Great Escape: After review overturns late Lions TD, Falcons emerge with win

DETROIT — Matt Ryan connected with Taylor Gabriel for a 40-yard, go-ahead scoring strike on the first play of the fourth quarter and the Atlanta Falcons barely held off the Detroit Lions 30-26 on Sunday at Ford Field.

Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford apparently completed a 1-yard touchdown pass to Golden Tate with eight seconds remaining. After an officiating review, Tate was ruled to be just shy of the goal line. A 10-second runoff was required and since the Lions were out of timeouts, the game was over.

Ryan completed 24 of 35 passes for 294 yards and two touchdowns but was also picked off three times. Devonta Freeman gained 106 yards on 21 carries and scored a touchdown. Gabriel caught five passes for 79 yards. Julio Jones added 91 receiving yards on seven catches.

Stafford completed 25 of 45 passes for 264 yards and a touchdown. Tate caught seven passes for 58 yards and a score.

Glover Quin scored on a 37-yard interception return and Darius Slay picked off two passes for Detroit. Matt Prater contributed four field goals.

Matt Bryant’s 40-yard field goal early in the third quarter gave the Falcons (3-0) a 23-13 lead.

Detroit tied it before the end of the quarter. Stafford’s 11-yard scoring pass to Tate pulled the Lions (2-1) within three points and Prater made a 35-yard field goal. The latter was set up by Slay’s interception.

The Falcons regained the lead on the first play of the fourth quarter. Gabriel caught a short pass over the middle, cut to his left and outran the secondary on the 40-yard scoring play.

Prater drilled a 57-yard field goal with 11:48 remaining to make it 30-26.

The Lions forced a punt just before the two-minute warning and got the ball back at their own 11. A 28-yard completion to TJ Jones moved the Lions beyond midfield. Detroit got as close as the Atlanta 18 but two penalties sidetracked the drive.

A defensive holding penalty against Desmond Trufant wiped out an interception. A pass interference call against Trufant put the Lions on the 1, but two incompletions followed before Tate’s catch just inches from the goal line.

Atlanta led 20-13 at halftime.

The Falcons drove 75 yards and scored on their first possession. Ryan’s 4-yard scoring pass to Mohamed Sanu capped it off. Sanu was originally deemed short of the goal line but the call was reversed after coach Dan Quinn tossed a challenge flag.

Atlanta drove inside the Lions’ 10 on its next possession but Anthony Zettel’s third-down sack of Ryan forced the Falcons to settle for Bryant’s 36-yard field goal.

Prater’s 55-yard field goal put the Lions on the board.

Freeman’s 1-yard plunge into the end zone with five minutes left in the half finished off a 64-yard drive and gave the Falcons a 17-3 advantage.

Prater’s 40-yard field goal cut Atlanta’s lead to 11. Just nine seconds later, Quin jumped in front of Jones on his interception and raced untouched into the end zone.

Bryant’s 48-yard field goal during the final minute completed the first-half scoring.

NOTES: Lions president Ron Wood said that coach Jim Caldwell’s contract extension, which was revealed on Saturday, was decided long ago. “We did that at the end of last season to get it behind us and focus on football,” he said. … Both teams were missing key players. The Falcons played without their top pass rusher, LB Vic Beasley (hamstring), as well as OT Ryan Schraeder (concussion) and DE Courtney Upshaw (ankle, knee). The Lions were missing MLB Jarrad Davis (concussion), C Travis Swanson (ankle), S Tavon Wilson (shoulder) and RB Dwayne Washington (quad). … Atlanta won three of the last four meetings. … Detroit PK Matt Prater now has 11 career field goals of at least 55 yards, second in NFL history to Oakland’s Sebastian Janikowski (13). …Several Lions and Falcons players took a knee during the playing of the national anthem. A pair of Falcons defensive linemen, Grady Jarrett and Dontari Poe, knelt during the national anthem while many of their other players stood with the arms locked together in unity. … Falcons owner Arthur Blank criticized Trump’s comments in a statement Saturday. In part, is said: “Creating division or demonizing viewpoints that are different than our own accomplishes nothing positive and undermines our collective ability to achieve the ideals of our democracy.”