Sanders Is the Key for Lions : Pro football: With Moore and Lynch injured, Detroit needs running back against the Packers.

The question facing the Detroit Lions today is one that would make most teams squirm.

In an era when coaches study films until their eyes are red and their wives are strangers, is it really possible for one NFL team to defeat another one twice in a span of six days?

“Why not?” asked defensive lineman Marc Spindler of the Lions. “Happens all the time in baseball.”

Maintaining that theme, the Lions will try to shut out a group of big swingers who have as many strikeouts as hits in their first-round playoff game today against the Green Bay Packers at the Silverdome.

In the first meeting between these two Central Division rivals, Green Bay outgained Detroit in total yardage, 404-205, and won, 26-17.

But last week in Pontiac, the Lions forced Packer quarterback Brett Favre into throwing four interceptions and his teammates to fumble four times in a 30-20 Lion victory.

Oddly enough, Barry Sanders, the Lions’ standout running back, played in the first game but sat out the second because of a knee injury.

He practiced this week and is expected to try to play today for the first time in six weeks. With both backups, Derrick Moore and Eric Lynch, injured, he is needed more than ever.

“I’ll wait for Barry until five seconds before the game. He is that important to us,” Coach Wayne Fontes said.

The Packer defense, ranked second in the NFL, will be tested at least as much by their quarterback.

Favre threw a league-high 25 interceptions and constantly put his defense in difficult positions by refusing to take a sack.

Knowing this, the Lions’ sixth-ranked defense blitzed often Sunday and will probably challenge him to adjust today.

If he does, perhaps making fullback Edgar Bennett as much of a target as record-setting Sterling Sharpe, the Packers could have a reversal of fortune.

Favre says he doesn’t believe that one team can be beaten by another twice in a week.

“They did some things last week that surprised us,” he said. “I think there will be changes.”