Jim Schwartz pointed and himself and said, “that one is on me.” He took a few steps down the sideline and shook his head. It was all he could do. Midway through the third quarter with the Detroit Lions leading the Houston Texans by 10 points, Justin Forsett appeared to be tackled by a Lions defender for a short gain. The whistle never blew and Forsett kept on running all the way to the end zone. Ford Field erupted in anger as it appeared to be clear that Forsett was down. Schwartz was unable to keep his emotions in check and immediately threw his red challenge flag on the field. Replays showed Forsett’s left knee and elbow hit the turf near midfield, and the automatic review that accompanies all scoring plays probably would have taken the TD off the board. But NFL rules say that throwing the challenge flag on a scoring play negates the review — and is an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to boot. The touchdown stayed on the board and the Texans were on their way.
A few minutes after the Forsett touchdown, Shayne Graham made a 45 yard field goal to the the game at 24. In the fourth quarter the Lions and Texans traded touchdowns and regulation ended with the game tied at 31. In overtime, Graham and Lions kicker Jason Hanson both missed potential game winning field goals. Graham got a second chance and gave the Texans their second straight overtime victory with his successful 32 yard boot.
The loss was devastating for the Lions. They got the better of the play most of the day and got huge contributions from some of their best players. Matt Stafford was 31 of 61 for 441 passing yards and two touchdowns. Calvin Johnson and Ryan Broyles both had over 100 yards receiving with Johnson also scoring a touchdown. Joique Bell and Mikel Leshoure both had rushing touchdowns.
The Texans got a huge break when Schwartz threw his challenge flag and took advantage of their second chance. Matt Schaub passed for over 300 yards and had a touchdown pass. Andre Johnson was great for the second straight week catching 9 passes for 188 yards. Arian Forster rushed for just over 100 yards and had two touchdowns.
Next week, the Texans (10-1) will travel to Tennessee to play the Titans and the Lions (4-7) will host the Indianapolis Colts.
