Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford on Monday used accuracy and poise to pass for 254 yards and three touchdowns, leading the Lions to a 35-27 victory at fast-finishing New Orleans.
The Lions (5-9) raced to a 28-3 lead, but Drew Brees threw a pair of touchdown passes — one shortly after a Lions fumble — to help New Orleans (5-9) get to 28-20 with about 10 minutes left.
Brees passed for 341 yards and three touchdowns, becoming only the fourth quarterback to surpass 60,000 yards in a career, while also eclipsing the 4,000-yard mark for the 10th straight season.
Photo: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY
Brandin Cooks caught 10 passes for 124 yards and a touchdown for the Saints, who are to finish with consecutive seasons of more losses than wins for the first time since Sean Payton became head coach in 2006.
Golden Tate caught two touchdown passes for Detroit. The Lions’ last-ranked running game accounted for 150 yards and two touchdowns against New Orleans’ last-ranked run defense.
Stafford played nearly mistake-free, completing 22 of 25 passes without turning the ball over.
The Lions led 28-3 when Ameer Abdullah scored on a 15-yard run around the left end early in the third quarter.
New Orleans responded with Brees’ 27-yard touchdown pass to Cooks and closed the gap a little more with Kai Forbath’s short field goal after the Lions made a clutch stop on a third-and-goal from the 4-yard line.
However, Abdullah fumbled on Detroit’s next play from scrimmage, and the Saints capitalized on Brees’ 11-yard scoring strike to Marques Colston.
Yet, when Detroit looked ripe to self-destruct, the Lions put together a scoring drive that included Abdullah’s 27-yard run and Joique Bell’s short rushing touchdown.
Brees’ late touchdown pass to Ben Watson closed the gap with 1 minute, 55 seconds left, but New Orleans’ onside kick was recovered by Detroit star Calvin Johnson, and the Lions marched deep into Saints territory before Matt Prater missed a field goal with 9 seconds left.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite