Lions finally snap 19-game losing streak

It had to happen eventually. Even the 1976-77 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who went 0-26 to kick off their inglorious franchise, one day, mercifully, came to victory. It took 22 years before the game found a similar sacrificial offering to its predatory beasts. But Sunday, fans of football rejoiced in unison over the Detroit Lions’ first win in 20 games. The Motor City’s previously toothless and clawless Lions reached back for their longtime roar, putting together a solid first-half offensively, then holding on to defeat the Washington Redskins, who may now well inherit the Lions’ previous mantel of dubiousness.

On this day, first-year quarterback Matthew Stafford had his Johnsons working. Wideouts Calvin (five receptions) and Bryant (four catches, one TD) put punch into the previously anemic Lions attack, beginning with Bryant Johnson’s 21-yard first-quarter scoring reception that gave Detroit a 7‒0 lead. The Lions never trailed and closed it out at 19‒14. The key stat: Detroit converted 10 of its 18 third-down opportunities; Washington just two of 10.

And it’s obvious to all that the Tennessee Titans that went 13-3 and claimed the top seed in the 2008 AFC playoffs aren’t remotely the same team in 2009. The Titoons, committers of multiple errors against the New York Jets on Sunday, are now a ghastly 0-3 to start the season. Most egregious of Tennessee’s lapses were first-year returner Ryan Mouton’s two fumbled returns—one on a kickoff, the other a punt—that directly led to 14 New York points.

Tennessee quarterback Kerry Collins connected on three of four passes, including a 9-yard touchdown pass to Nate Washington just 3:21 into the third quarter to give the ’Toons a 17‒14 lead. But Collins never completed another pass the rest of the way, going 0-for-13 through the remainder of the third and fourth quarters. Meanwhile, the Jets’ thanked Mouton for his second fumbled return and first-year New York quarterback Mark Sanchez hit wideout Jerricho Cotchery for 46 yards to help post 10 second-half points and send a forlorn Tennessee team back to Toontown.

ANGLING FOR THE CORNER: The Jets' Sanchez is the first rookie quarterback in NFL history to win his first three games…In one of Sunday’s real noisemakers, incumbent Super Bowl-champion Pittsburgh went down to its second straight defeat, this time at the hands of division rival Cincinnati, 23‒20. The Bengals waited until the final 18 seconds to complete a magnificent 16-play drive, on Carson Palmer’s short 4-yard scoring toss to Andre Caldwell. The game's key play: Trailing 13‒3, Bengals cornerback Johnathan Joseph returned a Ben Roethlisberger pass 30 yards for a touchdown, the Steelers’ only turnover of the game…Former Arkansas Razorbacks ‘Wild Hog’ star Darren McFadden continues to have problems making the grade in the NFL. The Oakland Raiders’ second-year back fumbled three times in the Raiders’ 23‒3 surprise loss to Denver. McFadden now has lost seven fumbles in 16 career NFL games. The Broncos, who looked like a preseason candidate to supplant Detroit as the doormat of the league, instead now stand 3-0 atop the AFC West.

Alan Ross is the author of 32 books, including Away from the Ball: The NFL’s Off-the-Field Heroes. E-mail him at:alanross_sports@yahoo.com© Sportland 2009