Matthew Stafford hits 40,000: 40 memorable moments (part II)

Stafford moments from the 2013 season

13. Audacious TD pass to Megatron vs Bengals (Oct. 20, 2013)

If there’s one play that perfectly sums up this stage of Stafford’s career, it has to be this audacious 50-yard launch early in the 4th quarter of the Bengals game. Trailing 24-17 with the ball at midfield, Stafford sent Calvin deep and bought just enough time to get the throw off.

Unfazed by both triple coverage on his otherworldly receiver and the Bengals defender who drilled him to the turf as he threw it, Stafford found Johnson for a inadvisable but breathtaking touchdown to tie the game.

14. The Fake Spike (Oct. 27, 2013)

Six years later, this last minute comeback still defies belief in a lot of ways. Turning it over on downs with 1:24 left in the game but somehow getting the ball back with a chance to win just 20 seconds later. 488 passing yards, Calvin Johnson on the receiving end of 329 of them (and I still maintain that he wasn’t fully healthy in this game). Driving the length of the field with no timeouts in under a minute, putting it at the 1-yard line with the final seconds still ticking away.

All of that just set the stage for the most dramatic heads-up play of all, one that caught the Cowboy defensive line flat-footed and hasn’t yet been duplicated in the NFL since. Screaming at his offensive line to get set so he could spike the ball, when the snap arrived, Stafford instead leapt over the top and reached the ball over the plane of the end zone before being pushed back.

After landing, he took off around the end and ran into the end zone for a second time just to be sure, while the Dallas defense still tried to figure out what was going on.

By the time he spiked to ball for real, the Lions were on their way to an improbable 31-30 win and an unforgettable addition to their captain’s growing collection of miracle comebacks.