Notes: Tate, Fuller step up for Lions

DETROIT -- It was not all that surprising that the Lions' offense struggled early without Calvin Johnson, Eric Ebron and Joseph Fauria.

What was surprising is that their absence ended up not mattering, thanks to Golden Tate and Corey Fuller.

Trailing the New Orleans Saints, 23-10, with 5:17 left in the fourth quarter, Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford found Tate for a 73-yard touchdown, the second longest of Tate's career.

"He's been great, he's obviously stepped up," Stafford said. "That play he made on that long touchdown is as good of a play as I've seen in a long time."

After safety Glover Quin intercepted Saints quarterback Drew Brees with 3:10 left in the game, Stafford went back to work.

This time it was Fuller who caught a 5-yard touchdown in the back of the end zone with 1:48 to play.

"Coach Caldwell's always been preaching finish and that's all I wanted to do," Fuller said. "I just wait for my number to get called. It doesn't get called much. I'm just here to help in any way I can. Matt threw a great ball, the line blocked perfectly and all I had to do was come down with it. I had the easy job."

It was Fuller's first career touchdown reception.

Stafford said the Saints were doubling Tate on the play.

"He had done such a great job all game, they were putting a little double team on him down there, a little bracket," Stafford said. "Corey had to go outside and beat a corner. He was just kind of trailing on the baseline, saw the double team on Golden and put a ball where I thought Corey could go up and get it and get both feet down. It was a great catch. What a first touchdown catch if you're him. It's pretty awesome. I was really happy for him."

Matt Prater's extra point gave the Lions the 24-23 lead.

People might have expected Tate, a Super Bowl champion last season with the Seattle Seahawks, to emerge without Johnson and Tate did not disappoint.

Tate had 10 receptions for 154 yards, both career highs.

"We had such a great camp and coaches did a great job helping us all get reps," Tate said. "We strongly believe in next man up so guys just have to step up. Everyone made this team for a reason. When our number's called, we have to show up and make the plays that we're supposed to make. We don't have to do anything spectacular like Calvin, but we just gotta play fundamentally sound ball and I think we were prepared."

Fuller was prepared for just about anything.

He finished with three receptions for 44 yards, including the game-winning score.

"Same thing since camp, my confidence has been pretty high," Fuller said. "In the season, I'm just trying to help out any way I can, help other guys get open, things like that. It definitely boosted my confidence, makes me feel a little bit calmer out there on the field."

Linebacker DeAndre Levy said he's enjoyed watching Fuller progress since camp.

"We're always trying to find the next guy up," Levy said. "Corey Fuller, he's had a great camp, he's been good for us all year. I'm excited to see him continue to make plays the way he has for us."

Fuller said Johnson has been there to help him even when Johnson couldn't play.

"Even last week, every time I came off the field, either Calvin was coming to me or I was going to him, just asking him different things or he would ask me little things like what did I see," Fuller said. "It just helped me slow the game down a little bit so it helped me a lot."

Despite his impressive day, Fuller downplayed his contributions.

"Honestly, I wouldn't even consider myself a big factor," Fuller said. "I gotta give glory to the rest of the team. Golden, Matt, the whole nine, the defense in general, they've been playing the whole year. 

""I just want to help the team any way that I can, whether that's blocking the whole game and I don't get zero receptions. If I can help the team, I'm down for it."

DON'T LEAVE!

When Stafford threw a pass that tight end Jordan Thompson, just called up from the practice squad, couldn't corral and ended up tipping to Saints safety Kenny Vaccaro, leading to a field goal, some fans had seen enough.

They were probably thinking, "Same old Lions," and didn't think the team could come back from the 23-19 deficit.

"The thing that you have to notice about this team is we never flinch," said Lions safety James Ihedigbo, who had eight tackles and a sack. "You're down two scores with five minutes left, people had the nerve to leave the stadium. You gotta understand the type of football team you have here, you never leave the stadium, never. Some people had the nerve to do that. We're gonna fight, we're always gonna fight. We're going to be resilient and we showed that today."

Defensive end George Johnson was a little more forgiving.

"One thing we know, people that leave, they're always welcome to come back," Johnson said. "We know our true fans are always going to stay there and be in their seats the whole game."

LOMBARDI'S SON CALLED IT

Offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi has six children, three boys and three girls. 

One of his sons had the utmost confidence in the Lions, even when they were down 23-10 with five minutes to play.

"The funny thing is and you can ask Joe Lombardi's son, he sat by me and this kid is maybe 10 years old and he said, 'This is what's going to happen, we're about to get a stop, score quick, our defense will get a stop, and we're going to win by one,'" Tate recalled. "And that's what happened. We just had it within us and at the end of the day, we just kept fighting. We had faith in the guys in this locker room and we just found a way."