OAKLAND, CALIF. – The Detroit Lions defense couldn't come up with the late stop the team needed on one end of the field. Matthew Stafford couldn't convert a fourth-down play at the other end.
It added up to another loss for the Lions, who are quickly falling out of contention in the NFC playoff race after a promising start to the season.
Matthew Stafford's pass to Logan Thomas from the 1 was broken up in the end zone with three seconds left Sunday, sending the Lions to their fourth loss in five games, 31-24 to the Oakland Raiders.
"We didn't convert, we didn't score, we didn't win the game," Stafford said. "You can look at it all you want. Had we scored there I wouldn't be fielding these questions. We just have to execute the play better and score."
Stafford did plenty of good things against the Raiders (4-4), but a few missed opportunities proved to be the difference.
There was a botched handoff to J.D. McKissic on the opening drive that denied Detroit (3-4-1) a scoring opportunity, an interception in the end zone in the second quarter when the Lions had a chance to take a two-score lead and then problems on both sides of the ball in the closing minutes after Stafford's 26-yard TD pass to McKissic tied the score with 5:16 to play.
The Raiders moved the ball 66 yards on the next four plays to get inside the 10 with help of two long passes to backup running back Jalen Richard.
Then after two stops by Detroit, Derek Carr managed to scramble on a third-down play and find Hunter Renfrow on a 9-yard TD pass with 2:04 remaining to give Oakland — playing at home for the first time in seven weeks — the lead.
