PRO FOOTBALL : Rogers’ Debut a Success as Hipple Rallies Lions

Eric Hipple overcame what he described as the worst start in his life to spark the Detroit Lions to a 28-27 victory over the Atlanta Falcons Sunday, handing Darryl Rogers a win in his NFL coaching debut.

After seeing the Lions fall behind, 14-0, in the first quarter when he threw two interceptions and was sacked twice, Hipple fired three touchdown passes to lead the comeback.

“That’s the worst start I’ve ever, ever, ever had, and that goes all the way back to little league football,” Hipple said. “That’s the lowest I have ever felt. But the coaches remained optimistic and wouldn’t let us get down. They kept reassuring us and showed confidence in me.”

Despite his team’s poor start, Rogers expressed satisfaction with the victory.

“I’m very pleased to win any time,” he said. “But to win at this level, and especially as poorly as we played the first half, that’s something extra.

“As we got into the game, the momentum seemed to go our way. But Atlanta had regained the momentum there near the end and we were lucky to retain the ball and run out the clock.”

The Lions fell behind, 14-0, in the first quarter when they were unable to get further than their own 25-yard line, but scored twice in both the second and third quarters. Hipple had an eight-yard touchdown pass to James Jones and a 15-yarder to Jeff Chadwick in the second quarter. In the third period, Hipple hit Chadwick with a nine-yard scoring strike and Jones wrapped up Detroit’s scoring with 4:52 left in the third.

“This game was a disappointment to myself and our players,” Falcon Coach Dan Henning said. “We made a number of mental errors. You simply can’t win the close games when you make as many as we made.”

Atlanta broke on top when Gerald Riggs, who gained 131 yards on 31 carries, went over from the one with 4:18 gone in the game. Steve Bartkowski threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Charlie Brown with 33 seconds remaining in the first quarter to make it 14-0.

The Falcons took a 21-14 lead when Bartkowski fired a 35-yard touchdown pass to Billy (White Shoes) Johnson with 1:54 remaining in the first half.

Johnson became the NFL’s all-time leader in punt return yardage with 5 returns for 58 yards, giving him 3,012 yards in his career and surpassing Denver’s Rick Upchurch, who had 3,008.

In the final quarter, Atlanta closed to within a point on field goals of 46 and 31 yards by Mick Luckhurst.