Lions notebook: Detroit wastes Drummond's effort
10/18/2004DETROIT - Talk about wasted opportunities.
Eddie Drummond did all he could to create favorable field position for the Detroit Lions' offense yesterday, but his teammates rarely made it pay off in a 38-10 loss to Green Bay at Ford Field.
Drummond entered yesterday's game ranked No. 2 in the NFL in kickoff returns with a 28.6-yard average.
He averaged 30.3 yards on kickoff returns with a 58-yarder mixed in. He also returned two punts for a total of 48 yards.
The biggest waste was early in the third quarter after Green Bay's Darren Sharper returned an interception 35 yards to give the Pack a 24-10 lead.
It appeared the Lions might have a chance to claw their way back into it when Drummond returned the ensuing kickoff 58 yards, the fifth-longest return of his career, to the Green Bay 40-yard line.
But the Lions ran two plays into the middle of the line, saw a pass drop incomplete, and then failed on a fourth-down conversion when quarterback Joey Harrington threw to the outside while receiver Tai Streets ran a slant inside.
"I figured our offense would pull something out sooner or later because we've been coming up with big plays all year," Drummond said. "It's kind of a shocker that we didn't do that and fell so far behind. I tried to give us a spark, but it was just sort of a lost day for everybody."
Drummond's returns allowed the Lions to start two drives in Green Bay territory and three others within eight yards of the midfield stripe.
The Lions did turn a 27-yard punt return by Drummond, his longest of the season, into a field goal that sliced Green Bay's lead to 14-10 late in the second quarter, but the Packers scored the next 24 points.
BRETT BITS: It was "moving day" for Packers quarterback Brett Favre.
Playing in his 100th road game, Favre passed the legendary Bart Starr with his 197th career appearance for the Packers, the most of any player in team history.
He also broke a tie with ex-Miami quarterback Dan Marino and moved into sole second place on an NFL stat list by throwing a touchdown pass in his 31st consecutive game. It's a big jump from there to the record of 47 straight games set by Johnny Unitas of the old Baltimore Colts from 1956-60.
Finally, with 257 passing yards, he moved past Fran Tarkenton and into fourth place on the NFL's all-time passing yardage list. Favre now has 47,106 yards and trails only Marino (61,361), John Elway (51,475) and Warren Moon (49,325).
ACTIVE, SORT OF: Injured rookies Roy Williams (ankle) and Kevin Jones (ankle) were active and in uniform yesterday. But Williams did not play and Jones' participation was limited to two carries for five yards.
ANOTHER 'L': Lions coach Steve Mariucci has a 68-56 career record as head coach in Detroit and San Francisco, but games against the Packers have done little to enhance that record. He is now 2-8 all-time against Green Bay and 1-5 against Packers coach Mike Sherman.
THREE-DOT DATA: The crowd of 62,938 was a Ford Field record ... Packer safety Darren Sharper's interception return for a touchdown was the fourth of his career ... Green Bay running back Ahman Green didn't get 100 yards rushing, but he did notch the first touchdown pass of his career on a trick play with 10 minutes left in the game ... Detroit linebacker Earl Holmes led all defenders with 14 total tackles, including eight primary hits.