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SPORTSFriday 27 November 2015
Stafford throws 5 TD passes, Lions beat Eagles 45-14
By LARRY LAGE Detroit Lions tight end Eric Ebron (85) is upended by Philadelphia Eagles strong safety Walter Thur- he’s giving you chances to
AP Sports Writer mond (26) during the first half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Nov. 26, 2015, in Detroit. make big plays.’’
DETROIT (AP) - Matthew Taking advantage of John-
Stafford dropped back Associated Press son in one-on-one cover-
and perfectly lofted the age, Stafford threw 4- and
ball where only Calvin cording to STATS, and have second time in his career, son much early in the game, 3-yard TD passes to John-
Johnson could catch it. lost by at least 28 points in according to STATS, to help Stafford started connecting son in the third quarter.
Johnson leaped to come consecutive games for the the Lions lead 24-7. He fin- with the star receiver. The ‘’We’re attacking the de-
down with the 25-yard pass first time since 1971. ished 27 of 38 for 337 yards Eagles couldn’t do much fense, and not playing de-
in the end zone for the first and threw five TDs for the about it, especially when fense on offense,’’ Johnson
of a career-high matching ‘’We all take account- fourth time in his career. starting cornerback Nolan said.
three touchdown recep- ability,’’ coach Chip Kelly ‘’Our quarterback is com- Carrollleft in the second
tions, Stafford tied a per- said. ‘’I’m a coach, not a fortable in this offense,’’ quarter with a broken right Stafford started the scor-
sonal best with five scoring player, so it starts with me. Caldwell said. ‘’And when ankle and was replaced by ing barrage with an 8-yard
passes, and the surging De- I’m not pointing fingers at that happens, it gives you rookie Eric Rowe. pass to Theo Riddick, who
troit Lions kept the Philadel- anybody, and I don’t think opportunities for your play- ‘’At the end of the first quar- made a sharp move to the
phia Eaglesreeling with a anybody points fingers at makers to do things.’’ ter, I realized we hadn’t inside to get away from
45-14 rout Thursday. anybody.’’ Johnson had eight catches gotten 81 the ball yet, so linebacker Mychal Kend-
‘’When we’re on point like Stafford threw for more for 93 yards and three TDs, we dialed up some plays ricks late in the opening
that, it’s hard to stop,’’ than 200 yards and three matching his career high for him,’’ Stafford said. ‘’We quarter. Stafford threw a
Johnson said. touchdowns without a turn- set in 2010. started getting aggressive, go-ahead, 2-yard TD mid-
The Lions (4-7) have won over by halftime for the After not throwing to John- and that opened up a cou- way through the second
three straight since firing ple routes for him.’’ quarter to Golden Tate,
their team president and The quarterback seems who lined up as a fullback
general manager, and to be clicking with plays and went to the flat where
three in a row in their an- called by offensive coor- he caught the ball and
nual Thanksgiving game. dinator Jim Bob Cooter, stopped, letting safety Wal-
Detroit ran for 108 yards, who replaced the fired Joe ter Thurmond run past him.
tied a season high with Lombardi a month ago. Mark Sanchez started in
six sacks and Matt Prat- ‘’I love that he’s so ag- place of Sam Bradford,
er made a 48-yard field gressive,’’ Stafford said. who was inactive with a
goal. ‘’That rubs off on the play- shoulder injury. Sanchez
‘’That’s as complete a vic- ers because it is fun when completed 19 of 27 passes
tory as we’ve had since for 199 yards and two TDs.
we’ve been here,’’ said He connected with Brent
Jim Caldwell, who won 11 Celek early in the second
games last season in his first quarter on a 2-yard pass to
year as Detroit’s coach. help Philadelphia pull into
The Eagles (4-7) have lost a 7-all tie and with Jordan
three straight. They have Matthewsfor a relatively
allowed at least 45 points in meaningless, 24-yard TD
two straight games in one late in the game.
season for the first time, ac- Sanchez was able to con-
nect with receivers when
he had time, but that didn’t
happen very often.
Detroit’s Ezekiel Ansah had
a career-high 3 1/2 sacks,
one of which forced a fum-
ble by Sanchez that the
defensive end recovered.
‘’That guy’s got a serious
grip - rigor mortis or some-
thing,’’ Sanchez said.q
