have an incompletion in the second half of the game.
The Lions struggled to run the ball, but that didn't impact Stafford's ability to pick apart the Giants' defense. He spread the ball to 8 different receivers, including Kenny Golladay (123 yards and 2 touchdowns) and Danny Amendola (8 catches, 95 yards) who both had a big day.
Defense still work in progress: One of the Lions' biggest weaknesses has been stopping the run, but they were able to hold the Giants to under 100 yards rushing Sunday. Saquon Barkley had a good game overall, but only had 46 yards rushing. The Lions' run defense needed a strong showing like that.
It was a different story for the Lions' pass defense as Daniel Jones threw for 322 yards and 4 touchdowns. Detroit was able to get more pressure, but Jones still had a lot of time to throw and got the ball to Golden Tate and Darius Slayton. It wasn't the best day for Justin Coleman, Rashaan Melvin and the Lions' secondary with Darius Slay sidelined.
The defense turned in a big play early with Devon Kennard returning a fumble for a touchdown. That put the Lions up 7-0 and they went on to lead the whole game from there.
Big win to turn things around: This was a must-win game for Detroit and they were able to get the job done at home. The Lions were able to make big plays that were the difference in the game even though they didn't play perfectly. The win stopped a losing streak and puts the Lions in a position to get their season back on track.
Now, they have to try and stack some wins together as the calendar flips to November.