Dallas 10
Detroit 15
| 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | Final | |
| Dallas | 0 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 10 |
| Detroit | 0 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 15 |
| Scoring | ||||
| 1ST QUARTER | ||||
NONE | ||||
| 2ND QUARTER | ||||
DAL - TD, EMMITT SMITH 2 YD RUN (JON HILBERT KICK), 1:32.
Drive: 8 plays, 59 yards in 4:57. Key plays:
Carter 6-yard pass to Harris on 3rd-and-4 to
Detroit 47; Carter 35-yard pass to Ismail on
3rd-and-5 to Detroit 7. DALLAS 7-0
DET - TD, DAVID SLOAN 20 YD PASS FROM TY DETMER
(TWO-POINT CONVERSION FAILED), 5:57. Drive: 8
plays, 80 yards in 4:25. Key plays: Detmer
16-yard pass to Morton on 3rd-and-2 to Detroit
44; Detmer 20-yard pass to Trejo to Dallas 36;
Detmer 10-yard pass to Morton to Dallas 20;
Detmer 6-of-7 for 74 yards. DALLAS 7-6 | ||||
| 3RD QUARTER | ||||
DET - FG, JASON HANSON 47 YD, 4:32. Drive: 9 plays, 55
yards in 4:32. Key plays: Detmer 27-yard pass
to Emanuel on 3rd-and-3 to midfield; Detmer
9-yard pass to Morton to Dallas 41; Detmer
4-for-6 for 46 yards. DETROIT 9-7 | ||||
| 4TH QUARTER | ||||
DAL - FG, JON HILBERT 33 YD, 0:05. Drive: 8 plays, 54
yards in 4:05. Key plays: Smith 13-yard run to
Dallas 44; Carter 22-yard pass to Galloway to
Detroit 34; Hambrick 7-yard run to Detroit 16.
DALLAS 10-9
DET - TD, JOHNNIE MORTON 16 YD PASS FROM TY DETMER
(TWO-POINT CONVERSION FAILED), 9:23. Drive: 6
plays, 66 yards in 3:31. Key plays: Schlesinger
20-yard run to Dallas 46; Cason 19-yard run to
Dallas 27; Schlesinger 2-yard run on 3rd-and-1
to Dallas 16. DETROIT 15-10 | ||||
PLAYER STATISTICS
| PASSING | DAL Att-Cmp-Yds TD Int Quincy Carter 26 11 158 0 1 |
DET Att-Cmp-Yds TD Int Ty Detmer 40 24 242 2 0 |
| RUSHING | DAL Att Yards Emmitt Smith 18 77 Quincy Carter 4 15 Troy Hambrick 2 9 Michael Wiley 3 5 |
DET Att Yards James Stewart 13 69 Cory Schlesinger 5 26 Aveion Cason 5 19 Johnnie Morton 1 6 Lamont Warren 1 5 Ty Detmer 4 4 |
| RECEIVING | DAL Att Yards Raghib Ismail 4 71 Joey Galloway 3 58 Jackie Harris 3 18 Troy Hambrick 1 11 |
DET Att Yards Johnnie Morton 8 86 Bert Emanuel 2 33 Aveion Cason 4 32 David Sloan 3 28 Lamont Warren 3 25 Stephen Trejo 1 20 Cory Schlesinger 2 17 James Stewart 1 1 |
DAL tackles-assists-sacks (unofficial) DET tackles-assists-sacks (unofficial) Missed field goals: Detroit (Jason Hanson 51, 51).
Interceptions Fumbles lost Opponent's fumbles recovered Officials A: 77,512; T: 2:59.
Dexter Coakley 7-1-0,
Dat Nguyen 6-1-0,
Darren Woodson 6-1-0,
Pat Dennis 4-1-0,
George Teague 3-2-0,
Mario Edwards 3-0-0,
Peppi Zellner 2-0-0,
Greg Ellis 2-0-0,
Jamal Brooks 2-1-0,
Dwayne Hawthorne 2-3-0,
Markus Steele 1-0-0,
Demetric Evans 1-1-0,
Izell Reese 1-0-0,
Michael Myers 1-1-0,
Orantes Grant 1-1-0,
Tony Dixon 0-0-0,
Randall Williams 0-0-0.
Shaun Rogers 7-2-0,
Brian Williams 5-2-0,
Tracy Scroggins 4-2-0,
Marty Carter 3-2-0,
Todd Lyght 3-0-0,
Allen Aldridge 2-0-0,
Luther Elliss 1-1-0,
B.Westbrook 1-1-0,
Chris Claiborne 1-2-0,
Jimmy Wyrick 1-0-0,
Kelvin Pritchett 1-0-0,
Chidi Iwuoma 1-0-0,
Ray Mcelroy 0-0-0,
Travis Kirschke 0-1-0,
Clint Kriewaldt 0-1-0,
Brock Olivo 0-0-0,
Scott Kowalkowski 0-0-0.
Detroit (Marty Carter 1 for 0 yards).
None.
None.
Referee-Larry Nemmers, Umpire-Chad Brown, Head
linesman-Dale Williams, Line judge-Mike Spanier, Field judge-Al Jury,
Side judge-Carl Cheffers, Back judge-Don Dorkowski.
TEAM STATISTICS DAL DET
FIRST DOWNS 12 20
Rushing 5 6
Passing 7 13
Penalty 0 1
3RD-DOWN EFFICIENCY 4-13 7-15
4TH-DOWN EFFICIENCY 0-1 0-0
TOTAL NET YARDS 264 366
Total plays 53 68
Average gain 5.0 5.4
NET YARDS RUSHING 106 124
Rushes 27 28
Average per rush 3.9 4.4
NET YARDS PASSING 158 242
Completed-attempted 11-26 24-40
Yards per pass 6.1 6.1
Sacked-yards lost 0-0 0-0
Had intercepted 1 0
PUNTS-AVERAGE 6-40.3 5-39.8
RETURN YARDAGE 63 49
Punts-returns 2-9 4-23
Kickoffs-returns 2-54 2-26
Interceptions-returns 0-0 1-0
PENALTIES-YARDS 9-99 1-5
FUMBLES-LOST 0-0 0-0
TIME OF POSSESSION 26:30 33:30
Emmitt Smith set an NFL record for consecutive 1,000-yard seasons in Barry Sanders' former house, but the Detroit Lions closed the Pontiac Silverdome with a victory.
Ty Detmer hit Johnnie Morton with a 16-yard touchdown pass with 5:37 left in the fourth quarter to lift the Lions to a 15-10 win over the Dallas Cowboys.
The Lions (2-14), who will be moving to their new downtown stadium, Ford Field, in August, thrilled the sellout crowd with a come-from-behind win in their final game at the Silverdome, their home since 1975.
"It's important that the last memory is a victory," Morton said of the final game here.
Smith provided the fans with a piece of history, rushing for 77 yards on 18 carries to surpass 1,000 yards for the 11th consecutive season. He and former Lions great Sanders shared the record with 10 straight 1,000-yard seasons.
"I wanted to be a consistent back for a long period of time and I think having 1,000 yards over 11 consecutive years has put me in that category," Smith said.
"Emmitt got his 1,000 yards and that's something to be proud of, especially since he missed two games (due to injuries)," Cowboys coach Dave Campo said.
Needing 56 yards to reach 1,0000, Smith rushed for 45 by halftime. With under four minutes left in the third quarter, Smith took a pitch left and ran behind Pro Bowl guard Larry Allen for a 13-yard gain to pass 1,000 yards.
"The line made a great block. I had plenty of room," Smith said of his 13-yard run which pushed him over 1,000.
Smith, who opened the scoring with a two-yard touchdown run 1:32 into the second quarter, rushed for 1,021 yards on 261 carries this season.
Finishing off his 12th season with the Cowboys, the 32-year-old Smith has 16,187 yards. Sanders rushed for 15,269 yards in 10 years with the Detroit Lions.
Walter Payton is the NFL's all-time leading rusher with 16,726 yards in 13 years with the Chicago Bears.
With just two wins under rookie coach Marty Mornhinweg, the Lions will have the third overall pick in the 2002 draft behind expansion Houston and Carolina.
"We went through four or five seasons of adversity this year," said Mornhinweg after his team split its final four games after a 2-12 start. "This team took the high road and stayed together."
Detroit's Ty Detmer, who entered the game with one touchdown and 10 interceptions, completed 24-of-40 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.
"This was huge for everybody," Detmer said. "We all went through a lot this year. The offensive line played great today."
With a minus-17 turnover ratio, the Lions did not commit a turnover.
"That's how you win a football game, no turnovers, no sacks and one penalty, tough defense and a smart offense," Mornhinweg said.
The Cowboys finished 5-11 for the second straight year under Campo.
Jon Hilbert's 33-yard field goal five seconds into the fourth quarter gave the Cowboys a 10-9 lead.
But the Lions put together a six-play, 66-yard drive which featured runs of 20 yards by Cory Schlesinger and 19 yards by rookie Aveion Cason. Detmer capped it with the winning TD pass to Morton.
"(Tight end David) Sloan picked up the blitz, gave me the time so I could look for the No. 2 option which was Morton," Detmer said of the winning touchdown.
Sloan had a 20-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter and Morton finished with eight catches for 86 yards, giving him a career-high 1,154 yards.
The Lions finished their dismal season beating the Dallas Cowboys and by doing so, finished with the 2nd worse record in the NFL. In the last game ever played in the Silverdome, the Lions, suprisingly, had the will to win the game. Ty Detmer had a decent performance and didn't have any interceptions. He threw for two touchdowns, including the game winner to Johnnie Morton in the fourth quarter. James Stewart returned and gave the running game an added lift. The Lions outplayed the Cowboys most of the game, but were trailing because Hanson missed two field goals and had an extra point botched. The defense gave up a touchdown in the 2nd quarter and was strong for the majority of the game. The Lions will have the 3rd pick overall since Carolina finished at 1-15. Hopefully they'll use that pick to draft a player with speed, somthing this team definitely lacks right now.
Offense: --- B. Detmer had his best game as a Lions QB, although it will most likely be his last. He guided the Lions to a bunch of scoring drives and didn't look like the flop he was earlier this year. Believe it or not: Detmer wasn't sacked the entire game...the offensive line did a great job protecting him and opening up holes for the running game. The offense can only go up from here given all the injures they've endured this year. It'll be a battle between McMahon and Batch for the top spot next season, but the Lions must upgrade the running back position...hopefully, they'll draft someone early on, with speed...too bad they threw that 4th round pick out the window for Detmer. Johnnie Morton will most likely be resigned in the offseason since he seems to like playing here. Herman Moore is long gone...its ashame what happened to him, but he's just too injured to play into the Lions plans anymore. Germane Crowell will most likely be gone as well given he has not lived up to expectations and has been injury prone the past two years.
Defense: --- B+. The Defense had another strong game and held the Cowboys to only one touchdown. Shaun Rogers gets my vote for defensive rookie of the year as he once again lead the team in tackles. With the Cowboys driving to take the lead late in the game, the defense held strong as they stopped Dallas twice late in the fourth quarter after the offense took the lead. It'll help next year if this unit can stay healthy. Losing Stephen Boyd and Ron Rice for the vast majority of the year was a big blow, not to mention all the other playes that were out one time or another. If there was one glaring weakness to the defense its the lack of speed. If I were the Lions, I'd take a defensive player with their 3rd pick overall...someone with speed! I expect the "D" to be better next year, especially if they can stay healthy. Luther Elliss, who had a miserable season, hopefully will be healthy...he played the entire year at less than 100%. Todd Lyght needs to go...he did nothing to solidify his stay in Detroit...Bryant Westbrook also played poorly, but is still no where near full strength. All in all, it was a disasterous year for the defense after everyone thought they would carry the team.
Special Teams: --- C+. Hanson finished the season by missing two field goals and barely making a third. The botched extra point could have come back to haunt the Lions, but didn't. John Jett FINALLY was able to nail two punts within the 10 yard line, which helped give the offense great field position. Desmond Howard was a non factor for most of the season after getting injured a few months ago.
Coaching: --- B. Marty had his team ready to play, although I thought for sure he'd mail this game in. He mentioned that the Lions were 2-2 in his post game comments and they started off the new year with a win. He failed to mention the Lions tied for their worst year in franchise history and he is 12 games under .500 so far as coach. I expect Marty to make some moves this off season, and like I mentioned earlier, finding free agents and college players with speed.
Overall: --- D. Although the Lions finished with a win, they cost themselves a draft spot and will get the 3rd pick overall. On a positive note, they didn't finish with the worst record in the NFL. Its good to finally see this sorry season come to an end and now I can get excited for the new Ford Field. It should be very exciting given every Lions game will be sold out and they'll be playing in a state of the art faciltiy. The offseason is very important to how the 2002 Lions will do. They should not worry about the QB position since McMahon and Batch are worthy of leading the Lions, although not to the Superbowl. They must get a running back that has speed...James Stewart isn't fast enough and is too injury prone. The offensive line could use another player given Stockar McDougle looks like he'll be another 1st round bust. I wouldn't be surprised to see a new Wide Receiver come in...there is no way Millan will resign both Moore and Crowell...and frankly, I don't blame him. The defense must be upgraded. It would be nice to get a new cornerback given Fair and Westbrook haven't come close to living up to their draft day expections. Ron Rice remains a question mark...will he be healthy enough to come back? Same question can be asked of Schutz. Bottom line...I cannot see the honolulu blue and silver going through another year like this past one. Best case scenario would be .500 next season, but 5-11, 6-10 will be more realistic. Their 2002 schedule isn't all that tough (i'll have it posted later on), but there are just too many question marks with this team to see them do what the Bears did this year. I will update my Lions page in the offseaon if there is any big signings or departures.
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