NFL Recap (Detroit-Jacksonville)
Posted: Sun December 6, 1998 at 6:40 p.m. EST
JACKSONVILLE 37, DETROIT 22
JACKSONVILLE, Florida (Ticker) -- Mark Brunell sprained his
ankle on the second play of the game but the Jacksonville Jaguars did
not miss a beat behind backup Jamie Martin and running
back Fred Taylor in a
37-22 victory over the Detroit Lions.
Martin completed 15-of-23 passes for 228 yards and two touchdowns and
Taylor ran for a team-record 183 yards and two scores as the Jaguars (10-3)
moved to 6-0 at home and won for the 20th time in their last 22 games at
Alltel Stadium.
"He did everything he had to do," said Jacksonville coach Tom Coughlin
about Martin. "He came in and settled everybody down, which was really
critical. I can't say enough about the kid's poise. He came in as the
backup and he didn't know if he was going to play or not and he did an
outstanding job."
On his first pass attempt, Brunell watched defensive end Robert Porcher beat backup
right tackle Ben
Coleman. Brunell was hit by Porcher as he released the ball, rolled on
his left ankle and had to be helped off the field. X-rays were negative.
"It is an ankle sprain, but the extent of it, I won't know more until
tomorrow when we have a chance to look at everything," said Coughlin.
"Whether it's a high ankle or a lateral ankle, or the extent of the
injury..."
Brunell joined tackle Tony Boselli on the
sidelines. Boselli did not dress due to a sprained ankle suffered last
week at Cincinnati. The injuries did not prevent Jacksonville from opening
a three-game lead in the AFC Central.
"We have a lot of good players on this team, so it's not entirely up
to me to replace Mark," said Martin, whose numbers were all career highs.
"We all know we can't play without Mark, but in the short haul, I think
we're OK."
Taylor's 11-yard scoring burst with 13:13 remaining appeared to ice
the game, building Jacksonville's cushion to 34-16. But Charlie Batch found Herman Moore from 20 yards
out and a failed two-point conversion left the Lions trailing, 34-22.
Mike Hollis tacked
on a 30-yard field goal with 3:22 remaining and Detroit's final drive came
up empty before the Jaguars ran out the clock.
Batch was 14-of-33 for 250 yards and Barry Sanders added 103
yards on 18 carries, but the Detroit defense yielded 426 yards and allowed
Jacksonville better than an 11-minute advantage in time of possession.
"We took a pretty good beating at the line of scrimmage today
defensively, they just ran the ball on us pretty much at will," Lions coach
Bobby Ross said. "We've got to be able to get ourselves off the field in
situations like that. What surprised me was the ease with which they ran
the ball on us, particularly in the second half. We felt we could move the
ball, but we just didn't get the ball a whole lot."
Martin was sacked on his first pass attempt but made good on his
second, hitting Keenan
McCardell for a 67-yard touchdown that gave the Jaguars a 7-0 lead 4:04
into the contest.
Taylor capped a seven-play, 51-yard drive with a one-yard plunge just
under five minutes later to double the lead. Detroit (5-8) kept alive the
drive with a pair of penalties. Cornerback Bryant Westbrook's 20-yard
pass interference penalty put the Jaguars at the 23 and linebacker Stephen Boyd's 10-yard
personal foul pushed it to the 10.
"We were especially having a hard time defensively with the run,"
Moore observed. "Taylor is a good back, a very elusive back. I'm not
going to take anything away from him and I know our defensive guys were
doing anything they could to stop him. He's almost like Barry. He makes
people miss."
With 1,005 yards, Taylor became the first player in Jacksonville's
brief history to break the 1,000-yard barrier in a season.
"A lot of people asked me that, if I tried to compete with Barry,"
said Taylor, a rookie who has 12 rushing touchdowns this season. "I just
tried to win the game. I jumped off the bench a couple of times when he
started shaking them up a little bit."
Detroit got on the board with 3:36 left in the opening quarter on Jason Hanson's 34-yard
field goal, but Hollis countered with a 24-yarder 52 seconds into the
second quarter after a 31-yard run by Taylor.
On the play before Hanson's field goal, Crowell was in the end zone
when he dropped a perfectly placed pass from Batch after beating the
defender.
"I thought, `Wow, what a great pass,' and I thought he had it," said
Johnnie Morton,
Germane's fellow wideout. "I said, `Nice catch, Germane,' then I saw the
ball come out. I was hoping he had it long enough for a score. But when
he didn't, I felt for him because every receiver in the NFL has done that.
No one can say anything to make you feel better. I know what he was going
through and I've done it. You just have to learn from that."
The Lions settled for Hanson's 24-yard kick to close within 17-6
midway through the second quarter after Sanders' 39-yard sprint to the 2.
"We had to go out there and execute, and we needed touchdowns instead
of field goals," Batch admitted. "They got the lead and it was hard to
stop them. In the second half, it was a little too late to get things
rolling."
Martin looked like Brunell on the ensuing drive, throwing passes of
37, 15 and 12 yards before hitting Jimmy Smith for an 11-yard
score that gave Jacksonville a 24-6 lead 1:54 before halftime.
Smith enjoyed his fourth 100-yard game of the season with 112 on seven
catches, while McCardell chipped in 84 on three receptions.
"He stepped in there and played like he's been there all year," Smith
said of Martin. "He had great poise, stayed in the pocket and made a
couple of checks. He just played a great game today."
Batch lifted the Lions within 11 points 35 seconds before
intermission, capping a six-play, 60-yard drive with a 27-yard TD pass to
Crowell.
Crowell gained 72 yards on a pair of receptions and Moore had 116 on
seven. Morton was limited to a 31-yard catch in the turnover-free game.
Hanson added a 45-yard field goal 4:26 into the third quarter as the
Lions got within a score at 24-16, but Hollis nailed a 43-yarder just under
five minutes later. Martin threw an eight-yard pass to McCardell on
3rd-and-4 to the Jaguars 49 and Taylor scampered 20 yards to the 22 on
3rd-and-1 to set up Hollis.
The Lions need a slew of help to entain throughts of the playoffs.
"We just have to get ready for San Francisco, there's nothing else to
look forward to," said Batch. "We knew if there was any chance, we had to
win this game. This loss definitely hurts us, but anything can happen."
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