DETROIT -- Even before the ball reached him, Lions cornerback Darius Slay knew that Carson Wentz had made his first costly NFL mistake.
"I was surprised he even threw that," Slay said of Wentz's first NFL interception, which helped the Lions to a 24-23 win over the previously undefeated Philadelphia Eagles.
"I was in great position, so I'm like, 'OK.' But then I looked in the air and I said, 'Oh, the ball is coming for real. He's really throwing this. Oh well, it's time for his first career pick.' I was like, 'Oh, this is me right here, for sure.' He's a talented guy, man. I was kind of surprised."
After a Matt Prater go-ahead field goal, the Eagles got the ball back on their own 25-yard line with 1:28 remaining. The Eagles had no timeouts, but trailing by just a point, had time to work themselves into field goal range. Instead, Wentz unleashed a long pass down the right side for wide receiver Nelson Agholor on first down that Slay hauled in to ice the game.
Before the interception, Wentz had thrown 134 passes without an interception, a short-lived NFL rookie record for pass attempts without throwing a pick that was broken later Sunday by Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.
Eagles coach Doug Pederson indicated afterward that Agholor was third on the progression for that play. Wentz, though, saw something in the defensive secondary out of the huddle and decided to take a shot.
"You always want to get the drive started on the right foot, especially in those situations, but the coverage kind of dictated that, and we didn't make the play, they made a great play, and that's how it worked," Wentz said.
"It was kind of an alert. He wasn't the first read, but it was kind of an alert, the way the safeties played. I went to him and they made the play, and not us."
Slay and Agholor fought for positioning, and it was Slay who ended up coming away with the ball, grabbing it just over Agholor's outstretched hand.
"I should have located it better," Agholor said. "Where it was positioned, I was trying my best to fade and locate it, but it put me in a poor position to where I couldn't defend it the way I would have, or come down with it offensively."
Overall, Wentz had another strong outing. He finished 25-of-33 for 238 yards with two touchdowns and the pick, and helped the Eagles come back from a 21-10 halftime deficit. Through four games, he's thrown for 1,007 yards with seven touchdowns and one interception.
"I didn't believe all the hype at first, but he's a very, very great decision [maker]," Slay said. "But right then I just made a better play."
Now 3-1, the Eagles look to regroup with a trip to Washington on deck.
"You never enjoy losing. That's just the way it is," Wentz said. "But it's the NFL. It's hard to win in this league. They played a great game. We've got to go back and watch the tape, clean up some of the mistakes -- like I mentioned, some of those things we can control ourselves -- and just go onto the next week."