Lions rally to stun Raiders 28-27

OAKLAND, Calif. — Ndamukong Suh reached his right arm out to block a game-winning field-goal attempt, hurled his helmet about 20 yards and let out a loud scream in celebration.

What a difference from the way his last game ended.

Suh provided the perfect exclamation point in his return from a two-game suspension by sealing a thrilling comeback by the Matthew Stafford and Detroit Lions, who rallied to defeat the Oakland Raiders 28-27 Sunday.

“For me it’s just a great opportunity to be on the football field,” Suh said. “That’s just the things that I expect out of myself. I can’t do it by myself. I continue to have great players around me to have me make great plays, as well.”

None more than Stafford and Calvin Johnson.

Stafford threw a 6-yard TD pass to Calvin Johnson with 39 seconds remaining to cap a 98-yard scoring drive that helped the Lions (9-5) take a 2-game lead in the NFC wild-card race.

The Raiders (7-7) appeared in control of the game when Aaron Curry returned a fumble 6 yards for a touchdown to make it 27-14 with 7:47 remaining.

But Stafford engineered two long scoring drives in the final minutes to give the Lions their first lead of the game.

Stafford completed 29 of 52 passes for 391 yards and 4 touchdowns. He completed 9 for 214 yards to Johnson, who ended a five-game drought with no 100-yard receiving games and only 1 touchdown.

“He was due for one of those, and I’m glad it happened,” Stafford said. “I’m just proud of our team. We stuck together. We could have easily folded right after I fumbled that ball and they scored.

“Guys rallied around each other, defense did a great job of getting us the ball back on offense, and we went down and put the dagger in there.”

Stafford and Johnson connected on a 21-yarder and a 48-yarder on the winning drive that started at the Detroit 2 with 2:14 to play and the Lions out of timeouts.

They also connected on a 51-yard scoring play in the first quarter, but they had to sweat out the closing seconds as Carson Palmer got the Raiders to the Detroit 47 with four seconds to play.

But Suh got his right thumb on the 65-yard attempt to end the game. He threw his helmet and ran down the field in celebration, providing a loud finish to an otherwise quiet day for the defensive tackle in his first game back since serving a suspension for stepping on the right arm of Green Bay Packers offensive lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith during a loss on Thanksgiving.

Suh once again apologized for the play, saying he has talked to Dietrich-Smith since then.

“The biggest thing for me is I’ve dealt with it and I’m moving past it,” he said. “I’m happy to be back on the field with my team.”

So are the Lions, who can make the playoffs for the first time since 1999 by winning one of their final two games. Detroit hosts San Diego on Saturday.

“It’s a dream scenario,” defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch said. “Christmas Eve we’ve got a home game. It would be nice. You couldn’t write a better story. We’re excited about this opportunity.”

The Raiders (7-7) have lost three straight and will need help to end their eight-year playoff drought. Oakland trails Denver by 1 game in the AFC West and also is a game behind the New York Jets and Cincinnati in the wild-card race.

“It’s probably one of the worst things that happened since I’ve been here,” third-year safety Mike Mitchell said. “To be winning like we were winning and then just not being able to close. … That definitely hurts especially because we knew how important this game was.”

Sebastian Janikowski, who tied the record with a 63-yarder in the season opener at Denver, couldn’t get the ball past the line as Suh blocked it to end the game.

Palmer finished 32-for-40 for 367 yards and a touchdown to Darrius Heyward-Bey, who had 8 catches for a career-high 155 yards.

But Palmer also slightly overthrew Chaz Schilens on a third-down pass just before the two-minute warning after Stafford’s TD pass to Titus Young cut Oakland’s lead to 27-21.

“Very demoralizing,” Palmer said. “We had chances to close them out and a chance to put them away there and just didn’t make enough plays when it came down to it.”