DETROIT — The Detroit Lions and their 13-game streak of answering a loss with a win is in jeopardy.
Detroit trails the 2-9 New York Giants, 20-17, at halftime. The team’s streak of not losing back-to-back games since October 2022, the third-longest streak in NFL history, is on the hot seat.
Kalif Raymond took the kickoff return 44 yards after the Giants added their second field goal with less than a minute in the half. Raymond then added a 29-yard catch, going down with 7 seconds left, helping the Lions inch closer with Jake Bates’ 37-yard field goal to end the half.
Giants quarterback Jameis Winston and receiver Wan’Dale Robinson are giving the Lions trouble. Winston has 212 passing yards and two touchdowns. Robinson has six catches for 135 yards and the score.
The Giants opened with a bang. They executed the double-pass to perfection after being gifted another third-down chance after Lions pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson jumped the snap too early.
Winston handed the ball to Tyrone Tracy, who threw it back to the quarterback, who then let it rip for Robinson for the 39-yard touchdown with 12:56 left in the first quarter. Thomas Harper bit hard on the throw to the running back, and just like that, the Giants were up 7-0 with their first passing score since Week 9.
Detroit’s continued offensive hiccups remained on full display. New York’s pressure resulted in a punt on the team’s first offensive possession. Jared Goff was sacked on third-and-7 by Darius Alexander, then Jack Fox punted it down to New York’s 8-yard line with 8:02 remaining in the first.
The defense forced a three-and-out, but the Lions were unable to do anything with the solid field position at their own 44-yard line. They telegraphed an end-around to Jahmyr Gibbs that resulted in a loss of yards, then Amon-Ra St. Brown dropped what would have been a first down. It’s been a tough couple of weeks for the usually sure-handed All-Pro wide receiver.
But St. Brown got it going on the team’s first scoring drive, appearing to get on the right track.
Goff then had to check it down to running back David Montgomery, with the boos raining down on the three-and-out by the offense, starting about the time the ball left the quarterback’s hand.
Fox again had a solid punt, this time under duress, landing it at New York’s 10-yard line with 5:03 remaining in the opening frame. The defense didn’t get a three-and-out this time, though.
Winston hit Robinson for 12 yards on third-and-6, then went right back to the speedy receiver for 40 yards, both on Lions cornerback Amik Robertson.
Safety Brian Branch got called for another helmet-to-helmet hit with under 2 minutes in the first quarter, giving the Giants first-and-goal at the 8-yard line. Branch was fined for the same type of hit in last week’s game in Philadelphia.
The defense held strong, with Giants kicker Younghoe Koo hitting the 21-yard field goal as the first quarter ended. The Lions entered the second quarter trailing, 10-0, as double-digit favorites.
It’s the first time since 2020 in Week 9 that the Giants had a 10-point first-quarter lead.
After the first quarter, the Giants had 144 net yards of offense while the Lions mustered only 23 yards, converting one of three third-down tries.
St. Brown made a couple of big plays on the team’s possession to open the second quarter. He caught one for 18 yards over the middle, then drew a pass interference call in the end zone on the next snap.
When the Lions stubbed their toe at the goal line, with an intentional grounding call putting them into a third-and-11 hole, St. Brown forced his way into the end zone. He took the screen 11 yards to the house, making it 10-7 Giants with 11:48 left in the first half. The Lions went 61 yards on seven plays for the badly-needed score to get back within reach and to calm the boo birds in Detroit.
And just when it felt like the Lions were turning the corner, they brought the heat, and nobody was on the running back out of the backfield. Tracy went 42 yards on the first play of the drive, putting Winston and the Giants at Detroit’s 27.
Winston threw his second touchdown pass of the first half to Isaiah Hodgins in the back of the end zone with 8:21 left in the first half on third-and-8 from the 12-yard line. The Giants went back up 10 points in a hurry, leading 17-7.
The Lions gave it right back after two incompletions by Jameson Williams, another third-down Goff sack to more boos. Detroit’s defense gave the offense another chance, with a third-and-1 stop by Roy Lopez with 4:30 left in the half.
Gibbs to the rescue before the end of the half. The running back went 49 yards in the blink of an eye to the 3-yard line, then scored on the swing pass and extension with 2:16 left before halftime, to make it 17-14 just like that.
The Giants and Koo added a 44-yard field goal with less than 40 seconds in the half to go up 20-14.
The Lions have been called for five penalties (53 yards), and been picked apart in the air, giving up eight first downs via Winston’s arm.
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