Clawing back: Lions erase second-half deficit, beat Texans on Bates' late field goal

Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff looked like he was the last man standing in a game of dodgeball down on Sunday night.

No amount of dodging, ducking, dipping, diving or dropping could keep the Houston Texans from having their way with the Lions' offense in a primetime matchup at NRG Stadium. Goff set a career-high in interceptions (five) and surpassed his season total (four) entering the contest in the opening 36 minutes and 34 seconds.

And somehow, the Lions (8-1) won the football game, 26-23.

After drilling a 58-yard field goal to tie the game with 5:01 to go, Lions kicker Jake Bates — playing in his hometown for the first time — kicked a 52-yard field goal with time expiring to secure a victory that seemed simply impossible just two hours earlier.

The Lions are the first team to win a game with five interceptions since 2012. In the Super Bowl era, teams were 14-255-2 when throwing five interceptions. Talk about beating the odds.

After falling behind, 23-7, at halftime, the Lions scored 19 unanswered in the final two quarters to shock the Houston faithful. A heavy contingent of Lions fans dominated the building's energy in the second half, starting several "Let's go, Lions" chants — including one that caused a false start by the Houston offense.

After Bates' kick to tie the game, the Texans (6-4) marched down the field before a third-down pass breakup by Alex Anzalone put Texans kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn on the field for a 58-yard field goal of his own to take the lead with 1:56 to go. He missed, wide left.

Detroit took over at its own 48 and converted a critical third down to Amon-Ra St. Brown, who earlier in the quarter set a franchise record by scoring in his seventh straight game to cut the Lions' deficit to 23-20.

Goff finished the game 15-for-30 for 240 yards, with two touchdowns and five interceptions. Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs had 71 yards on 19 carries plus 37 receiving yards, tight end Sam LaPorta had a season-high 66 yards and a touchdown and St. Brown had six catches for 60 yards.

The Lions bottled up Texans running back Joe Mixon for 46 yards on 25 attempts (1.8 average) as Stroud finished 19-for-33 for 232 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.

Goff was intercepted on the opening drive — his fifth interception of the year and first since Week 3 — when his pass to Gibbs was batted into the air by Texans safety Jalen Pitre and landed in the arms of a diving Jimmy Ward, giving Houston first-and-10 at the Detroit 33.

The Texans made Detroit pay, overcoming third-and-long twice on their ensuing possession — including a completion to John Metchie on third-and-16 — before Joe Mixon bounced an 8-yard rushing touchdown to the outside for a 7-0 Houston lead.

Goff was nearly intercepted again on the second drive while looking for Jameson Williams on a deep shot over the middle but was fortunate to have Texans cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. drop the pass. But a delay-of-game penalty before the third-down snap put Detroit behind the chains, leading to a three-and-out.

Mixon took a 36-yard screen pass to Detroit's 3-yard line. The Texans committed a critical holding penalty on the ensuing first-down play, however, and James Houston collected his first sack of the season on third down to hold Houston to a field goal, and a 10-0 lead, at 2:09 in the first.

The Lions settled things down with a huge completion to Williams on third-and-16 late in the first quarter, en route to completing an 11-play, 70-yard touchdown drive, culminating with a 20-yard touchdown pass to tight end Sam LaPorta to make it 10-7 with 10:52 to go in the second quarter. The touchdown pass was the 200th of Goff's career.

A 41-yard defensive pass interference penalty to Terrion Arnold immediately put Houston at the Detroit 35, but a couple of plays later, Detroit's defense came up with a third-down tackle-for-loss that forced the Texans into a 56-yard field goal from Ka'imi Fairbairn that pushed the Texans' lead to 13-7 at 8:25 in the second quarter.

Goff was intercepted again at 7:42 in the second quarter when Texans defensive end Denico Autry beat Penei Sewell cleanly and swatted the ball out of Goff's hand while he tried throwing over the middle. Texans linebacker Henry To'oTo'o caught the batted pass and gave Houston the ball at Detroit's 44. Detroit's defense again got the stop it needed — this time in the red zone — leading to another Texans field goal (29 yards) to make it 16-7 with 4:07 left in the half.

If there was anything that indicated just how poorly things were going for the Lions, it was their decision to simply try to run the clock out before halftime after getting the ball back at the two-minute warning with all three timeouts. But it didn't do them any good. Houston marched right back down the field, thanks in part to a 25-yard reception by Metchie, who later finished off the drive with a 15-yard touchdown reception to put Houston up, 23-7, entering halftime.

For good measure, Goff threw his third interception of the half — setting a new career-high — on a Hail Mary attempt as time expired in the second quarter.

Stroud and Goff traded interceptions to open the second half but Detroit struck first in the third quarter after Goff delivered a 37-yard strike to LaPorta that set up a 3-yard rushing touchdown by David Montgomery, his eighth. Detroit couldn't covert the 2-point attempt but got off the mat, cutting its deficit to 23-13 with nearly a full half of football to play.

Davis intercepted his second pass of the quarter with 8:55 remaining after Stroud took an eternity to find a wide-open Tank Dell in the end zone, allowing Davis to close the gap and give the Lions the football back. But Goff then gave it right back while looking for Williams on a deep shot that Texans safety Calen Bullock intercepted.

The Lions broke through again with 11:38 left in the game, trimming the deficit to 23-20 on a 9-yard touchdown pass to St. Brown.

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