Lions Have a Better Idea at Ford

The Detroit Lions aren’t a great team by any means, but at home they’ve been good enough to already surpass last season’s victory total.

Jason Hanson kicked his third field goal, from 43 yards, with 48 seconds left to help the Lions defeat the Dallas Cowboys, 9-7, Sunday.

“We’ve got a three-game winning streak at home, and that’s a big statement these players have made,” said Detroit Coach Marty Mornhinweg, who was 2-14 in his first season.

The Lions (3-5) have lost all 12 of the road games they’ve played under Mornhinweg, but in their first season at Ford Field, they’ve beaten New Orleans, Chicago and the Cowboys (3-6).

Joey Harrington, Detroit’s rookie quarterback, struggled much of the game, but his longest completion of the game -- a 13-yard play to James Stewart -- on fourth and three from the Dallas 43 kept the game-winning drive going. Harrington completed three of four passes on the drive, which began on the Lion 37, and Stewart ran four times to set up the field goal.

Harrington was 14 for 33 for 104 yards with two interceptions.

“You can call it ugly, you can call it whatever you want, but we won, we won, we won,” said Harrington.

One week after breaking Walter Payton’s NFL record for career rushing yardage, the Cowboys’ Emmitt Smith ran for only 39 yards in 16 carries. Smith has 16,782 yards in a 13-season career.

Troy Hambrick replaced Smith on third-and-short situations and scored the only touchdown for the Cowboys -- a three-yard run that put them ahead 7-6 with 7:42 to play.

Dallas had two possessions after that, but couldn’t get a first down.