National Football League

Lions rally to stun Raiders 28-27

Published Dec. 19, 2011 3:34 a.m. ET

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Calvin Johnson had been mostly taken out of the Detroit Lions' offense the past five weeks by opposing defenses. Ndamukong Suh took himself out of the past two games when he blew his cool and got a two-game suspension.

Detroit's two brightest stars showed up in the biggest moments in a victory that put the Lions on the brink of their first playoff berth in more than a decade.

Johnson caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford with 39 seconds left to cap a 98-yard drive, and Suh blocked Sebastian Janikowski's 65-yard field-goal attempt on the final play of Detroit's 28-27 victory over the Oakland Raiders on Sunday.

''I'd rather be on the football field helping my team than not be on the football team and watching them,'' said Suh, who sat out two games for stepping on Green Bay offensive lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith' right arm during a loss on Thanksgiving.

''I'm just happy proud of the way everybody's handling it in the locker room, and now I'm back to being a true part of it and not have to sit on the sidelines.''

The Lions (9-5) are happy too, knowing they need to win just one of their final two games to make the playoffs for the first time since 1999. They host San Diego on Saturday with a chance to do it at home.

''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.''

It seemed like an unlikely one when Aaron Curry returned Stafford's fumble 6 yards for a touchdown to give the Raiders (7-7) a 27-14 lead with 7:47 to go.

But Stafford engineered two long scoring drives in the final minutes to give the Lions their first lead of the game. He threw a 3-yard TD pass to Titus Young with 4:59 to go and then played his best on the final drive.

The Lions took over at their 2 with 2:14 to play and no timeouts. Stafford and Johnson connected on a 21-yarder and a 48-yarder on the winning drive.

Stafford completed 29 of 52 passes for 391 yards and four touchdowns. He completed nine for 214 yards to Johnson, who ended a five-game drought with no 100-yard receiving games and only one 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.''

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 4 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.

''It's not often that you sit on the sideline fretting a 65-yard attempt. But, obviously, we were because he has an outstanding leg and he's made long ones before,'' coach Jim Schwartz said. ''It probably means something a little bit extra for Ndamukong. Good to have him back and have him on the field. Anytime that you're getting your hands on the field goal and there's zero-zero on the clock, that's obviously a difference-making play.''

It could also be the difference in the Raiders' season as they have now lost three straight games and will need help to end their eight-year playoff drought. Oakland trails Denver by one 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.''

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

But Palmer also missed Chaz Schilens on a third-down pass just before the 2-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.''

Notes: Lions K Jason Hanson became the first player to reach 2,000 points with one team. ... Johnson's 214 yards receiving are the second most ever by a Detroit player, trailing Richard Johnson's 248 vs. New Orleans in 1989. ... It was the second most ever against the Raiders, trailing Don Maynard's 228 for the Jets in the Heidi Game in 1968.