Getty Kenny Golladay celebrates after a touchdown.
The Detroit Lions needed to put away the New York Giants, so they turned to a trick play in their playbook in order to do so.
In the fourth quarter, only up by four points, Detroit dialed up a double pass, with running back Ty Johnson tossing the ball back to Matthew Stafford. Stafford then caught the pass, firing it to Kenny Golladay, who hauled in the touchdown pass which stunned the Giants.
Detroit ended up needing the huge play in order to beat the Giants, who were very game and nearly ended up pulling out the game. Detroit ended up pulling out the 31-26 win thanks in part to this huge catch by Golladay, and an earlier big play which Golladay made.
There are few things as beautiful as a perfectly executed double pass, and the Lions managed to not only pull it off, but get a touchdown and net a big play as a result.
Big Afternoon
Golladay turned in plenty of big plays on the afternoon in scoring two touchdowns and gaining 123 yards. He did fumble the ball, but that hardly overshadowed what Golladay did for the Detroit offense in the second half. The Lions needed a big lift, and Golladay gave it to them with his second half explosion.
So far this season, Golladay has put up 385 yards and 4 touchdowns and continues to be a force for the Lions.
Playmaking Everywhere
Detroit wasted little time getting on the board in this game via the defensive touchdown. Ironically enough, a familiar face picked up a backward pass and rumbled all the way to the end zone for the Detroit score. Devon Kennard, a former member of the Giants, turned in the big play when Jarrad Davis stormed up the middle and blitzed Daniel Jones, who made a bad decision to try and throw the ball out of the backfield to his running back.
Instead of a big play for the Giants, the play went for a Detroit touchdown and an early 7-0 lead. Detroit would never relinquish that early lead in a wire-to-wire win.
Obviously, Kennard has to revel in the fact that he made this play against his former team. A few years back, Kennard elected to sign with Detroit in free agency, and he’s been another find by general manager Bob Quinn. So far in his Detroit career, Kennard has been a sack man for the team, putting up plenty in 2018 in his first season with the team. Kennard had never scored a touchdown in Detroit, so it was a nice feather in his cap in order to do so for the Lions, especially against New York.
Kennard is an aggressive player, so it was nice to see his instinct to score pay off. It was his first touchdown in a long time which was fun to see. Defensive players don’t usually get a chance to get in the end zone, and for Kennard to do it in this manner against his former team was certainly fun to see.
Detroit also got a deep score from Marvin Hall and found putting up yards and points easy against the Giants early on.
Obviously, the Lions like this deep ball the most given it helped power their win.