| Prior to the afternoon's kickoff, Head Coach Mike Shanahan deactivated the following players: Clinton Portis, Kenoy Kennedy, Terry Pierce, George Foster, Steve Herndon, Bryant McNeal, Daryl Gardener and Danny Kanell was named the third quarterback. Starting the game in place of Portis was Mike Anderson while Nick Ferguson made his second career start at safety in place of Kennedy. The Lions won the toss and received the opening kickoff.
FIRST QUARTER
Detroit's kickoff return man Avon Cobourne took the ball 16 yards from the goal line for the Lions and the visiting offense would begin their drive at that spot. It was a short-lived possession as the Broncos' defense held strong and forced a punt after three plays. John Jett's punt was caught by Deltha O'Neal and he was dropped at his own 36-yard line, where his team's offense started.
Denver's first drive was fruitless as well and when Detroit defensive end James Hall dropped Jake Plummer for an 8-yard loss on third down, Micah Knorr came on to punt. During the drive, Anderson moved passed Bobby Humphrey and into seventh place on the club's all-time rushing attempts list with his 594th.
On its second possession, Detroit took charge and drew first blood when quarterback Joey Harrington hit wide receiver Charles Rogers for a 33-yard touchdown pass when the rookie beat O'Neal who was in coverage. The Lions took five plays to move 73 yards over 3:01 for the 7-0 lead which represented the first time the Broncos had trailed all season.
Ashley Lelie answered for the Broncos when he caught Plummer's 29-yard pass in the end zone to cap a nine-play, 80-yard drive that lasted 5:11. The second-year wideout caught three passes on the drive for 68 yards. Plummer was strong as well as he connected on all five of his passes for 79 yards. Jason Elam's extra point tied the score at 7 with 1:56 left in the quarter.
SECOND QUARTER
Shannon Sharpe caught his 50th touchdown pass as a Bronco to stake Denver to a 14-7 lead as he hauled in Plummer's 1-yard pass. The drive took nine plays, covered 56 yards and wiped 4:41 off the clock. The score by Sharpe gave him the lead in the club's all-time touchdown receptions list, one more than teammate Rod Smith. Plummer continued his strong play on the drive as he went 5-for-5 on pass attempts for 54 yards. The touchdown pass was his 12th consecutive completion at that point in the game.
Jason Hanson's 53-yard field goal shaved Denver's lead to 14-10 with six minutes left in the half. The Lions moved the ball 45 yards in 10 plays over 4:36. The field goal was the 23rd of Hanson's career from 50 yards or beyond, ranking him third in the statistic behind Elam and Morten Andersen.
At the two-minute mark, Sharpe caught an 8-yard pass, the 765th reception of his career, moving him into10th place in all-time receptions, passing Hall of Famer James Lofton.
Late in the half, Plummer rushed for seven yards and dove for the first down. When he dove, the ball hit the ground and came free before a Detroit player touched him, thus a fumble. The ball was recovered by the Lions' Jimmy Wyrick and Detroit had a first down at their own 18-yard line with 1:05 showing on the clock. The turnover did not hurt as the clock ran out before the Lions were able to score points.
THIRD QUARTER
Plummer's consecutive completions streak was stopped at 16 with the first play of the half when his attempt to Reuben Droughns fell incomplete. With his 16 consecutive completions, the quarterback tied former Bronco Craig Morton for fourth place in the category in franchise history. Morton accomplished the feat on Dec. 10, 1978 against the Kansas City Chiefs.
A quarter that went back and forth finally saw some scoring when Elam added a 37-yard field goal to push Denver's lead to seven points at 17-10. The score came with 1:17 left in the frame and completed a 9-play, 57-yard drive that lasted 4:45.
FOURTH QUARTER
Detroit wide receiver Scotty Anderson caught a 43-yard from Harrington less than two minutes into the quarter to pull the visitors closer to Denver. The point-after-touchdown, which would have tied the game at 17 was not executed properly and the Lions weren't able to get a kick off, thus the score was 17-16 in favor of the Broncos. The Detroit scoring drive took 2:41 and travelled 70 yards in seven plays.
Jason Elam added his second field goal of the game, a 41-yarder, to push his team's lead to four points at 20-16. The score came with 3:13 left in the came and wrapped up a 10-play, 57-yard drive that lasted 4:29.
Detroit had one more opportunity to put some points on the board after Elam's kick. Faced with 4th-and-10, Harrington reared back and looked for his rookie wide receiver Charles Rogers who caught the 10-yard pass to keep hope alive by securing a first down. Three plays later, the Lions found themselves in the same situation and Harrington again looked for Rogers, but his pass was defended by Lenny Walls, which turned the ball back over to Denver. With 1:21 left in the game, Plummer took a knee twice to run out the clock.
NOTES
"It's always nice to win those close football games," said Shanahan. "I thought in the first half we had a chance to do some good things, and a chance, not to put them away, but to score another ten points in that first half. Unfortunately, we didn't get it done. I thought we moved the ball and did some good things in the second half that we needed to do - but give them credit, I thought they came out and played well."
The victory was the 100th of Head Coach Mike Shanahan's career as a head coach.
It also extended the club's streak of games that it has not been shutout to 169 which is the fourth-longest in the NFL. In addition, Denver will extend its league-leading streak of 47 consecutive weeks that the team has had a record of .500 or better.
Plummer completed 25 of 34 passes for 277 yards with two touchdowns and a rating of 116.9. In the absence of Portis, the quarterback took on some of the rushing duties and gained 40 yards on six attempts with a long of 20.
Sharpe was Denver's leading receiver with 74 yards on seven receptions with a long of 20 and one touchdown. Lelie also contributed with four catches for 76 yards with a long of 29 and one score.
Next week the Broncos will head to Kansas City to take on the Chiefs in a battle of undefeated clubs in search of sole possession of first place in the AFC West. Kickoff will come at 11 a.m. (MDT) from Arrowhead Stadium and the contest will be broadcast by CBS. | |
