NEW ORLEANS — Whew!

The Detroit Lions jumped out to a 21-0 lead early in the first quarter, but its leaky defense found a way to hold on for a 33-28 victory over the Saints on Sunday at the Caesars Superdome.

Jared Goff was 16-for-25 for 213 yards and two touchdowns, both early, and the Lions defense came up with two turnovers, scoring 14 points off of them. Amon-Ra St. Brown and Sam LaPorta had the TD receptions, as David Montgomery and Jameson Williams also had rushing scores.

The Lions improved to 9-3 and have a three-game lead in the NFC North Division race.

More to come on freep.com.

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions barely hold on after big lead to beat Saints, 33-28