Sports : Other Sports
Battle of Bad: Rams beat Lions to end 17-game skid
Nov 2, 2009, 10:25 AM
By LARRY LAGE
DETROIT (AP) -- The St. Louis Rams had to work hard to give coach Steve Spagnuolo a victory shower.
First, they endured seven straight losses.
Then with a 17-10 win secured Sunday against the Detroit Lions, finding a full jug was difficult.
"They didn't have water or ice," Rams safety James Butler said. "We had to pour water in and get the ice. It was a great effort on our part."
There wasn't much in the way of great in a matchup that was as miserable as expected.
Steven Jackson, though, wasn't about to make the same mistake he did five years ago.
"As a rookie I said, 'That was an ugly win,' and I got chewed out," Jackson said after running for a season-high 149 yards, including a game-winning, 25-yard scoring run with 1:38 left. "I understand in the National Football League, there's no such thing as an ugly win."
The Rams snapped a 17-game losing streak, winning for the first time since beating Dallas on Oct. 19, 2008.
"I haven't forgotten how it feels," Jackson said of winning. "It's just been a long time."
St. Louis (1-7) avoided matching the worst start in franchise history and ended talk about joining Detroit as the only teams in NFL history to have 0-16 seasons.
It also gave Spagnuolo his first victory as a head coach at any level.
"It's special and I know I'll remember it for a long time," he said.
Fellow rookie head coach Jim Schwartz won't be able to forget it.
The Lions (1-6) spent their bye week analyzing their season, searching for ways to fix their many problems.
They overlooked one tendency and it haunted them on a trick play when St. Louis lined up to kick a long field goal late in the first half.
Holder Donnie Jones took the snap, flipped it to kicker Josh Brown, who threw a short pass to a wide-open Daniel Fells for a 36-yard TD pass that gave the Rams a 10-2 lead.
Brown wasn't surprised at how badly the Lions bit on the play because they had two players on his left set up to push the pile.
"We had watched tape and they came every single time when they were set up that way," Brown said. "It was ours for the taking."
Schwartz said the Lions were too aggressive, but they knew Brown was within his range.
"We expected them to kick," he said. "If we force a miss, we've got good field position to do something of our own."
Detroit scored its only points on offense early in the fourth quarter when Matthew Stafford had a 4-yard run and 2-point conversion pass to tie the game. The Lions were credited with a safety when Butler intercepted a pass in the end zone, returned it past the goal line then went back and was tackled.
"Don't ask about that dumb play," Butler said.
The Lions have won just two of their past 31 games dating to the midway point of 2007. The last team to have two victories in a 31-game stretch was the Houston Oilers during the 1982-84 seasons, according to STATS LLC.
Since 2001, the Lions are 32-103 and their .237 winning percentage is the lowest by an NFL team over a nine-season span since World War II.
After Detroit ended its 19-game skid with a Week 3 win over Washington, center Dominic Raiola blew kisses to the crowd at Ford Field.
During the Lions' latest loss, Raiola was screaming at fans who taunted Stafford.
"I understand their frustration, I've been here 8 1/2 years, and I know what they've been through," Raiola said. "But if you say something to one of my teammates, I'm going to stand up for him. This isn't all on him."
The Lions were hoping Stafford would help the team win and sell tickets.
Neither is happening.
The game against St. Louis drew just 40,857 fans -- the fewest to watch Detroit play at home in two decades -- with a crowd only slightly smaller than the one that witnessed the Lions beat the Redskins.
"Congratulations to the Rams, but that's a game that we have to find a way to win," Schwartz said. "There were way too many missed opportunities and way too many critical errors."
First, they endured seven straight losses.
Then with a 17-10 win secured Sunday against the Detroit Lions, finding a full jug was difficult.
"They didn't have water or ice," Rams safety James Butler said. "We had to pour water in and get the ice. It was a great effort on our part."
There wasn't much in the way of great in a matchup that was as miserable as expected.
Steven Jackson, though, wasn't about to make the same mistake he did five years ago.
"As a rookie I said, 'That was an ugly win,' and I got chewed out," Jackson said after running for a season-high 149 yards, including a game-winning, 25-yard scoring run with 1:38 left. "I understand in the National Football League, there's no such thing as an ugly win."
The Rams snapped a 17-game losing streak, winning for the first time since beating Dallas on Oct. 19, 2008.
"I haven't forgotten how it feels," Jackson said of winning. "It's just been a long time."
St. Louis (1-7) avoided matching the worst start in franchise history and ended talk about joining Detroit as the only teams in NFL history to have 0-16 seasons.
It also gave Spagnuolo his first victory as a head coach at any level.
"It's special and I know I'll remember it for a long time," he said.
Fellow rookie head coach Jim Schwartz won't be able to forget it.
The Lions (1-6) spent their bye week analyzing their season, searching for ways to fix their many problems.
They overlooked one tendency and it haunted them on a trick play when St. Louis lined up to kick a long field goal late in the first half.
Holder Donnie Jones took the snap, flipped it to kicker Josh Brown, who threw a short pass to a wide-open Daniel Fells for a 36-yard TD pass that gave the Rams a 10-2 lead.
Brown wasn't surprised at how badly the Lions bit on the play because they had two players on his left set up to push the pile.
"We had watched tape and they came every single time when they were set up that way," Brown said. "It was ours for the taking."
Schwartz said the Lions were too aggressive, but they knew Brown was within his range.
"We expected them to kick," he said. "If we force a miss, we've got good field position to do something of our own."
Detroit scored its only points on offense early in the fourth quarter when Matthew Stafford had a 4-yard run and 2-point conversion pass to tie the game. The Lions were credited with a safety when Butler intercepted a pass in the end zone, returned it past the goal line then went back and was tackled.
"Don't ask about that dumb play," Butler said.
The Lions have won just two of their past 31 games dating to the midway point of 2007. The last team to have two victories in a 31-game stretch was the Houston Oilers during the 1982-84 seasons, according to STATS LLC.
Since 2001, the Lions are 32-103 and their .237 winning percentage is the lowest by an NFL team over a nine-season span since World War II.
After Detroit ended its 19-game skid with a Week 3 win over Washington, center Dominic Raiola blew kisses to the crowd at Ford Field.
During the Lions' latest loss, Raiola was screaming at fans who taunted Stafford.
"I understand their frustration, I've been here 8 1/2 years, and I know what they've been through," Raiola said. "But if you say something to one of my teammates, I'm going to stand up for him. This isn't all on him."
The Lions were hoping Stafford would help the team win and sell tickets.
Neither is happening.
The game against St. Louis drew just 40,857 fans -- the fewest to watch Detroit play at home in two decades -- with a crowd only slightly smaller than the one that witnessed the Lions beat the Redskins.
"Congratulations to the Rams, but that's a game that we have to find a way to win," Schwartz said. "There were way too many missed opportunities and way too many critical errors."
