By Chuck Klonke PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer DETROIT (Ticker) - Home is where the victories are for theDetroit Lions. Using a ground game that had been missing all season and threefield goals by Jason Hanson, the Lions improved to 3-0 at homewith a 23-16 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. "We've got to play extremely well at home," Lions coach RodMarinelli said. "We've got great fans. I've got to figure outa way to go on the road and do a better job." Kevin Jones, making his first start at running back since lastDecember 10, when he suffered a foot injury that requiredsurgery, had 76 yards on 15 carries and scored a touchdown. "The confidence of the coaches believing in you that you can dothe job that you do every day - that always helps," Jones said."We got with it early, we stuck with it so it was good for us." The Lions (4-2) held the ball for most of the third quarter,including eight minutes and 17 seconds in a 17-play drive thatwas capped by Hanson's 32-yard field goal the gave Detroit a16-7 lead. Running back T.J. Duckett, who hadn't played sincethe season opener, had 30 yards in four carries on the drive. Tampa Bay (4-3) marched 79 yards to the Detroit 1-yard lineearly in the fourth quarter but quarterback Jeff Garcia, whohadn't committed a turnover in the Buccaneers' previous fivegames, fumbled the snap and Detroit's Jared DeVries recovered onthe Lions' 7-yard line. Just a situation I need to take care of, that's myresponsibility down there," Garcia said. "The offensive line istrying to get off and get to their blocks. I need to take careof business and find a way to get the snap. It's just anunfortunate break for us." It took the Lions nine plays to cover the 93 yards, with rookiewide receiver Calvin Johnson scoring on a 32-yard reverse for a23-7 lead with 6:28 to play. On the previous play, Johnsoncaught an 18-yard pass from quarterback Jon Kitna. "Wow, what a play," said Marinelli of Johnson's TD. "That wasspecial. He's a tall guy, and you don't usually see those guyson the reverse, but he's got tremendous quickness." The Buccaneers responded with a 16-play, 78-yard drive that wascapped by a 4-yard pass from Garcia to Maurice Stovall to cutthe deficit to 23-13 with 2:03 left. Tampa Bay then recovered an onside kick and got within atouchdown on Matt Bryant's 43-yard field goal with 1:04 to play. The Lions recovered a second onside kick and ran out the clockto preserve the victory. "It means we've had a good start," Kitna said of the Lions' 4-2record. "We expected to win, and we know we have the pieces towin. We just had to put it all together." Detroit took advantage of turnovers by the Buds to take a 10-0first-quarter lead. Defensive end Corey Smith blocked Josh Bidwell's punt andrecovered the ball at the Buccaneers' 37-yard line, setting upJason Hanson's 34-yard field goal. On Tampa Bay's next possession, a handoff from Garcia to runningback Earnest Graham was fumbled into the arms of the Lions'Shaun Rogers at Tampa Bay 49. Five plays later, Jones went infrom the 1-yard line for a 10-0 lead. "We had a good game plan," Buccaneers receiver Ike Hilliardsaid. "The turnovers killed us. We've been very fortunateprotecting the football but today we got very careless. There'snot a team that's established itself as the team to beat in theNFC. We dropped the ball on this one. We missed anopportunity." A 19-yard pass from Kitna to Johnson followed by a 17-yard runby Jones set up the touchdown. Kitna finished 16-of-20 for 120yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. The Buccaneers marched from their own 20 to Detroit's 22 late inthe second quarter but Bryant's 40-yard field goal attempt waswide left. "All in all we moved the ball very well when we had the ball,"Bucs coach Jon Gruden said. "We didn't finish drives worth a(darn) today. That should be the storyline of the day." Detroit took over at the 30 and drove to the Tampa Bay 21 asKitna completed eight straight passes, including a 23-yarder toShaun McDonald and a 14-yarder to Jones. The drive stalled and Hanson kicked a 42-yard field goal withfive seconds remaining in the half to increase the Lions' leadto 13-7. Garcia tied a franchise record by completing 18 consecutivepasses in the first half. He finished 37-of-45 for 316 yardsand a pair of TD passes.
NFL: TAMPA BAY at DETROIT <div class="pre">NFL FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL --- --- --- --- ----- TAMPA BAY 0 7 0 9 16 DETROIT 10 3 3 7 23 FINAL SCORING SUMMARY 1ST QUARTER: 5:07 DET - FG, JASON HANSON 34 YD. Drive: 6 plays, 21 yards in 2:32. Key plays: Detroit takes over after C Smith blocked punt at Tampa Bay 37. DETROIT 3-0. 12:09 DET - TD, KEVIN JONES 1 YD RUN (JASON HANSON KICK). Drive: 5 plays, 49 yards in 2:01. Key plays: Rogers recovery of Garcia fumble at Tampa Bay 49; Kitna 19-yard pass to Johnson to Tampa Bay 18; Jones 17-yard run to Tampa Bay 1. DETROIT 10-0. 2ND QUARTER: 2:12 TAM - TD, IKE HILLIARD 5 YD PASS FROM JEFF GARCIA (MATT BRYANT KICK). Drive: 9 plays, 81 yards in 5:03. Key plays: Garcia 14-yard pass to Graham to Tampa Bay 45; Garcia 38-yard pass to Hilliard to Detroit 17. DETROIT 10-7. 14:55 DET - FG, JASON HANSON 42 YD. Drive: 9 plays, 46 yards in 1:55. Key plays: Kitna 6-yard pass to Furrey on 3rd-and-5 to Detroit 41; Kitna 17- yard pass to McDonald to Tampa Bay 42; Kitna 14-yard pass to Jones to Tampa Bay 28. DETROIT 13-7. 3RD QUARTER: 10:47 DET - FG, JASON HANSON 32 YD. Drive: 13 plays, 66 yards in 8:17. Key plays: Duckett 12-yard run on 3rd-and-1 to Detroit 41; Duckett 11-yard run to Tampa Bay 42; Kitna 18-yard pass to Furrey to Tampa Bay 23. DETROIT 16-7. 4TH QUARTER: 8:32 DET - TD, CALVIN JOHNSON 32 YD RUN (JASON HANSON KICK). Drive: 9 plays, 93 yards in 5:21. Key plays: Kitna 2-yard run on 3rd-and-1 to Detroit 18; Kitna 12-yard pass to Fitzsimmons to Detroit 33; Jones 14-yard run to midfield; Kitna 18-yard pass to Johnson to Tampa Bay 32. DETROIT 23-7. 12:57 TAM - TD, MAURICE STOVALL 4 YD PASS FROM JEFF GARCIA (TWO-POINT PASS CONVERSION FAILED). Drive: 16 plays, 78 yards in 4:25. Key plays: Garcia 1-yard run on 3rd-and-1 to Tampa Bay 43; Garcia 15-yard pass to Hilliard on 3rd-and-10 to Detroit 42; 15-yard roughing the passer penalty on Lions' Lenon on 4th-and-4 to Detroit 7. DETROIT 23-13. 13:56 TAM - FG, MATT BRYANT 48 YD. Drive: 6 plays, 29 yards in :59. Key plays: Cox recovery of onside kick at Tampa Bay 40; Garcia 15-yard pass to Graham to Detroit 40. DETROIT 23-16. TAMPA BAY - DETROIT Final Statistics TEAM STATISTICS TAMPA BAY DETROIT FIRST DOWNS 27 17 Rushing 8 10 Passing 18 7 Penalty 1 0 THIRD DOWN EFFICIENCY 8-14-57% 3-8-38% FOURTH DOWN EFFICIENCY 1-1-100% 0-0-0% TOTAL NET YARDS 422 278 Total offensive plays 77 47 Average gain per play 5.5 5.9 NET YARDS RUSHING 124 147 Rushing attempts 29 24 Average gain per rush 4.3 6.1 Tackles for loss-yards 1-1 2-4 NET YARDS PASSING 298 131 Times sacked: Number-Yards 3-18 3-16 Gross passing yards 316 147 PASS ATTEMPTS-COMPLETIONS-HAD INTERCEPTED 45-37-0 20-16-0 Avg gain per pass play 6.2 5.7 KICKOFFS: Number-In End Zone-Touchbacks 4-1-0 6-5-3 PUNTS: Number and Average 2-23.5 2-46.0 Had blocked 1 0 Net punting average 19.5 46.0 TOTAL RETURN YARDAGE (Not including kickoffs) 8 0 Number-Yards: Punt Returns 2-8 0-0 Number-Yards: Kickoff Returns 3-71 2-45 Number-Yards: Interception Returns 0-0 0-0 PENALTIES: Number-Yards 7-60 4-23 FUMBLES: Number-Lost 2-2 1-0 TOUCHDOWNS 2 2 Rushing 0 2 Passing 2 0 Interceptions 0 0 Other (blocked kicks, etc.) 0 0 EXTRA POINTS: Made-Attempts 1-2 2-2 Kicking: Made-Attempts 1-1 2-2 Passing: Made-Attempts 0-1 0-0 Rushing: Made-Attempts 0-0 0-0 FIELD GOALS: Made-Attempts 1-2 3-3 FGs - PATs had blocked 0-0 0-0 RED ZONE EFFICIENCY 2-3-67% 1-3-33% GOAL TO GO EFFICIENCY 2-3-67% 1-1-100% SAFETIES 0 0 TIME OF POSSESSION 35:50 24:10 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS TAMPA BAY DETROIT RUSHING ATT YDS AVG LG TD RUSHING ATT YDS AVG LG TD -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- E GRAHAM 19 92 4.8 14 0 K JONES 15 76 5.1 17 1 M BENNETT 3 22 7.3 18 0 C JOHNSON 1 32 32.0 32 1 J GARCIA 6 10 1.7 7 0 T DUCKETT 4 30 7.5 12 0 Z CROCKETT 1 0 0.0 0 0 J KITNA 4 9 2.3 9 0 PASSING CM-AT-YDS IN TD LG PASSING CM-AT-YDS IN TD LG -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- J GARCIA 37-45-316 0 2 38 J KITNA 16-20-147 0 0 19 Sacked-Yards Lost: J GARCIA 3-18. Sacked-Yards Lost: J KITNA 3-16. RECEIVING NO YDS AVG LG TD RECEIVING NO YDS AVG LG TD -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- E GRAHAM 13 99 7.6 15 0 K JONES 6 34 5.7 14 0 I HILLIARD 9 92 10.2 38 1 R WILLIAMS 3 23 7.7 9 0 J GALLOWAY 5 46 9.2 16 0 C JOHNSON 2 37 18.5 19 0 B ASKEW 4 36 9.0 11 0 M FURREY 2 24 12.0 18 0 J STEVENS 4 19 4.8 8 0 S MCDONALD 2 17 8.5 17 0 M CLAYTON 1 20 20.0 20 0 C FITZSIMMONS 1 12 12.0 12 0 M STOVALL 1 4 4.0 4 1 INTERCEPTIONS NO YDS AVG LG TD INTERCEPTIONS NO YDS AVG LG TD -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- Interceptions: None PUNTING NO YDS AVG T I LG PUNTING NO YDS AVG T I LG -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- J BIDWELL 1 47 47.0 1 0 47 N HARRIS 2 92 46.0 0 0 48 T = Touchbacks, I = Inside 20 PUNT RETURNS NO YDS AVG LG TD PUNT RETURNS NO YDS AVG LG TD -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- P BUCHANON 1 6 6.0 6 0 I HILLIARD 1 2 2.0 2 0 KICKOFF RETURNS NO YDS AVG LG TD KICKOFF RETURNS NO YDS AVG LG TD -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- M JONES 2 44 22.0 26 0 T WALTERS 2 45 22.5 27 0 T COX 1 27 27.0 27 0 KICKING XP/XPA FG/FGA KICKING XP/XPA FG/FGA ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- M BRYANT 1/1 1/2 J HANSON 2/2 3/3 Dist.: (40) 48 Dist.: 34 42 32 O-D O-D FUMBLES NO LOST FF REC FUMBLES NO LOST FF REC ------------------------------------ ------------------------------------ J GARCIA 2 2 0 0-0 S ROGERS 1 0 0 0-1 J DEVRIES 0 0 0 0-1 DEFENSE TK SO AS SK-YD DEFENSE TK SO AS SK-YD ------------------------------------ ------------------------------------ D BROOKS 8 6 2 0-0 E SIMS 13 8 5 0-0 J PHILLIPS 7 6 1 0-0 T FISHER 9 8 1 0-0 C HOVAN 5 0 5 .5-2 P LENON 9 6 3 0-0 K CARTER 4 3 1 .5-2 D WHITE 8 7 1 3-18 J HAYE 4 2 2 1-3 K KENNEDY 6 5 1 0-0 B RUUD 4 2 2 0-0 F BRYANT 5 4 1 0-0 P BUCHANON 3 3 0 0-0 G ALEXANDER 5 4 1 0-0 R BARBER 3 2 1 0-0 A LEWIS 4 2 2 0-0 S DAVIS 2 2 0 0-0 K EDWARDS 3 3 0 0-0 T JACKSON 2 2 0 0-0 L MOORE 3 3 0 0-0 Q BLACK 2 0 2 0-0 B BAILEY 2 2 0 0-0 G WHITE 1 1 0 1-9 S ROGERS 2 1 1 0-0 G SPIRES 1 1 0 0-0 T LEHMAN 2 1 1 0-0 C JUNE 1 1 0 0-0 C REDDING 1 1 0 0-0 T BECKHAM 1 1 0 0-0 I BASHIR 1 0 1 0-0 Officials: Referee-John Parry, Umpire-Tony Michalek, Head Linesman-Derick Bowers, Line Judge-John Hussey, Field Judge-Gary Cavaletto, Side Judge-Laird Hayes, Back Judge-Dino Paganelli. Att: 60,442 Time of Game: 3:01</div>
NFL: TAMPA BAY at DETROIT <div class="pre">NFL TAMPA BAY AT DETROIT NOTE: RESENDING TO CORRECT FUMBLE RECOVERIES FOR ROGERS.</div>
