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Adversity faced: Just before training camp began, all-time great
RB Barry Sanders announced his retirement. If the Lions had been given the entire
offseason to make plans for life without Sanders, it would have been a daunting task. To
have so little advance notice made for a herculean task that bordered on the impossible.
How the team coped: Exceptionally well. The Lions were coming
off of a 5-11 season in 1998 when they had Sanders, so no one expected a trip to the
playoffs. The team shocked the football experts by winning eight of its first 12 games.
The Lions then ran out of gas, losing their last four regular-season games, but the fast
start was enough to earn them a postseason spot.
The Lions served notice on the NFL in Week One that they were not about
to wave the white flag of surrender.
"No Barry Sanders, no chance," seemed to be the thinking of
the outside world.
Well, if the Lions were feeling sorry for themselves, they sure hid it
well, beating a Seahawks club expected to be a playoff contender by the score of 28-20 in
Seattle.
"Everybody in the world thought (the Seahawks) would win the
ballgame," Lions QB Charlie Batch said. "I think it’s a shock for everyone.
But it wasn’t a shock for us."
Shocking or not, the Lions’ performance was the equivalent of the
Beatles cutting a record without Paul McCartney and John Lennon and still churning out hit
music. As if the absence of Sanders were not enough adversity for one team to overcome,
the Lions also had to play most of the game without star WR Herman Moore, who sprained his
knee in the first quarter and missed the rest of the game.
One door closes, another opens up. This was opportunity knocking for WR
Germane Crowell, a second-round draft choice in 1998.
Crowell made the most of his chance, catching seven passes for 141
yards and two touchdowns.
"He had a tremendous game," Moore said. "He’s a guy
we all have a lot of confidence in. Right now, people don’t know a lot about him. But
they’re about to find out."
The upset win was a big morale boost, but the Lions were quickly
running out of stars. Sanders stayed in retirement all season, and Moore would not catch a
pass until Week 12 because of his injury. Whatever positive thoughts the club had after
the win over Seattle were tempered by the fact that it had to face a Green Bay squad the
following week that was viewed as a Super Bowl threat heading into the season.
Without Sanders.
Without Moore.
Without a prayer?
Without fear is more like it. A 91-yard kickoff return by Terry Fair
and big plays by Batch spurred the Lions to a 23-15 upset victory.
The Lions fell behind 15-14 early in the fourth quarter, but Fair
returned the ensuing kickoff to the Packers’ eight-yard line, and three plays later
Batch, who had connected on TD passes of 45 and 74 yards, made a nice fake and scored on a
bootleg to give Detroit the lead for good.
"We weren’t going to stop playing just because Barry
isn’t here," Batch said. "We are doing exactly what I expected us to do. We
are winning football games."
They were winning football games, thanks to a controversial decision
from one year earlier. After an 0-2 start in 1998, Lions head coach Bobby Ross decided
he’d had enough of up-and-down QB Scott Mitchell. Ross benched the veteran and, in a
jaw-dropping decision, gave the job to Batch, then a raw rookie out of Eastern Michigan.
The Lions’ season never recovered, but the seeds for future
progress had been planted. One step back, two steps forward.
Despite the Lions’ poor record in 1998, Batch played better than
just about anyone could have expected.
Now it was 1999 and the surprising Lions were 2-0, thanks to grit and
young Batch.
"Charlie is the kind of guy who is going to put his head down and
do whatever it takes to win," Lions TE David Sloan said. "I think folks are
seeing now what coach Ross saw and made the bold decision he did last season."
Not that Batch was making anyone forget about Joe Montana or Johnny
Unitas just yet. Against the Packers, for example, Batch threw two TD passes, but each
time he came back on the Lions’ next possession and threw an interception. One step
back, two steps forward.
"There’s still some things he’s making that are young
player mistakes," Ross said. "But the one thing that you really like about
Charlie is that he’s a playmaker. He’ll make plays.
"The other thing that you like is that he’s a fighter.
He’s not going to finger-point. He’s going to compete."
In spite of the absence of Sanders, in spite of the injury to Moore, in
spite of a makeshift offensive line, Batch and the Lions were off to a nice start.
Then came the first test of the Lions’ resolve without Sanders.
They lost in Week Three to the Chiefs 31-21. Surely a bump in the road would have everyone
moaning about life without Sanders.
Think again.
"I think the attitude has been great," Lions FS Mark Carrier
said. "Everyone is working hard, and everyone dealt well with the Barry
situation."
Batch said, "We’re kind of tired of the whole thing. The
players never talk about it anymore. It just doesn’t come up."
Translation: Let the rest of the football world fret about Sanders. The
Lions were too busy trying to win football games to worry about anyone who wasn’t in
their locker room.
The Lions lost their next game to San Diego 20-10. Was reality setting
in? No way. Reality was that the Lions then ripped off four straight victories, all
against teams that would finish the season .500 or better, to race to a 6-2 mark.
Barry who?
That certainly seemed to be the sentiment as momentum built.
Continued on Page 2
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