DETROIT — Calvin Johnson thought Matthew Stafford was going to spike the ball for at least another snap.
The Dallas Cowboys did, too.
Stafford’s 1-yard lunge over a pile of linemen with 12 seconds left — and Johnson’s 329 receiving — lifted the Detroit Lions to a 31-30 win over Dallas on Sunday.
“I was yelling that I was going to spike the ball,” Stafford recalled. “But their linebackers were just standing there.”
The Cowboys weren’t just standing around letting Johnson make catch after catch, but he made them look helpless as he tied Hall of Famer Lance Alworth’s mark for 220-plus yards receiving in a game by doing it for a fifth time.
Johnson almost broke an NFL record, and could celebrate the feat because of a comeback from a 10-point, fourth-quarter deficit that some people who entered Ford Field didn’t see because they had left.
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“Even our fans didn’t think we could pull this one out,” he said. “They were leaving, but we knew we could do it.”
Johnson’s total trails only the 336 yards receiving Flipper Anderson had for the Los Angeles Rams against New Orleans on Nov. 26, 1989 in a game that went into overtime. Anderson had 296 yards receiving in regulation.
The Cowboys dared Detroit to throw to Johnson with a lot of one-on-one coverage.
Johnson noticed.
“It was crazy,” he said. “We had a lot of one-on-one coverage today, and we were able to take advantage and hit some deep balls. Matt made some great throws to me.”
The Lions (5-3) overcame four turnovers without forcing a turnover, becoming the first team to do that and win since New England did against Miami in 2007, according to STATS.
Dallas (4-4) seemed to set itself up to win three straight for the first time this year to build a bigger lead atop the NFC East when Tony Romo threw his second touchdown — and third of the game — to Dez Bryant with 6:45 left to take 27-17 lead.
The Cowboys, though, allowed Reggie Bush to cap an 80-yard drive with a 1-yard TD with 3:33 left to make it 27-24.
They also had to settle for Dan Bailey’s third field goal with 1:02 left to make it 30-24.
Stafford threw for 488 yards in a game that Dallas led 13-7 heading into the wild fourth quarter.
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