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28 - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - September 13, 2004
Lions end 24-game road losing streak
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Athlete of the Week
CHICAGO (AP) - Bracy Walker got
one of the game balls and rightfully so.
Needing intravenous fluids to fight off
dehydration, Walker rescued the Detroit
Lions from the NFL's longest road los-
ing streak yesterday.
He rambled 92 yards for a TD after
teammate Shaun Rogers blocked a third-
quarter field goal attempt. And later he
preserved Detroit's 20-16 victory over
the Chicago Bears, intercepting Rex
Grossman's pass in the end zone pass
with 18 seconds left.
"It's important to end the streak for all
the obvious reasons," Lions coach Steve
Mariucci said after his team's 24-game
stretch of road losses was wiped away.
"We are glad it's over, believe me."
Detroit's victory spoiled the coaching
debut of the Bears' Lovie Smith, whose
team was bogged down by penalties and
mistakes.
The victory was a costly one for the
Lions. They lost receiver Charles Rog-
ers to a broken collarbone for the second
straight year and he could miss most of
the season. He got hurt going for a first-
quarter pass. Rogers, the second overall
pick in the 2003 draft, played only five
games last season.
Pro Bowl cornerback Dre' Bly will
have an MRI on Tuesday after spraining
a knee ligament in the first quarter.
Joey Harrington tossed a four-yard
go-ahead TD pass to Az-Zahir Hakim
in the fourth quarter and Detroit held on
for its first road victory since beating the
Jets on Dec. 17, 2000.
With 1:54 left, facing a difficult punt
out of their own end zone, the Lions
chose to have punter Nick Harris run out
of the end zone for safety. It cut the lead
to 20-16, but gave the Lions a free kick
- a strategy that nearly backfired.
R.W. McQuarters returned the free
kick 37 yards to the Detroit's 47 and
Grossman's 19-yard pass to David Ter-
rell and a 15-yard run by Thomas Jones
got the Bears to the Lions nine.
With no timeouts, Grossman was
sacked and then had to spike the ball
on second down. Scrambling on third
down, he threw the ball to the corner for
Terrell, but Walker made the pick.
"Grossman started to scramble and I
thought he was going to try and run it
into the end zone," Walker said. "He
just so happened to throw the ball, and I
looked and it fell into my hands."
Grossman, who lost a fumble and had
two interceptions, took the blame.
"I was trying to throw it up for a jump
ball situation for David in the back of the
end zone. I threw it a little short," Gross-
man said. "I should have thrown it away.
I didn't."
The Bears had three second-half turn-
overs and three big penalties - one on
Terrell for taunting after he made a catch
along the sideline and then handed the
ball to Harris. Two more were for per-
sonal fouls, one on center Olin Kreutz
and another on defensive back Charles
Tillman for shoving a scrambling Har-
rington after he'd run out of bounds.
"I just dropped the ball. I didn't throw
it at him," Terrell said. "The refs called
nitpicky fouls all day . The personal foul
on Olin Kreutz wasn't a personal foul.
So they made bad calls."
Name: Therese Heaton
Hometown: Wheaton, I11.
Team: W Soccer
Class: Junior
Why: Heaton led the Wolverines past No. 22 Boston
University yesterday, scoring two of Michigan's
three goals in its 3-0 victory. The junior now
has six goals this season, and has scored a goal
in five consecutive games - the first Wolverine
to accomplish such a feat since 2001.
Heaton
'M' SCIIEDIJE1
Date
9/17
9/17
9/17
9/17
9/17
9/17
9/17
9/18
9/18
9/18
9/18
9/19
9/19
Matchup/event
Volleyball vs. Virginia Tech
M Cross Country at Spartan Invite
W Cross Country at Spartan Invite
W Soccer vs. Northwestern
Field Hockey vs. Central Michigan
M Soccer vs. Bowling Green
Volleyball vs. Western Michigan
Football vs. San Diego State
Volleyball vs. Tennessee
W Golf at Spartan Invitational
M Golf at Northern Intercollegiate
Field Hockey vs. Northeastern
W Soccer vs. Illinois
Location
Ann Arbor
East Lansing
East Lansing
Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor
East Lansing
Madison
Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor
Time
11 A.M.
2 P.M.
2 P.M.
2:30 P.M.
3 P.M.
5 P.M.
7:30 P.M.
12 P.M.
7:30 P.M.
All Day
All Day
12 P.M.
1 P.M.
AP PHOTO
Lions running back Artose Pinner rushed five times for 21 yards in Detroit's win.
I
NFL FIRST WEEK STANDINGS
Val is NF16 Power
qRankinqs
NFC East
Philadelphia
Washington
N.Y. Giants
Dallas
NFC North
Minnesota
Detroit
Green Bay
Chicago
NFC South
Atlanta
Carolina
New Orleans
Tampa Bay
NFC West
Seattle
St. Louis
Arizona
San Francisco
W
1
1
0
0
W
1
1
0
0
W
1
0
0
0
W
1
I
0
0
L
0
0
1
1
L
0
0
0
1
L
0
0
1
1
L
0
0
1
1
PF
31
16
17
17
PF
35
20
0
16
PF
21
0
7
10
PF
21
17
10
19
PA
17
10
31
35
PA
17
16
0
20
PA
19
0
21
16
PA
7
10
17
21
AFC East
New England
N.Y. Jets
Buffalo
Miami
AFC North
Cleveland
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
Cincinnati
AFC South
Jacksonville
Tennessee
Houston
Indianapolis
AFC West
San Diego
Denver
Kansas City
Oakland
w
1
1
0
0
w
1
1
0
0
W
1
1
0
0
w
1
1
0
0
L
0
0
1
1
L
0
0
1
1
L
0
0
1
1
L
0
0
1
1
PF
27
31
10
7
PF
20
24
3
24
PF
13
17
20
24
PF
27
34
24
21
PA
24
24
13
17
PA
3
21
20
31
PA
10
7
27
27
PA
20
24
34
24
2. Philadelphia
- If not for two Eagles goal-line
stands, dropped balls and poor
tackling by the G-Men, the Giants
might have won.
4. Seattle
" Fantasy owners got a scare
when Shaun Alexander went down,
but his three TDs and 135 yards
led the Hawks to victory.
6. Tennessee
* The game was moved up to Sat-
urday, and it wasn't pretty. Tennes-
see might not be pretty, but they
win games.
Yesterday's games
PITSBURGH 24, Oakland 21
Seattle 21, NEw ORLEANS 7
Atlanta 21, SAN FRANCISCO 19
PHILADELPHIA 31, N.Y. Giants 17
MINNESOTA 35, Dallas 17
CLEVELAND 20, Baltimore 3
Detroit 20, CHICAGO 16
Yesterday's games
ST. Louis 17, Arizona 10
NY JETS 31, Cincinnati 24
Jacksonville 13, BUFFALO 10
San Diego 27, Houston 20
WASHINGTON 16, Tampa Bay 10
DENvER 34, Kansas City 24
8. Detroit
- Detroit's on this list for one rea-
son: it won for the first time in its
last 25 road games. Sorry about
Charley.
Shaident 3%
OFFICIAL PIZZA OF U OF MATHLETICS
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All clinks are held at the Intramural Sports Building.
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