DETROIT – Matthew Stafford helped out the Detroit Lions on Thursday night with a win over their division rival.
When the Lions beat the Minnesota Vikings last weekend, they technically moved into a first-place tie, with both teams at 5-1.
But their records are tied no longer.
Stafford and the Rams took down the Vikings on Thursday Night Football, 30-20, with the help of a controversial non-facemask call in the end zone.
Stafford threw for 279 yards, four touchdowns, and an interception in the win. It helped that his top two receivers, Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp, returned from injury and combined for 12 catches and 157 yards.
Detroit is now a half-game ahead of Minnesota, but it also owns the head-to-head tiebreaker and picked up ground in the common opponent tiebreaker (the Lions beat the Rams at Ford Field in the opener).
It‘s still early in the season, but the Lions are sitting pretty in the race for the NFC North title and No. 1 seed in the conference. They haven‘t needed any help so far, but it doesn’t hurt to have Stafford doing them a solid.
