Matt Prater seals last-gasp Detroit Lions victory over Atlanta Falcons

The disappointment was tangible here as news filtered through that one of the NFL’s biggest stars, Calvin Johnson, had been ruled out of Sunday’s game between the Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons. But a capacity crowd would ultimately get to savour something far more satisfying: a genuinely competitive game.

Three of the last four London match-ups had been blow-outs, settled by a margin of 24 points or more. The expectation was for another such lopsided encounter between a Detroit team that had won five of its first seven games, and an Atlanta group who had won only twice over the same span.

Instead Wembley was treated to an all-American take on one of British football’s most cherished cliches. By recovering from a three-touchdown deficit to win 22-21, the Lions had triumphed in a classic game of two halves.

For the first two quarters Atlanta were in total control. “Rise up” read the words on the Falcons-branded flags distributed to every fan. Atlanta answered the call, scoring touchdowns on both of their opening two possessions. They had reached the end zone only twice in their previous two games combined.

The first score arrived on a seven-yard swing pass from quarterback Matt Ryan to running back Devonta Freeman. The second was a feather-soft flick to the tight end Bear Pascoe after a well-executed play-action fake from the one-yard line.

Missing their star receiver, Johnson – who has been out for three weeks now with a sprained ankle – and starting running back Reggie Bush, the Lions were initially unable to get anything going on offense. Their woes were compounded on the other side of the ball when Nick Fairley left with a knee injury in the second quarter. His legs had been pinned awkwardly underneath him when he collided with fellow defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, subjecting his joints to their combined weight of more than 600lb.

Detroit were already short-manned at the position, after sending Fairley’s back-up, CJ Mosley, home on the eve of this game for an undisclosed violation of team rules. Not that Ryan will have felt too much sympathy. The Falcons quarterback was himself playing behind a decimated offensive line, which has lost four starters to season-ending injuries.

The assortment of replacements struggled to protect him at times, but still got enough push to help Steven Jackson trundle into the end zone for a one-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter. He might not be as glamorous a name as Johnson, but the 31-year-old running back is an NFL treasure in his own right. At Wembley he became the 19th player to rush for more than 11,000 yards in a career.

How different things might have been, though, if Detroit had not seen an interception wiped out by offsetting penalties shortly before his touchdown. The cornerback Rashean Mathis had run the ball back more than 100 yards to Atlanta’s end zone, only to learn his efforts were for nought.

Instead it was not until the second half that Detroit began to display the qualities that have made them playoff contenders. A Matt Prater field goal was followed quickly by a 59-yard touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford to Golden Tate. Cassius Vaughn then picked off Ryan to set up another Prater kick.

Next came a five-yard touchdown pass from Stafford to the running back Theo Riddick. But the Lions’ game-tying two-point conversion attempt failed.

Unable to run the remaining time off the clock, Atlanta punted back to Detroit with 1min 46sec remaining. It was enough for Stafford to move the Lions into range for one last kick. Or, as it turned out, two. Prater’s initial attempt sailed wide right, only to be annulled by a delay-of-game penalty. He took full advantage of the reprieve, nailing the now 48-yarder through the uprights, as Wembley erupted in cheers and boos.

“Whoo – my heart’s still beating pretty fast,” said Tate when asked to re-live that conclusion more than half an hour after the game had ended. “Thankfully we had the football gods on our side. We would have loved to have had the first kick, without the delay of game, but it happened. We didn’t make the same mistake twice.”

To many it felt like an unjust conclusion. But certainly a thrilling one.