Lions, Cardinals win big in Monday Night openers

Matthew Stafford was at his best when improvising — and that alone may be a sign of improvement.

Stafford threw two early touchdown passes to Calvin Johnson, and Detroit beat the New York Giants 35-14 on Monday night in the first game of a Monday Night Football doubleheader. It was a bright start for the Lions and their quarterback after the team collapsed down the stretch in 2013 — in part because of Stafford’s turnovers.

“I don’t work on my moves a lot during practice, but I know I have to be better with my feet this year so that we can keep plays alive,” Stafford said. “On both of the touchdown passes to Calvin, the offensive line got me a lot of time, and he was able to uncover himself and find somewhere open.”

The Lions intercepted Eli Manning twice in their first Monday night opener since 1971. Stafford went 22 of 32 for 346 yards, and Johnson had seven catches for 164 yards.

Manning was 18 of 33 for 163 yards and a touchdown for the Giants, who started 0-6 last season and never led in their 2014 opener.

“No excuses. We played very poorly,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. “We don’t have a lot to be proud of here. Couldn’t move the ball, couldn’t stop them, turned the ball over, got into that business again. Got a punt blocked, so you name it. It was a nightmare performance.”

Stafford scrambled to his right and threw deep to Johnson on the game’s first drive, and defensive backs Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Stevie Brown appeared to collide. Nobody else on the Giants was anywhere near Detroit’s star receiver, who was able to jog into the end zone for a 67-yard touchdown.

Later in the first, Stafford scrambled to his left, and then threw back to his right. Johnson made a diving catch in the back of the end zone for a 16-yard TD and a 14-0 lead.

“When Matt breaks the pocket, I know I have to keep working, because he can put the ball anywhere on the field,” Johnson said. “We worked out together a lot during the offseason, and we did a lot of footwork drills. You can see that it is paying off for him. He’s making moves.”

Stafford’s two touchdown passes came on what looked like broken plays, and so did his 5-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. He scrambled up the middle on that one and cut to his left to avoid a potential tackler.

The Giants also missed the playoffs last season, thanks mostly to that terrible start. They were eager to begin on a better note against the Lions, but barely five minutes into the game, defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul went down with a neck injury. He was able to walk off the field, but he was taken in for X-rays.

Pierre-Paul was back in the game in the second quarter.

In the second game, John Brown caught a 13-yard scoring pass from Carson Palmer with 2:25 to play, and the Arizona Cardinals rallied to beat the San Diego Chargers 18-17 on Monday night.

Brown took the short toss in the flat and eluded tacklers into the end zone, capping an 11-play, 91-yard drive.

Arizona trailed 17-6 after three quarters.

Jerry Attaochu blocked a punt and forced a fumble, setting up 10 Chargers points.

With his team trailing 6-3 at the half, San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers went 6 for 6 for 82 yards on a drive to open the second half. His six-yard pass to Malcom Floyd for the TD put the Chargers ahead 10-6.

After Attaochu forced Palmer’s fumble, Ryan Mathews ran 20 yards for a touchdown that made it 17-6.

The Cardinals finally got a touchdown on a 10-play, 64-yard drive. Palmer scrambled and then tossed five yards to Stepfan Taylor to cut the lead to 17-12 with 12:30 to play. The two-point conversion try failed.

After the ensuing kickoff, the Chargers appeared to be headed for at least a field goal, but the center snap bounced off of Rivers, and by the time he fell on the ball, San Diego was out of field-goal range.

The Cardinals took the punt at their 9-yard line with 6:50 to go and mounted the long scoring march.

Arizona rookie Chandler Catanzaro kicked field goals of 44 and 22 yards.

The Cardinals had a 211-108 advantage in yards in the first two quarters but led only 6-3 on Catanzaro’s 44-yarder as the half ended.

Jerraud Powers intercepted Rivers’ pass at the Arizona 44 with 16 seconds left in the half. Palmer threw five yards to Andre Ellington, then 2 yards to Ted Ginn Jr. to set up the kick.

Arizona scored first on Catanzaro’s 22-yard field goal with 12:42 left in the first half.

San Diego’s lone first-half score came after Drew Butler’s punt was blocked by Attaochu. Butler had been signed earlier Monday and took the place of regular punter Dave Zastudil, who was out with a groin injury.

Again, Arizona’s defense shut down the Chargers, and Nick Novak’s 36-yard field goal tied it 3-3 with six minutes to play.

The only big play of the first quarter was Palmer’s long pass that hit Michael Floyd in stride for a 63-yard gain to the Chargers 28. But two plays later, Marcus Gilchrist wrestled the ball away from Andre Ellington.

The ball bounced downfield, where Arizona tackle Bobby Massie tried to pick up the ball rather than fall on it. Initially, officials ruled Massie had recovered, but Chargers coach Mike McCoy challenged and the call was reversed. Donald Butler recovered the ball for San Diego at the Chargers 28.

Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald caught one pass with 4:04 to play to keep alive his streak of at least one reception in 150 consecutive games.