Heartbreaking : Detroit lions suspended from All sports because of Gambling……
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Lions opened the season by outlasting the Los Angeles Rams with a balanced offense, grinding out yards on the ground and going to the air for some pivotal plays just as they did in their NFC wild-card game.
David Montgomery’s 1-yard touchdown run in overtime lifted the Lions to a 26-20 win over the Matthew Stafford-led Rams on Sunday night.
“Early in the season, a lot of games come down to who makes the fewest mistakes,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “We made one less than they did.”
The Lions lost a two-touchdown lead in the third quarter, but extended the game with Jake Bates’ tying 32-yard field goal in the final minute of regulation.
Detroit won the coin flip and took advantage of having the ball, gaining at least 9 yards on its first four plays in overtime to set up Montgomery’s winning score.
The Rams were in a position to spoil Detroit’s season-opening party when Stafford threw a go-ahead, 9-yard touchdown pass to Cooper Kupp with 4:30 left in the fourth quarter.
They just couldn’t make enough plays on both sides of the ball to hold on for the win.
Los Angeles put up quite a fight despite losing Pro Bowl receiver Puka Nacua and two linemen on its banged-up line.
“I’m really proud of this group,” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “We had a lot of guys go down and a lot of people stepped up.
“We just came up short.”
The Lions had a 17-3 lead in the third quarter after Jared Goff threw a 52-yard touchdown pass to Jameson Williams.
“We had that double move worked out all week and he smoked them on it,” Goff said.
Detroit, though, lost the comfortable cushion because its former star quarterback picked them apart and its current one threw an interception early in the fourth.
John Johnson intercepted Goff’s pass over the middle at the Rams 20, taking away Detroit’s chance to kick a field goal and restore its seven-point lead.
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.‘’
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier