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Matthew Stafford completed 31 of 61 passes for 441 yards and two touchdowns. Calvin Johnson had eight catches for 140 yards, while rookie Ryan Broyles (six catches for 126 yards) had a career day and Mike Thomas had a 5-yard touchdown filling in for Titus Young.
"I would not say this was because Titus wasn't there," Broyles said. "It's more that we got man coverage this game. That was unusual. We usually don't get that. It's something we've been asking for all year and we made the best of it — though not as much as we needed to."
It also didn't hurt that the Texans' best cornerback, Jonathan Joseph, was out with a hamstring injury.
Still, there were fewer miscommunications and distractions in this one. Young was sent home earlier this week — a paid leave — after his temperamental and disruptive outbursts against the Packers.
"I'm not saying it was due to (Young) being out," Johnson said. "But it was nice to see some new playmakers in there making plays. We are going to keep progressing with these new guys in our receiver group."
According to McCosky, it doesn't sound like Johnson was expecting Young back any time soon. When asked if he thought Broyles and Thomas would stay in the rotation, Johnson said, "Yeah, no doubt."
Broyles wasn't all pleased with his day. Although he made several key plays — not the least was a 40-yard catch in overtime on an ad-libbed route — he was kicking himself for a couple he dropped.
"I left some plays out there," said Broyles, the team's second-round pick. "Just uncharacteristic; dropped balls, dropped a touchdown pass. The negative stuff sticks out to me right now. I have to clean that stuff up."
The dropped touchdown came on the first possession, but the Lions ended up punching it in on 2-yard run by Mikel Leshoure.
A more costly drop came in overtime, a third-down drop that would have given the Lions a first down in field goal range.
"Just left plays out there, plain and simple," Broyles told McCosky. "I have to be a professional about it; got to come back and work hard. ..."
Also worth noting: With his first catch Thursday, Johnson went past the 7,000-yard mark in just 87 career games. He is the second player in Lions history to reach 7,000 and he did it in two fewer games than Herman Moore.
He joins four other players — Lance Alworth (72), Torry Holt (82), Randy Moss (83) and Jerry Rice (83) — to get to 7,000 yards in 87 games or less.
According to McCosky, Stafford also reached a couple of milestones. He passed the 11,000-yard mark for his career. Only Kurt Warner surpassed 11,000 yards in 40 games or less. His 441 yards is third most in a single game by a Lions quarterback, and the most ever thrown on Thanksgiving.