Leelanau Sports Guy’s World

It wasn’t pretty, but it also was very nice to watch. In typical Lions fashion the outcome wasn’t in doubt until the 4th quarter, but then the Lions did something pretty amazing, they put the game away! Joey Harrington led the Lions on a crucial drive in the last half of the 4th quarter and clinched a victory with a touchdown pass to rookie Mike Williams.

With the Lions clinging to a 10-3 lead, you could almost get a feeling of overtime, or even worse a last minute collapse. But the man who got booed in pregame was cheered very loudly at the end. Sure the Lions made plenty of mistakes, dropped some passes, were off-target on others, but they won! Kevin Jones seemed to get 4 or 5 yards on every carry, and was close to busting a couple all the way.

Here’s a couple of more quick thoughts:

• The Packers helped out by keeping some drives alive with bad penalties, but the Lions also capitalized on these mistakes, which was the real key.

• The defensive line harassed Favre all day, and the secondary made big play after big play. Holding any team to 3 points is a very big achievement.
• Kevin Jones will make the Pro Bowl. I have no doubt he is going to have a special season.
• Watching the Packers secondary try to match up with the Lions brought a big smile to my face.
• I felt very happy for Charles Rogers. A great play and a big catch at a crucial time.

It was an exciting beginning to what will hopefully be a special season.