Yuck: Rams beat Lions 17-10 in battle of bad teams

By LARRY LAGE

The Associated Press

DETROIT — As expected of two teams that combined for one win entering Sunday, the St. Louis Rams and Detroit Lions played an awful football game.

St. Louis, though, loved the outcome — for the first time all season.

Steven Jackson's 25-yard touchdown run with 1:38 left lifted the Rams to a 17-10 win over Detroit, snapping their 17-game losing streak.

The Rams (1-7) avoided matching their worst start in franchise history. They also ended talk about joining Detroit (1-6) as the only teams in NFL history to have an 0-16 season.

St. Louis' key score came on a trick play. It lined up to kick a field goal and had kicker Josh Brown throw a short pass to a wide-open Daniel Fells, whose 36-yard reception gave the Rams a 10-2 lead in the final minute of the first half.

Detroit scored its only points on offense early in the fourth quarter when Matthew Stafford had a 4-yard run and 2-point conversion pass to tie the game. The Lions were credited with a safety when James Butler intercepted a pass in the end zone, returned it past the goal line then went back in the end zone and was tackled.

Detroit got the ball back with a chance to force overtime with 1:32 to go, but turned the ball over on downs from its 10 to seal the victory for the Rams.

St. Louis hadn't won since beating Dallas on Oct. 19, 2008.

Detroit had the league's first 0-16 season last season and St. Louis won just two games in 2008.

The Lions have won just two of their past 31 games dating to the midway point of 2007. The last team to have two victories in a 32-game stretch was the Houston Oilers during the 1982-84 seasons, according to STATS.

As expected, the lowly teams showed how bad they are with an assortment of mental and physical mistakes.

Jackson, though, had another solid performance. He ran for a season-high 149 yards on 22 carries and his go-ahead TD was St. Louis' first rushing score of the season.

Marc Bulger was 17 of 35 — getting numerous passes batted down by defensive ends — for 176 yards and an interception into the arms of defensive end Dewayne White.

Stafford played after missing two games with an injured right knee and getting an extra week to rest during Detroit's bye. The No. 1 pick in the draft didn't have much to work with, missing standout receiver Calvin Johnson (right knee) and having teammates drop several passes. It took three-plus quarters for a wide receiver to catch a pass and Bryant Johnson's drought-ending reception set up Stafford's game-tying run.

Stafford was 14 of 33 for 168 yards with an interception.

Maurice Morris ran for 63 yards and Kevin Smith, slowed by a shoulder injury, had 45 yards rushing.

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November 01, 2009 05:51 PM EST

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