INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Matthew Stafford took advantage of one last chance Sunday and Matt Prater redeemed himself with a 43-yard field goal with 8 seconds to give the Detroit Lions a 39-35 victory at Indianapolis.
Prater missed an extra point wide right with 4:04 left in the season opener, a miscue that nearly cost the Lions.
Detroit won for only the second time in Indy, and it came just 37 seconds after it looked like Andrew Luck had rallied the Colts for an improbable last-minute victory.
It just wasn’t enough to avoid Indy’s third straight opening day loss in a wild finish.
After Prater’s miss, Luck drove the Colts 75 yards and hooked up with Jack Doyle on a 6-yard TD pass with 37 seconds left. Adam Vinatieri’s extra point gave the Colts a 35-34 lead.
This time, Stafford connected with receivers who took advantage of their speed against Indy’s thin secondary. He quickly got the Lions into position for Prater to atone for the earlier miss.
Stafford was 31 of 39 for 340 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.
Indy was called for a safety on the final play of the game, for throwing an illegal forward pass in its end zone.
