ALLEN PARK -- The Eagles had just scored a touchdown to trim their deficit to three points. They were 4 yards from forcing a three-and-out that would give them the ball right back. The crowd, sensing a possible turn in momentum, came to life.

It was a huge play.

And Jim Schwartz came right at Matthew Stafford with the blitz.

It worked, too. Eagles safety Andrew Sendejo lined up near the left tackle, then looped around at the snap and shot unblocked through the center of the line. He nearly beat Stafford to his dropback point.

So Stafford floated a sort of side-arm changeup more than 20 yards downfield. It hung in the air, and hung, and hung some more -- and then receiver Marvin Jones ran under it, plucked the ball out of the air and turned upfield for a 27-yard gain. That kept Philly’s surging offense off the field, and Jones proceeded to catch a 12-yard touchdown pass that gave Detroit the cushion it needed to hold off the Eagles 27-24.

“(Sendejo) was completely unblocked,” Lions coach Matt Patricia said. “I think you could just see (Stafford’s) poise in that situation. He was really calm and knew that the route was coming and knew he had to kind of get the ball a little bit of time for Marvin to run underneath it and make the play. That was a really great throw. Great under pressure, kind of really calm, trust it and put it out there and he made a great play.”

True, it was a great play. But it wasn’t the only one for Stafford.

The Eagles don’t blitz much under Schwartz -- just 20 times on 95 dropbacks the first two weeks of the season -- but he came after Stafford eight times on 33 dropbacks Sunday. And Stafford parried the pressure with aplomb, completing 5 of 8 passes for 81 yards. His completion percentage against the blitz (62.5) was actually higher than his completion percentage when he wasn’t blitzed (54.2). He averaged twice as many yards per attempt (10.1 to 5.0), and his QB rating was twice as high (135.9 to 68.1).

Blitzes do leave the secondary more vulnerable, but the pressure they create are supposed to force the quarterback into making mistakes. Stafford didn’t really make any, though -- certainly not any that were costly anyway -- taking zero sacks and throwing zero interceptions. And he was twice as productive every time he threw the ball.

If it seems like he likes to face the blitz, well, you read his mind.

“Yeah, I do,” Stafford said, grinning.

He also threw his only touchdown pass against the blitz on the first play of the fourth quarter. Philly sent seven against a six-man protection, but the Lions did a good job handling it despite the numbers. Stafford had enough time to let the play develop, then feathered another timing pass to the corner of the end zone just before the blitz hit him.

Jones ran under it and dove for a 12-yard score that ultimately put the game out of reach.

“Actually the protection is outstanding on that one,” Patricia said. “They kind of moved the entire blitz off to the side and really there was a great lane. It was tight coverage. They were kind of running a particular route there where you’re looking for a downfield mesh and once that came clean, (Stafford) just put that out in front and Marvin made a really good catch.”

Patricia said Stafford worked against similar pressures in practice, which helped prepare him for the live thing. Of course, there’s no contact on the quarterback in practice either, so a lot of Stafford’s ability to feast with, say, a free safety barreling down on him unblocked -- that’s just experience and arm talent.

“A lot of it is natural ability,” Patricia said. "We do try to give those pressure looks as much as we can. Sometimes in practice we’ll have free runners that are coming through the middle and he’ll just play it just like a normal situation. Whether he has to slide in the pocket and try to get around or make a throw up over the top or around. Whether he has to get the ball out in time before the guy can go by him.

"We obviously don’t want anyone going near the quarterbacks in those situations. We kind of play it in that situation where if he was going to get hit, then this is the timing of the play. We just try to keep it as realistic as possible, obviously without the contact part of it.”

Whatever they’re doing seems to be working. Stafford has completed 25 of 37 passes when blitzed this year. He’s averaged 8.3 yards per attempt, thrown two touchdowns and no interceptions, and has a QB rating of 110.9.

On 40 dropbacks against the blitz, Stafford has been sacked just one time. Some of that is the credit of the protection holding up, and some of it Stafford’s ability to get rid of the ball quickly or to move away from where the pressure’s coming in.

He’s been sacked just three times overall this season, and not at all the last two weeks.

“It’s awesome,” Stafford said. “I know those guys take a bunch of pride in it. It’s really everybody. Receivers getting open on time, running backs picking up blitzes, tight ends blocking in the pass game, and guys up front just being tough and resilient. I think they do a great job of allowing me to move around throughout the game. I’m not just sitting in the backfield the whole game, and I’m in some different spots. But when I need to sit back there and drop back for a pass on third-and-long, those guys are doing a great job of keeping me clean and it’s making a difference for us.”