Lions Have That Rundown Feeling

Olandis Gary. Rhymes with Barry. And on Christmas Day, the Denver Bronco rookie ran a little like Barry Sanders too--much to the chagrin of the sagging Detroit Lions, whose playoff hopes took another hit.

Gary rushed for 185 yards, all but 11 in the second half, to lead the Broncos to a 17-7 victory, extending the Lions’ losing streak to three games.

“Our offensive line blocked well for me today,” Gary said. “We came out in the second half and played Broncos football.”

The Lions, meanwhile, came out flat, drawing the wrath of Coach Bobby Ross.

“There’s just not the competitive fire and spark that I would want to see from our ballclub at this stage,” he said. “We have some weaknesses, but that’s not the point.

“You overcome those things with fire and intensity, and I just don’t like it.”

The Lions (8-7) might still earn a wild-card spot in the NFC if they win their final game next week against the Minnesota Vikings at Minneapolis. But that’s a big if for the Lions, who have lost five of seven after a 6-2 start.

“It seems like we only play well if our backs are against the wall,” wide receiver Johnnie Morton said. “That might be the only positive in this. It seemed like every play, someone wasn’t there. It wasn’t 10 guys screwing up on one play, it was a different guy screwing up on 10 plays.”

Gary, who rushed for 183 yards a week ago in an overtime victory over the Seattle Seahawks, scored on a 45-yard run for the Broncos.

“He was awesome,” tight end Byron Chamberlain said. “He kind of started off slow. He kept running hard, kept hitting the holes hard, and sooner or later, it seemed like those guys didn’t even want to tackle him.”

Lion quarterback Charlie Batch, making his first start since suffering a broken right thumb in a Nov. 7 game against the St. Louis Rams, looked rusty, completing 21 of 40 passes for 267 yards. There were some drops, but Batch was largely ineffective until late in the game, when he capped an 80-yard drive with a 13-yard touchdown toss to Herman Moore with 1:56 to play.

Detroit’s rally was too little and far too late. The Broncos (6-9) broke a scoreless tie by scoring on their first three possessions of the second half, building a lead the struggling Lions could do nothing about.

Jason Elam’s 32-yard field goal gave Denver a 10-0 lead and Brian Griese, who completed 22 of 30 passes for 171 yards with one interception, hooked up with Dwayne Carswell on a one-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter.

The Broncos needed only two plays to break the 0-0 tie.

On the first play of the third quarter, Griese completed a 17-yard pass to Ed McCaffrey. Another 15 yards were tacked on after Ron Rice was flagged for hitting McCaffrey in the head while he was down.

That gave Denver the ball on the Lion 45. Gary broke off left tackle, made a nice move to evade a tackler at the 10 and slanted over the goal line for a 7-0 lead.

Gary carried five times for 43 yards on Denver’s next possession, going over 1,000 yards for the season in the process, and setting up Elam’s field goal.

“He’s playing better and better every week, especially the last couple of weeks,” McCaffrey said. “He’s always been breaking tackles and making extra yards after he gets hit.

“The last couple of weeks, he’s made some big, big runs and showed a little bit of speed.”