The Detroit Lions won their most lopsided victory in a season opener since 1980 while Arizona edged San Diego thanks to two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
In the last two National Football League games of the regular season’s first week, the Lions ripped the New York Giants 35-14 while the Arizona Cardinals downed the Chargers 18-17.
Matthew Stafford threw for two touchdowns, both to Calvin Johnson, and ran for another to give coach Jim Caldwell a victory in his Lions debut.
“We played well,” Stafford said. “We didn’t punch the ball in the end zone from (within 20 yards) a couple of times, but our defense played well and gave us plenty of opportunities.”
Stafford completed 22-of-32 passes for 346 yards and connected with Johnson seven times for 164 yards, including first-quarter touchdown tosses of 16 and 67 yards.
“He is going to make plays for us like that all year long,” Stafford said.
Stafford, who also threw six passes for 93 yards to Golden Tate, scored on a 5-yard run in the third quarter and Joique Bell added a 3-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter for the Lions.
The Giants managed only 197 yards to Detroit’s 417 while New York quarterback Eli Manning was intercepted twice in the second half and managed only 163 yards on 18-of-33 passing.
At Arizona, Carson Palmer threw two fourth-quarter touchdowns to rally the hosts to victory.
San Diego’s Philip Rivers flipped a 6-yard touchdown pass to Malcolm Floyd and Ryan Matthews ran 20 yards for a touchdown to give San Diego a 17-6 edge entering the last quarter.
But Palmer connected on a 5-yard touchdown pass to Stepfan Taylor and a 13-yard touchdown pass to John Brown, the latter with 2:25 remaining to cap a 91-yard drive and give the Cardinals their margin of victory, Arizona twice missing two-point conversions but stopping the Chargers on downs on their final possession to secure the triumph.
Major injuries were revealed Monday with Indianapolis Colts star linebacker Robert Mathis out for the season after suffering a torn Achilles tendon during a workout last week.
Mathis, who led the NFL with 19 sacks last season, missed the Colts’ opening 31-24 loss to Denver while serving a four-game suspension for using performance-enhancing substances.
Houston Texans linebacker Jadeveon Clowney, the top pick in this year’s NFL Draft, underwent surgery for a torn meniscus in his right knee Monday and will miss the next four to six weeks.