Jeff Seidel

Detroit Free Press Columnist

You know when you come back from a vacation and go back to work and just can’t function?

That’s what the Lions’ offense looked like through the first three quarters Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Coming off a bye week, the Lions were flat and groggy, like they kept hitting the snooze button and wanted more sleep.

But, alas, they still found enough big plays, and they did just enough to come from behind again in a 26-19 victory, staying in first place in the NFC North.

They won because their special teams did something special, as Andre Roberts returned a punt for a touchdown.

They won because their defense made open-field tackles, had five quarterback hits, forced a fumble and grabbed two interceptions, returning one for a touchdown.

“Our defense played their tails off,” tight end Eric Ebron said. “We (the offense) couldn’t piss a drop, man.”

Which, perfectly, if not colorfully, summed up this game.

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Still, at the start of the fourth quarter, the Lions were behind. Again. What’s new, right? Just like in every other game this season. This bad Jaguars team held a 19-16 lead over the first-place Lions, and when the fourth quarter started, it was like the Lions’ offense said: “OK, it’s time to wake up and go to work.”

“I guess when you start putting the heat on us, man, we start playing better,” said Ebron, who caught a 61-yard pass to get the Lions into scoring territory, setting up the go-ahead TD.

That’s when the Lions went to their standby, giving the ball to Ebron on a jet sweep.

Say what?

OK. Maybe, it wasn’t exactly a jet sweep, but he went in motion, took the handoff and scored his first rushing touchdown of his career on a play the Lions stole from the New Orleans Saints. The Lions had practiced it all week, and Ebron actually was dreading it. “I was just happy to get that play over with,” Ebron said.

A win is a win, of course.

Even if this was a whole bunch of ugly.

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It was mind-boggling. The Lions had two weeks to prepare for this game. But they weren’t sharp. They missed an extra point, muffed a punt, fumbled all over the field and couldn’t run the ball.

“We were three and out on offense the whole first half,” Ebron said. “I know I had a drop on a play I could have made. I didn’t do anything in the first half to help my team.”

The Lions had 3 yards rushing in the first half. Seriously. Three yards. You can slip on a banana peel, fall forward and get 3 yards.

But the Lions got a spark out of Andre Roberts, who had muffed a punt earlier.

“I’m just happy for Andre,” Ebron said. “He really stepped up huge. We all make mistakes. We are all human. He knew what he did. He just pretty much told us all, ‘I got you all.’

“And he put the whole team on his back on that punt return and made a hell of a play.”

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Roberts caught the ball on the punt — no, I didn’t think it was a fair catch — and he started out to his right. But then he stopped and put on the brakes. He went to his left and found the hole, like he was flying through an icy tunnel. He flew across the field, picked up a block at the end and scored a touchdown as the Lions took a 6-3 lead.

“I don’t know if that guy ended up touching me, but I felt untouched the whole time,” Roberts said. “Credit the punt return team for doing a great job blocking.”

That kept them close for another fourth-quarter comeback.

In the end, the Lions won a game they had to win.

And now, they have to get ready for the Vikings on Thanksgiving.

“We all got to take care of our bodies,” Ebron said. “This was a hard-fought game. ... We gotta get ready for Thursday.”

Even though this game was far from a gem, the Lions pulled it out.

And everything is still right there for the Lions.

Beat the Vikings on Thanksgiving, and it could fall into place perfectly.

Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @seideljeff. To read his recent columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel/.