As the Washington Redskins scored their second touchdown of the game, making the score 19-14, the Detroit Lions and their fans, knew all too well this scenario.
They got the ball back, with 2:36 to go in the game, trying to hold on for dear life, and claim their first victory in over two years, but after five plays, they faced another fourth down, having to punt the ball away, with just over a minute to go.
The fans and players alike had seen this story many times, and were staring yet another last minute loss in the face.
“Oh no,” Lions fans shouted,” Please, not again.”
Three straight plays for first downs, drove Washington 32 yards, down to the Detroit 36 yard line, and left a mere 23 seconds on the clock.
“They can’t lose this, not this time,” shouts another stressed Lions fan.
Much to everyone’s surprise, they hold Washington to two straight incomplete passes, after a 1st-down spike had been forgone by Jason Campbell. So now, it was all down to this, 4th down and 10 to go, for a week three victory for an NFL team, but for the Detroit Lions, something much more was on the line.
The ball is snapped, and Jason Campbell sees Sinorice Moss a few yards up the middle and hits him with a pass, he laterals the ball to Antwaan Randle El, who again passes it back to Ladell Betts, he dodges and jukes his way, but can’t escape Detroit’s own Larry Foote, who had come back to Michigan, to play for his hometown team.
He makes the tackle with eight seconds to go, as everyone begins to cheer as if the Lions had won the Super Bowl.
For a team, who had gone 0-16 last season, firing both their long-time pathetic general manager Matt Millen, and clueless head coach Rod Marinelli, replacing them with a brand new head coach Jim Schwartz, and 1st overall pick quarterback Matthew Stafford, this was just a stepping stone for them, but for the state of Michigan, it was a long overdue victory, and they made sure the fans were involved in the celebration as well.
Players ran around the field, giving high fives to fans, Safety Louis Delmis even hopped up into the stands, and enjoyed the moment, and for the just under 41,000 fans, it was well worth it, as a two-thirds filled stadium were witness to an amazing display of character, and emotion, as the game had been blacked-out locally.
The loss was something the fans milked every second of, but the Lions were expecting to take the game, and shortly after their celebration, they announced, that it was just one win, and they don’t expect it to be their last this season.
Team owner Williams Clay Ford, Sr. even said,” We not only got a monkey off our back, we got King King off our back.”
Photo: http://www.detroitlions.com/media-center/photo-gallery/Lions-vs-Redskins-Photos/443c590c-9923-4bad-88b3-0f14ab7a7b94
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