Jared Goff passed for 277 yards and a touchdown as the Detroit Lions won their first postseason game in over 30 years, while the Green Bay Packers stunned the Dallas Cowboys on the road as wild-card weekend continued in the NFL on Sunday.
David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs rushed for touchdowns for the Lions in their 24-23 victory over the Los Angeles Rams in Detroit. Amon-Ra St. Brown caught seven passes for 110 yards for the Lions, whose last playoff win came on Jan. 5, 1992, against Dallas.
"It means a whole lot to this city, we knew what it meant when this season started, to get into the playoffs and then get this win," Goff said. "It's just the beginning for us, we've got some road left."
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford was playing in Detroit for the first time since the Lions traded him to Los Angeles — and got Goff as part of the deal — in March 2021. He passed for 367 yards and two touchdowns. Puka Nacua caught nine passes for 181 yards and a touchdown for the Rams (10-8). Running back Kyren Williams added 61 yards on 13 carries.
The Lions struck first in an explosive first half with Montgomery rushing in from one yard for a touchdown. Detroit, after a Rams field goal, opened up a 14-3 lead on Gibbs' 10-yard run later in the first quarter.
Stafford brought the Rams back into contention with a perfectly delivered 50-yard touchdown pass to Nacua.
Sam LaPorta collected a two-yard touchdown pass from Goff to restore the 11-point advantage for Detroit midway through the second quarter.
The Rams responded swiftly, with Stafford connecting with Tutu Atwell on a 38-yard touchdown.
The Lions extended their lead to 10 points with a 54-yard field goal from Michael Badgley, but two field goals from Brett Maher brought the Rams back within a point.
Detroit had the ball on its 17-yard line with 4:07 left in the game, and Goff made sure of the win with two first downs — the second coming via a well-worked 11-yard pass to St. Brown — that set off emotional celebrations among the Lions' long suffering fans.
In Dallas, the Packers, who punched their playoff ticket on the final day of the regular season with a 9-8 record, completely dominated the Cowboys before allowing two late touchdowns in a 48-32 victory.
Quarterback Jordan Love, who took over in Green Bay this season after the departure of Aaron Rodgers, threw for 272 yards and three touchdowns in his playoff debut.
Running back Aaron Jones ran for three touchdowns and finished with 118 yards to help the Packers advance to a clash with the top-seeded San Francisco 49ers.
"We came in here with the mindset that we were going to dominate," Love said. "A lot of people counted us out and we didn't care about that. We knew what an opportunity we had in front of us and made the most of it tonight."