Dallas 07
Detroit 09
| FINAL | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final |
| Dallas | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| Detroit | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 9 |
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| Officials |
| Referee- Walt Coleman, Umpire- Jim Duke, Head linesman- Tom Johnson, Line judge- Ron Phares, Field judge- Greg Meyer, Side judge- Dave Wyant, Back judge- Ron Spitler |
| Attendance - Time |
| 61,789; 3:12 |
| Team Statistics | Dallas | Detroit |
| First downs | 17 | 8 |
| Rushing | 4 | 1 |
| Passing | 12 | 6 |
| Penalty | 1 | 1 |
| 3rd-Down Efficiency | 5-16 | 2-15 |
| 4th-Down Efficiency | 1-1 | 1-1 |
| Total Net Yards | 225 | 148 |
| Total Plays | 71 | 57 |
| Average Gains | 3.2 | 2.6 |
| Net Yards Rushing | 71 | 52 |
| Rushes | 27 | 23 |
| Average Per Rush | 2.6 | 2.3 |
| Net Yards Passing | 154 | 96 |
| Completed-Attempted | 22-39 | 14-33 |
| Yards Per Pass | 3.9 | 2.9 |
| Sacked-Yards Lost | 5-54 | 1-8 |
| Had Intercepted | 0 | 2 |
| Punts-Average | 10-41.4 | 9-46.1 |
| Return Yardage | 71 | 42 |
| Punts-Returns | 8-59 | 5-42 |
| Kickoffs-Returns | 3-56 | 2-48 |
| Interceptions-Returns | 2-12 | 0-0 |
| Penalties-Yards | 7-70 | 6-50 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 3-2 | 0-0 |
| Time Of Possession | 34:33 | 25:27 |
News: 11/04/02
There's a new three-win football team that's on the campaign stump, selling the message that they're vastly improved. "A 50 percent increase in victory production over last year in just half the games" is the pitch that's repeatedly punched. "Three straight home victories" is another theme believed to be popular with the numerous undecided voters. "A quarterback in your future" remains the most effective campaign slogan.
It wasn't too long ago that the Lions ran as far away as they could from last year's 2-14 catastrophe. But embracing the past has become politically expedient, especially when it's placed alongside their current 3-5 record, creating the impression that the wayward ship has found its rudder. It's November, and they're two games under .500, perched all alone in second place in the NFC North Division.
But before you cast your ballot, here's a message from the opposing candidate's camp:
"The Detroit Lions -- They Can't Be Trusted."
In a political context, the Lions' 9-7 win, courtesy of three Jason Hanson field goals, over Dallas was the worst negative ad imaginable, a three-hour assault to the football senses, attacking everything that's good and decent about good and decent football. A shower couldn't wash away the odoriferous residue of this punt-saturated, touchdown-deficient experience. This one requires a sandblaster. The greenness of the young quarterbacks was second only to the greenness of the 60,000-plus Ford Field faces at the stomach-twisting stalled drives.
This was the day the Lions were supposed to establish a worthwhile identity, an occasion when they were supposed to -- dare I say? -- dominate an opponent that's even weaker offensively than themselves. Instead, they stuttered and stumbled -- failing to cross the opponent's goal line for the fifth straight second half. Joey Harrington's struggles, though expected from a rookie, are nonetheless paralyzing an offense that's already limited on its best days.
"That is a game where it doesn't feel good," coach Marty Mornhinweg said. "I didn't feel good. The players didn't feel good. No one felt good. But we won the game. There will be no apologies for winning a game."
But there are no platitudes, either. These were two pathetic teams, and on those unfortunate moments when they share a field, it's the home team's chance to make a statement. This was the first time in 21 games that the Lions were favored, and most figured if there was ever the opportunity for a decisive performance, it was against the Cowboys' offense, ranked next to last in the league in scoring average.
"I'm going to give it to you straight," said Chris Claiborne, sounding like a politician. "We've got a lot of hard work remaining before we can call ourselves a good team. People might not want to hear that, but that's the way it is."
What? Bluntness? Honesty? Keep that up and you can forget about elective office, young man.
"Look, a win is important," Claiborne said, "but what's disappointing is that we made this much harder than it had to be. This was a home game. You're supposed to win at home. You don't pat yourself on the back for beating a team that's struggling some offensively when you get them at home.
"We had a chance to establish our niche and determine what kind of team that we want to be. When you get games like this, you want to try and get on them early and try to put them away. That's what good teams do. But we nearly let it get away from us. We needed a fourth-and-three play near the end of the fourth quarter to get the winning field goal."
The Lions' personality remains borderline schizophrenic, changing with the frequency of John Jett punts. It was the defense asserting itself against the bewildered Cowboys that mattered. And a bargain-basement-priced acquisition, linebacker Donte' Curry, made the biggest impact: two sacks among his eight tackles.
But you do believe the Lions are up to the challenge of containing Brett Favre next week?
Only the Lions can win and leave you thinking that things are getting worse. This was a chance to generate a little confidence, but even in victory, the Lions did nothing to quell fears that Mr. Hyde was just a short plane trip to Wisconsin away from re-emerging. Selling the message is hard when many people don't trust the messenger.
"Good teams win these types of games," Mornhinweg said. "There are a few things about that. We have a three-game winning streak at home, and that is something we have talked about. When your defense plays that well, you better win the football game. That almost felt like a road game."
Except that the Lions won.
The Detroit Lions aren't a great team by any means, but at home they've been good enough to already surpass last year's victory total.
Jason Hanson kicked his third field goal from 43 yards out with 48 seconds left to help the Lions defeat the Dallas Cowboys 9-7 Sunday.
"We've got three-game winning streak at home, and that's a big statement these players have made," Detroit coach Mary Mornhinweg said.
The Lions (3-5) have lost all 12 of the road games they've played under Mornhinweg, but at Ford Field, they've beaten New Orleans, Chicago and now the Cowboys (3-6).
Joey Harrington, Detroit's rookie quarterback, struggled for much of the game, but he completed his longest pass of the day -- a 13-yarder to James Stewart -- on fourth-and-3 from the Dallas 43 to keep the game-winning drive going.
Harrington completed 3 of 4 passes on the drive, which began on the Lions 37, and Stewart ran four times to set up the field goal.
"I don't want the game to come down to me -- we want to win by a touchdown or two -- but I always tell myself to be prepared," Hanson said.
The Lions started 0-12 last year and finished 2-14, the second-worst record in the league behind Carolina's 1-15 mark.
One week after breaking Walter Payton's NFL record for career rushing yardage, the Cowboys' Emmitt Smith ran for just 39 yards on 16 carries. Smith now has 16,782 yards over his 13-year career.
In a city still bitter about Barry Sanders' abrupt retirement three years ago, Smith was booed when he was introduced, and he heard a few "Bar-ry! Bar-ry!" chants, especially when he was stopped behind the line of scrimmage.
"Hey, I'm in Detroit," Smith said. "Anything less would be uncivilized."
Jason Hanson's three field goals were enough for the Lions to win. Sanders ran for 15,269 yards in just 10 seasons with the Lions and was one typical season away from breaking Payton's record. Smith said earlier this week that he'd still be chasing the rushing record if Sanders hadn't retired.
Troy Hambrick replaced Smith on third-and-short situations and got the only score for the Cowboys. Hambrick's 3-yard run put Dallas ahead 7-6 with 7:42 to play.
Dallas forced the Lions to punt on the next possession, but the Cowboys couldn't produce a first down, giving the Lions another chance.
With no timeouts and 48 seconds left, Dallas couldn't get past its own 38 on the final possession.
"You can call it ugly, you can call it whatever you want, but we won, we won, we won," said Harrington, who finished 14-of-33 for 104 yards with two interceptions, both by Derek Ross.
Chad Hutchinson, in his second start for the Cowboys, lost two of his three fumbles. He was 22-of-39 for 208 yards without a TD or an interception and was sacked five times.
"The game reminded me of one in 1989, when Troy Aikman was sacked 11 times but kept getting up and making throws," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. "I'm very proud and pleased with the way Chad played, and the toughness he showed."
Detroit linebacker Donte Curry forced Hutchinson to fumble twice in Dallas territory. The second time, Curry blew past Smith, and the fumble set up the first score of the game.
Hanson's 42-yard kick gave Detroit a 3-0 lead early in the third quarter. He kicked a 44-yarder on the Lions' next drive.
Hambrick's go-ahead TD capped a 12-play, 80-yard drive that took up 6:06. On third-and-9 from midfield, Hutchinson threw a perfect 30-yard fade pass to Joey Galloway along the sideline. Hambrick also ran for a first down on a third-and-1 from Detroit's 16.
Both teams struggled in the first half.
Detroit gained just 50 yards and was 1-for-8 on third downs. Dallas gained 113 yards and was 1-of-7 on third downs.
After Detroit went three-and-out on four straight drives, Curry forced Hutchinson's first fumble, and James Hall recovered it midway through the second quarter at the Dallas 32.
Two plays later, Ross intercepted a pass in the end zone that had Harrington forced into double-coverage. Ross' second interception came late in the third, when Harrington lobbed a pass to Scotty Anderson at midfield.
"You can't ask much more from your defense," Dallas coach Dave Campo said.
The Lions scrapped their way to their 3rd consecutive victory at Ford Field after pulling out a boring 9-7 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. Joey Harrington, who played by far his worst game thus far in his career, had two interceptions and only had 104 yards passing. To his credit, he setup Jason Hanson's winning field goal and connected with James Stewart on a 4th and 3. As bad as the offense was, the defense was the opposite. The "D" came up with five sacks, two turnovers which were created by LB Donte Curry that lead to three points. It was the first time all year the Defense held an opponent under 20 points. With one of the NFL's most reliable kickers, the Lions were in good shape when Hanson came in to attempt the game winning field goal. Although this game was torture to watch, the end result was a victory the Lions needed against a bad Cowboys team.
Offense: --- D. 148 total yards and 2 for 15 on 3rd down conversions will not win you many ball games. Fortunately for the Lions Offense they were able to pull out a win without scoring a single touchdown. Joey Harrington has regressed every week since peaking in the 1st half of the Saints game. Hopefully, this is just rookie growing pains. How sad is it that his longest pass of the day was a 13 yarder on 4th and 3 late in the game. James Stewart was unable to get any good rushes all game, but Dallas' run defense is one of the best in the NFL. The receiving core must do a better job than they have of late. Bill Schroeder led the Lions receivers with 3 catches for 23 yards. On a positive note, the offensive line only surrendered one sack and did a good job protecting Harrington. All in all, it was a torturous day watching the offense perform, but give them credit for setting up the game winning kick.
Defense: --- A-. The Defense is finally starting to live up to expectations! Once again, they created big plays by forcing two turnovers and sacking Cowboys QB Hutchinson five times. Donte Curre and Robert Porcher each had two sacks. It is good to see Porcher finally start to play what he is capable of. The Defense only gave up one touchdown the entire game and held the hapless Dallas offense in check most of the game. After Emmitt Smith broke Walter Payton's career rushing record last week, the "D" held him to only 39 yards. Hopefully the Defense can repeat a similar performance next week when they go up against the daunting task of playing the Packers at Lambeau Field.
Special Teams: --- B+. Where would the Lions be without Jason Hanson? Mr. Automatic was right on the money as his 43 yarder was dead on to give the Lions the victory. John Jett continues to have a great year punting the ball. Hakim replaced the injured Desmond Howard and did not do much.
Coaching: --- C. I thought some of the offensive playing calls were just too predictable or too conservative. What happened to letting Harrington throw the ball down field? It is very sad that his longest pass was for 13 yards with only a few minutes left in the game. Regardless, Mornhinweg has had the team ready to go for all the home games so far this year.
Overall: --- B. In a game in which there was 19 punts, it is hard to say either team deserved to win. But, the Lions surpassed their 2001 win totals with their 3rd victory in a row at home and find themselves once again in 2nd place in the NFC North. It may seem hard to believe, but they may be the 2nd best team in the division given Minnesota and Chicago are having atrocious years. Next up is the Green Bay Packers. Bottom line, the Lions will need a miracle to pull out a victory against the division leaders. They have not won in Green Bay in 11 years and have been blown out the past few. All that I would expect out of the honolulu blue and silver is a competitive game, which they have been doing since the 2nd game of the year. For that to happen the offense must do more than what it has done in the past few games.
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