By: Kipp Branch

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Former Brunswick High Pirate Darius Slay had quite a Thanksgiving as he led the first place Detroit Lions to another comeback victory over the Minnesota Vikings yesterday to keep the Lions moving towards a playoff berth.

The interception with 30 seconds left in the game set up a Matt Prater 38 yard field goal that gave the surging Lions its sixth win in last seven games.

This Lions team without Slay would probably have at least two more losses on the season as Slay’s late game heroics also sealed a win against the Eagles earlier this year. The season sweep over the Vikings now gives the Lions basically a two game lead in the NFC North Division.

Nothing I see out of Darius Slay ever surprises me. He is quite frankly the most gifted athlete I have ever seen walk the halls at Brunswick High School. His 4.3 speed and ball hawking skills make him a super athlete and well worth with the $50 million extension he signed before the season.

Coming off the hamstring injury that caused him to miss two games, Slay seemed to struggle a bit against the Jaguars last Sunday. He more than made up for that yesterday, as he continues to play a big role on a Lion defense that just rises to the occasion when it needs to.

He made a great play in the first quarter that forced an interception that was flagged for a bogus pass interference call, and just seemed to be on top of every snap that went in his direction. 

The Vikings appeared to pick up a third-down conversion with less than a minute left, but Cordarrele Patterson lined up illegally on the play. After the illegal formation penalty, Slay picked off Bradford, who the Vikings traded a first-round pick for right before the season started.

The Lions’ schedule isn’t easy the rest of the way. They still have road games left at the New Orleans Saints, New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys. But now they have a margin for error. They lead the Vikings by a game and have the tiebreaker. They have a two-and-a-half game lead over the third-place Green Bay Packers. It’s their division to lose now.

Since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, the Lions have just three division titles: 1983, 1991 and 1993. Slay’s big play yesterday keeps the Lions on track to win a division title for the first time in 23 years. Yes 23 years which happens to be Big Play Slay’s number. 

Nobody picked these Lions to be special this year. Heck, they have not won a championship in almost 60 years, but little did I know that a former BHS Pirate would be their lock down pro bowl type CB.

When Slay jumped that route yesterday I sprang to my feet and yelled “that’s a Pirate who made that play”.

Slay even gave a shout out to the Glynn Academy Red Terrors in his post game interview on the field just after the game. That is hometown pride from a home town hero.