Matthew Stafford

Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford orchestrated another comeback win for Detroit in Sunday's season opener.

(AP Photo)

INDIANAPOLIS -- Andrew Luck looked like he might have ripped out the Detroit Lions' heart with a go-ahead touchdown late in Sunday's season opener.

The Lions faced a 35-34 deficit, with only 37 seconds to work with and 80 yards of green in front of them. Tough spot, right?

Not when you have all three timeouts, and more critically, not when you have Matthew Stafford.

The Lions quarterback has put together some impressive comebacks in recent years, and teammates often remark about his steel in crunch time. And it was all on display again in a thrilling 39-35 comeback win Sunday in the season opener against the Indianapolis Colts.

It was the 21st fourth-quarter comeback of Stafford's career, and his 19th since 2011, which matches Tony Romo for the league lead.

"He was confident," receiver Golden Tate said. "After they scored, he was like, 'Hey, 37 seconds? With three timeouts? We got this.' We didn't need to score a touchdown, we just needed to get a few big chunk plays, and we were back in action."

Stafford didn't waste any time hitting some chunk plays. He found Theo Riddick for a 19-yard gain on the first play of the drive, then Eric Ebron for a 9-yarder and Marvin Jones for a 22-yarder. That's 50 yards in 25 seconds -- and suddenly, the Lions were already at Indy's 25-yard line.

After an incomplete pass, Matt Prater came on to boot the 43-yard winner with 8 seconds left.

"He's good man," tight end Eric Ebron said. "He keeps us all level. He keeps us all grounded. And we kind of all feed off each other, you know? But that's the ring leader, and we just all stick together."

Stafford finished 10 of 12 passing in the fourth quarter overall, for 109 yards and one touchdown, and twice led comebacks after the Colts tied or took the lead. He cited all that experience for helping him to maintain his cool under pressure.

"I think when you play quarterback long enough, you kind of see situations almost," Stafford said. "Not to say they get easier, but you kind of feel like you've been there before. Your guys, like I said, did a great job. If I drop back and nobody gets open, it doesn't help us. Our guys were getting open and making plays.

"I just knew we were confident going into that last drive."

Stafford finished 31 of 39 passing overall for 340 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. His passer rating was a red-hot 128.6, his fourth straight game above the 115 line. He's the first Lions quarterback since 1950 to do that.

He was great at spraying the ball around, too, finding five players for at least four completions. Marvin Jones led the way with 85 yards on four catches, while Theo Riddick added 63 yards on five catches and Ameer Abdullah had 57 yards on five catches.

Ebron, Riddick and Abdullah all caught touchdown passes.

"When he is in command and running things, he puts a lot of pressure on the defense and he doesn't give them much time," coach Jim Caldwell said. "He has been very, very accurate when (the targets) are a bit spread out. He spreads it around. I think you guys saw a little bit from him midseason on that (last year) --he was playing the way he is playing right now.

"This is one game, and we will get ready to play the next one."