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CLEVELAND -- The scoreboard was lopsided. Willie Brown . The stat sheet looked worse. And after Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford and the rest of the Lions dragged themselves back to the locker room at halftime, there was only one thing to do. "Press the reset button," wide receiver Kris Durham said. Starting fresh after being dominated by Cleveland in the first half, Stafford threw three of his four touchdown passes after halftime, rallying Detroit to a 31-17 win over the Browns on Sunday. The Lions (4-2) outscored the Browns 24-0 in the second half, sealing their win when Stafford hooked up with rookie tight end Joseph Fauria with 2:01 left. The 6-foot-7 Fauria caught three TD passes for the Lions, who played like a completely different team in the second half after leaving the field down 17-7 and looking listless, lifeless and destined for a second straight loss. "We werent playing our best," Lions coach Jim Schwartz said of his teams first-half struggles. "The players knew it. We came out in the second half and started to hit on all cylinders." The Browns (3-3) had their chances at a comeback end when quarterback Brandon Weedens baffling shovel pass with 4:36 left was intercepted by Lions linebacker DeAndre Levy. "Its a bone-headed play," Weeden said. Lions running back Reggie Bush finished with 135 total yards, 121 in the second half. At halftime, Bush had touched the ball just seven times. But Stafford went to the versatile back whenever he needed a big play and Bush, taking advantage of mismatches against slower Cleveland linebackers, had a 39-yard run in the third and caught an 18-yard TD pass. "Hes not a dual threat or triple threat, hes a quadruple threat," Fauria said of Bush. "He does everything." Stafford finished 25 of 43 for 248 yards. He completed eight passes to Durham, who took over as Detroits primary target with superstar Calvin Johnson not himself because of a balky right knee. Johnson, who missed last weeks loss at Green Bay, had just three catches for 25 yards, but the Browns were forced to keep a watchful eye on "Megatron" at all times. Weeden, making his first start since Week 2, finished 26 of 43 for 292 yards, but will be remembered for his ill-advised pass when Cleveland was driving for a possible tying touchdown. Trailing 24-17 and at Detroits 44 with a first down, Weeden was pressured by defensive tackle C.J. Mosley, who had his hand around the quarterbacks left ankle. But instead of throwing the ball away or taking a sack, Weeden tried to pitch the ball over fullback Chris Ogbonnayas head but it was picked off by Levy. It was another poor decision by Weeden, the second-year QB thrust back into the lineup after Brian Hoyer sustained a season-ending knee injury on Oct. 3. "Anytime you try underhand stuff bad things happen," Weeden said. Stafford, on the other hand, made all the right moves in the second half. He was 15 of 21 for 165 yards and the three TDs in the final 30 minutes. At halftime, Lions coaches had their say and Durham said starting Stephen Tulloch addressed the team. "He got up in front of us and said a few words that he needed to say like a team leader would," Durham said. "I think it got us fired up and ready to go for the second half." So what did Tulloch say? "Team stuff," Durham said. It was certainly team stuff by the Lions in the second half as their defence stiffened. The Browns, who had piled up 115 yards rushing in the first, were limited to 6 total yards and no first downs in the third quarter. Cleveland gained 145 total yards after halftime, 72 after the Lions built a 14-point lead. Faurias 23-yard TD in the fourth period gave the Lions a 21-17 lead. Fauria got behind linebacker Craig Robertson and made a leaping catch in traffic before celebrating with a dunk over the goal post. Fauria has seven receptions this season, four for TDs. "First of all, hes tall," Schwartz said of Fauria, an undrafted free agent from UCLA. "But there are a lot of tall guys who arent good football players." Weeden threw two short TD passes and Billy Cundiff kicked a 40-yard field goal as the Browns, using a balanced attack, scored 17 unanswered points in the second quarter to build their halftime lead. Lyle Alzado Jersey . -- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are making a case for saving coach Greg Schianos job with a strong second-half turnaround. Otis Sistrunk . PAUL, Minn.MOOSE JAW, Sask. -- Sam Reinhart scored his 28th goal of the season, then added his 29th into an empty net with 58 seconds to go to lead the Kootenay Ice to a 3-1 win over the Moose Jaw Warriors in Western Hockey League action on Tuesday. Jaedon Descheneau had a goal and an assist to round out the offence for Kootenay (31-21-4). Torin White replied with the lone goal for the Warriors (14-33-8), who have lost two in a row. Ice goaltender Mackenzie Skapski made 34 saves to pick up the victory. Moose Jaws Justin Paulic stopped 35 shots in the losing effort. --- HITMEN 7 RAIDERS 2 CALGARY -- Brady Brassart scored two goals and assisted on two more as the Hitmen thrashed the Raiders. Jake Virtanen had two goals and an assist for Calgary (35-15-6), while Pavel Padakin, Adam Tambellini and Joe Mahonn also scored. Menelik Watson. Connor Rankin chipped in with four assists. Sawyer Lange and Josh Morrissey scored for Prince Albert (25-26-3), who were outshot 36-23. Mack Shields turned aside 21 of the Raiders shots to pick up the victory. His counterpart, Cole Cheveldave, made 29 saves in defeat. --- TIGERS 6 WHEAT KINGS 1 MEDICINE HAT, Alta. -- Miles Koules had a four-point night with two goals and two assists to lead the Tigers over the Wheat Kings. Anthony Ast also scored two, and Steven Owre and Curtis Valke chipped in with singles for Medicine Hat (33-20-3). Richar Nejezchleb had the lone goal for Brandon (28-22-6), who has dropped its last two contests. Tigers goalie Marek Langhammer stopped 20 shots. Curtis Honey took the loss for the Wheat Kings after making 29 saves. ' ' ' |
