Minnesota Vikings vs Detroit Lions Match Player Stats On Sep 08, 2013

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Sep 8, 2013

Lions 34, Vikings 24: Matthew Stafford threw a pair of touchdown passes and newly acquired Reggie Bush amassed 191 total yards in his first game with Detroit to lift the Lions to the NFC North Division win over visiting Minnesota.

Bush took a screen pass 77 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter as the Lions snapped the Vikings' four-game regular-season winning streak. Joique Bell scored a pair of short touchdowns for Detroit (1-0), including a third-quarter TD that gave the hosts the lead for good.

Vowing to break the NFL's single-season rushing mark, Minnesota's Adrian Peterson scored three times on the day and got off to a great start taking his first carry 78 yards for a touchdown. Peterson, who fell just eight yards short of the rushing mark held by Eric Dickerson last season, also scored on a 4-yard run in the second quarter but was otherwise held in check, gaining 93 yards on 18 carries for the Vikings (0-1).

The teams combined for 24 points in the third quarter. Bell gave the Lions a 20-14 lead early in the third, spinning into the end zone from a yard out. The score followed what looked like a touchdown run by Bush, but officials reviewed the play and ruled the former Dolphin down just short of the goal line.

Blair Walsh trimmed the deficit to 20-17 with a 52-yard field goal midway through the third quarter. Stafford (28-for-43, 357 yards) then connected with Bush on a 77-yard screen pass, but the Vikings answered right back as Peterson scored his third TD of the game on a shovel pass from Christian Ponder from 4 yards out.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Since joining the league in 2007, Peterson has 19 regular-season games with multiple rushing TDs. ... Lions WR Calvin Johnson, who set the NFL single-season record for receiving yards in 2012, caught only four passes for 37 yards. ...A roughing-the-passer penalty and a pass interference call kept Detroit's pivotal fourth-quarter drive alive. ... The Vikings were 2-for-10 on third-down conversions and Ponder was intercepted three times.