Lions escape Saints in OT after 21-point collapse, controversial call and Shough’s 410-yard game

Economy World


DETROIT — The Detroit Lions have big goals for the 2026 season and a huge Week 2 matchup Thursday night in Buffalo. That was almost derailed Sunday at home in their season opener, even after benefiting from a first-half call that erased a New Orleans Saints touchdown.

The Saints rolled the dice and went for two after scoring a touchdown in overtime after the Lions scored first. But Tyler Shough — who had a monster second half and finished with 410 passing yards and three touchdowns — threw too high to Bryce Lance in the back of the end zone, and an enormous sigh of relief could be felt at Ford Field as Detroit escaped with a 31-30 victory.

The Saints rallied from 21 points down, tied the game with 1:07 remaining in regulation and then missed a 62-yard field goal attempt as time expired. After Jared Goff hit Amon-Ra St. Brown for a 4-yard touchdown reception for the go-ahead score in overtime to cap a 10-play, 70-yard drive, Shough connected with Noah Fant for an 8-yard TD.

The Saints could have folded after a second-quarter replay reversal took a touchdown off the board. Chase Young knocked the ball loose from Goff and after a scramble for the ball, Jonas Sanker picked it up and ran it in for a 7-yard TD. But officials determined that Goff’s throwing motion had begun and the play was reversed with the Lions leading 7-0.

The Lions led 21-0 after turning a pair of Saints turnovers into touchdowns in the third quarter. New Orleans then scored on four consecutive possessions and tied the game at 24-apiece when Shough hit Juwan Johnson for a 9-yard TD with 1:07 remaining. After a defensive stop, Daniel Carlson’s 62-yard attempt sailed several feet right as time expired.

Jahmyr Gibbs ran for 156 yards and had two rushing TDs for the Lions (1-0). Goff struggled to get much going in the passing game. He completed 26-of-39 passes for 206 yards and two TD passes.

The Lions have plenty to work on in a short amount of time before traveling to Buffalo. Things don’t get easier for the Saints, who visit Baltimore, but they’ll have a confident quarterback.

Lions caught a first-half break

In the second quarter, with the Lions leading 7-0, Saints edge Young beat Penie Sewell around the edge and sacked Goff. Upon first glance, it looked like a fumble — but it was initially ruled a backward pass, scooped up by the Saints for a touchdown. After further review, officials changed the call to a forward pass, citing that Goff had started his passing motion before he lost possession of the ball. It made the pass incomplete as a result. Instead of a New Orleans touchdown that could’ve tied the game pending an extra point, the Lions punted.

Fox rules analyst Mike Pereira explained why the call was overturned on air.

“He had started his throwing motion,” Pereira said of Goff. “Now, throwing motion is bringing the ball up. Forget about the hand at this point going forward. Throwing motion starts, hand going up, then is hit, ball comes loose, his intent was to throw it forward, and since that motion had already started, that’s going to be a forward pass no matter where it lands.”

It certainly felt like the Lions caught a massive break, and that the Saints were robbed of a touchdown. There should be a pool report on the play available after the game, so it’ll be interesting to see if those comments match Pereira’s. But on the surface, it’s certainly a head-scratcher of a rule.

And here is what the two coaches said after the game:

“A little bit of a challenging circumstance, but I understand what the rules view it as,” Saints coach Kellen Moore said. “Once the arm is moving, it really doesn’t matter where the ball is going, there’s a protection there, so unfortunate outcome for us.”

“Look, I’ll take that one,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “You know, I’ll be the first to say that, you know, I thought we lost that one. But the arm was going forward. It had a forward motion. That was how they saw it. We got one. You know, we’ll take that.”

Box score | Week 1 live updates | Game discussion

Drew Petzing’s debut

What should we make of Drew Petzing’s debut as Lions OC? It’s worth discussing. You can give him a bit of a pass, considering it’s Week 1 and the starters didn’t play a ton together in the preseason. There’s usually some rust to shake off this early in the year. But how different would this day look if the defense didn’t gift the offense favorable field position off second-half turnovers, leading to 14 points?

Jameson Williams had multiple drops and a bobbled end-around leading to a TFL. A New Orleans defensive touchdown was overturned after a questionable review. Sam LaPorta had a relatively quiet day, Sewell looked human at times, Goff was held under 200 yards passing in regulation and the offense looked overly reliant on Jahmyr Gibbs’ 34 touches.

It’s hard to complain about the offense when it records 31 points, of course. The fact that we’re having this discussion speaks to the standards we have for this group. You’ll take the win, but this wasn’t as pretty as the point total would indicate.

Detroit defense: Tale of two halves

The Lions got off to a terrific start defensively — the kind that had you believing this unit could punch above its weight while waiting for reinforcements. Maybe not so much anymore, after varying degrees of success in those halves.

In the first half, the Lions held the Saints to 111 yards. Tyler Shough was just 10-of-22 for 85 yards, no touchdowns and an interception, while the rushing defense allowed just 34 yards on 11 attempts. That level carried over into the third quarter. Derrick Barnes recorded an interception and Roger McCreary forced a strip-sack, recovered by the Lions. It was … downhill from there.

The Saints totaled 358 yards in the second half and overtime of this contest, and all 30 of their points. Shough was carving up this secondary any which way he wanted. Chris Olave did much of the damage. New Orleans used a 24-3 run to tie the game and send it to overtime.

It didn’t stop there. When New Orleans received the ball in overtime, it scored in short order, then attempted a game-winning two-point conversion. Shough’s pass was ultimately incomplete, saving the day for the defense. But that was a concerning — and quite frankly, shocking — second-half performance for this defense.

Tyler Shough of the New Orleans Saints passes the ball as Sam LaPorta of the Detroit Lions tries to pull him down during the first half of the game at Ford Field on September 13, 2026 in Detroit

Tyler Shough finished Sunday with a career-high 410 yards, three TD passes and two interceptions. (Mike Mulholland / Getty Images)

Tyler Shough, MVP candidate?

Yes, that is a Week 1 knee-jerk reaction. Ignore it, but don’t ignore what Shough did Sunday on the road. The second-quarter quarterback was fantastic in the second half and nearly pulled off the biggest stunner to open the NFL season.

But to appreciate what he did, you have to go back to the final four games of last season when the Saints won three of their final four games. His lines then:

• 24-20 win vs. Panthers: 24-32 for 272 yards, TD
• 29-6 win vs. Jets: 32-49 for 302 yards, TD
• 34-26 win at Titans: 22-27 for 333 yards, 2 TDs
• 19-17 loss at Falcons: 23-35 for 259 yards, TD, INT

He finished Sunday with a career-high 410 yards with three TD passes and two interceptions. After the Saints’ first two possessions of the second half ended in an interception and fumble, New Orleans scored on five of its final six possessions of the game — the only time it didn’t score was on Carlson’s 62-yard missed field goal at the end of regulation.

That included drives of 79 yards (TD), 54 yards (TD), 66 yards (FG), 75 yards (TD), 36 yards (missed FG) and 80 yards in overtime (TD).
The Saints weren’t popular picks to compete for the NFC South title, but with efforts like this from Shough and his receivers — Chris Olave had 10 receptions for 183 yards — it might be worth rethinking their spot in the division.