8703010560
DETROIT FREE PRESS
871214
Monday, December 14, 1987
METRO FINAL CHASER
1F
MITCH ALBOM
Copyright (c) 1987, Detroit Free Press
LIONS' WIN WOULD MAKE A PERFECT END TO SEASON
TAMPA, Fla. -- Yippee! The Lions won. I vote we end the season right now.
Why wait the final two weeks? They could lose the final two weeks. Please,
somebody. Put it in ice. Let us finish this desperate journey on a happy note,
even if it did come at the expense of the Buccaneers, Florida's answer to the
poster child.
"How does it feel?" someone asked Darryl Rogers, after his Lions knocked
off Tampa Bay, 20-10, Sunday to end a four-game losing streak and raise their
record to 3-10.
"It feels," he said, "like a change."
Right, Darryl. My thoughts exactly. Look at this locker room. Players
slapping backs, screaming, making jokes. Wayne Fontes with his hair slicked
back, holding a cigar. Rogers and Russ Thomas and William Clay Ford huddling,
for once not looking as if they're about to get sick.
Amazing what a little victory will do.
"We played hard," Chuck Long said.
"We ran more," James Jones said.
"It wasn't sloppy," Jimmy Williams said.
Well. Wait a minute. Let's not get carried away. From the joyous locker
room, this might have felt like Camelot. From the press box, it looked more
like parking lot.
Here was a contest handled like a bag of manure. Take the snap, fumble it
away. Recover the fumble, get a penalty and give it back. You take it. No,
you take it. Five fumbles. Fifteen penalties. Young players playing young
football.
Happily, for once, the opponent was better at this than the Lions --
largely because of Vinny Testaverde, Tampa Bay's latest savior, who, at 24, is
rich every which way but in experience.
Listen to this series of downs in the second quarter: Testaverde throws an
interception. Wait. It's nullified by a penalty on Bobby Watkins. Testaverde
throws an interception. Oops. Check that. He was ruled in the grasp of Mike
Cofer. Testaverde throws an interception, which Jimmy Williams returns 48
yards.
What, no flags?
Bucs' turn for embarrassment "I'm embarrassed for two people," Bucs coach
Ray Perkins said afterward, "myself and our fans."
Well. So his addition is lousy. The point is, Ray, we in Detroit know all
about it. We have been suffering that embarrassment all season.
And now, you can have it. You're 4-9. Try again next week. Meanwhile, I
vote the Lions check out, pay the bill, and give fans hope for next year.
Look. There were some high notes. Williams, the linebacker, played a hell
of a game. Blocked a punt, made that interception, returned it 48 yards before
running out of bounds ("my behind was tightening up," he said -- really).
And speaking of running, the Lions did some Sunday. The Jameses -- Jones
and Garry -- were back from injuries, and gained 107 yards combined, along
with 78 more from Butch Woolfolk and Gary Ellerson.
Sure, Detroit still had its share of mistakes. But it was that kind of
game, and it was that kind of opponent. If it's true that teams play to the
level of their rivals, this one could have been held in the Tampa subway.
Now, true. I don't see the Bucs every week. Thank God. On Sunday they
played minor league football. No wonder they labor here, in the shadow of
baseball's spring training sites. I half expected the phone to ring and hear:
"Send that kid up on the bus. We need righties." At least in spring training,
they switch pitchers every three innings.
If it weren't for the generosity of the Lions, the Bucs might have lost
by 40 points. Another Testaverde interception was handed back when Jerry Ball
roughed the quarterback. A fumble recovery was nullified when Detroit's
George Jamison was called for holding.
This is the sort of football we got to witness, and you, at home, got to
watch, assuming you weren't preoccupied with something important, like
flossing your teeth.
Several players actually left the game with cramps -- which is only fair,
because Lions fans have been doing that all season.
A moment to remember But here's the point. A win is a win. So for once,
Jones could answer questions without shaking his head. And Long didn't have
to begin by saying "It's tough to take. . . . "
Give me a camera. Let me Polaroid the look of these smiles, the picture of
some hope. And then let's put it in the album and seal it up. This wasn't
great football we saw Sunday, but it was good enough for a memory.
Besides, if they end it now, the Lions are still in the running for the No.
1 draft pick next year. Not that it matters to us, you understand.
After the game, Rogers shook hands with all his players. One at a time.
"What did you say to them?" he was asked.
"I said, 'See ya tomorrow.' "
There's no talking to these guys.
COLUMN;DLIONS;WIN;REACTION;Lions