1992 Oilers @ Lions

happy thanksgiving everyone from the silver dome in pontiac michigan the thanksgiving football tradition continues today houston spoilers meet the detroit lions before a crowd of over 70 000 fans this a day of reflection a day to freshen and share memories of good times and give thanks also a day to recognize those times not so pleasant mike utley personifies both the young lion offensive lineman paralyzed in a game a year ago but his persistently positive attitude his blatant courage has been an inspiration to the entire football community today he makes his first appearance at a lion's game since his injury he returns as honorary captain the lions and their fans give them the detroit lions would like to welcome a very special man to the silver dog who is serving as the lion's honorary captain for today's 53rd annual thanksgiving day game how about a big welcome to the lions number 60 mike ugly for the coin toss today mike gudley is going to be an honorary captain for detroit this side his tails this side is heads you'll call the coin toss fall while it's in the air fancy calls tails it is you've won the toss do you want to receive you want you want to receive which goal do you want to play bring your backs around there detroit has won the toss elected to receive much so the start of a very emotional day here and it's uh in a way a climax of an entire year for wayne fonts you saw the head coach of the lions embracing uh his player utley wayne fonts who lost his brother a heart attack just a few months ago he was the first man to get to his brother to try to revive him only two years older former assistant coach he was uh crying uh openly during the national anthem his daughter at his side he's lost the starting guard eric andelsek and this is the scene during the national anthem that preceded the coin toss as as he told us he said the tradition of being with my brother at every game i still can't quite cope with the fact that he is gone so it in a minute in many ways this thanksgiving football game is a microcosm of emotion for all of us around the united states we all have people that we remember on this day and we feel through these players and coaches one of the bad things about football is no matter what happens you got to play and somehow houston has to fight through all this emotion dick and so the relief of play begins as the oilers have kicked off and the lions uh began at the 27-yard line that was troy stratford who returned the lineup only one man from last year about this time remains in that offensive line lomas brown rebuilt bones miller dala for conover barry kramer will start at quarterback the great barry sanders for running back willie green brett berman mike farr the outside receivers they have a tight end now that'll please bob trumpy here the lions they'll go with aubrey matthews when they go to four wide so they it's a combination lions offense it'll be run and shoot the silver streak that sometimes with four whiteouts at other times it'll remind you of the washington offense as dan henning has been signed as the offensive coordinator and brings that offense here to detroit and before we can initiate the first play from scrimmage a time-out call by cramer and it's called because the 45-second clock was down to two seconds and if there is one play that is can probably capsulize this 1992 season this may be it so while tom white the referee and even his voices he announced the coin toss seemed to be choked with emotion daughter kim and coach wayne fonts here's a tough for all of us to sometimes get through those pictures but uh the uh that's to the uh family of fonts the brothers family and and you know out of this emotion the lions obviously are sky high but for the oilers uh bob trumpy to bring it back down to the mundane a simple football game what's their counter attack the opening of this game is so very key to the houston oilers success they somehow have to remove as much emotion from the team as they can shaking to sanders william eric framer goes down at the 25-yard line against a very tough defense against the pass jeff hallm was the man in there to trip him up and here is the defense of the oilers fuller childress almond jones that front four put a lot of pressure on reno with only a four-man push graf replaces the injured lamar lathan al smith is the leading tackle the rookie eddie robinson at the other outside spot in the back four dishman and gray mcdowell and robertson tony brown and steve jackson a couple of young speedsters going in the dive so the lions stumble out of the gate this man on the coverage you can use emotion to elevate your team it can also be so emotion packed that it takes something out of the team mike cutley was in the locker room this morning say hello to everyone and of course he is not the only tragedy that detroit has had to deal with in the last 13 months we pretty much documented that two days ago when i talked to wayne fox he couldn't go a statement without mentioning his brother lenny's name that's how close those two were and they're still getting over it interestingly the younger brother johnny actually the pronunciation has taken over landing spot as the defensive back coach here in detroit kramer reloads the rush but doesn't get the first down tackled at the 29-yard line by al smith number 54. so the detroit lions first possession ends without a first down and the oilers who have played some of their best offensive football in the first quarter will try to strike first as they employ for the punt by jim arnold one of the many of the elvis presley fan club webster slaughter cleveland browns free agent so deemed the judge's call this year is back to return hand over in by arnold fair catch and a tough chance almost hit an oiler and finally downed at the 34-yard line by andre jones a 35-yard punt for jim arnold cody carlson he's from baylor to sixth season he'll be protected by a new left tackle kevin donnelly for the injured don mags munchak matthews dawson williams all highly talented there is protectors lorenzo white who played just up the road at michigan state david jeffries webster slaughter ernest gibbons and curtis duncan in the run and shoot lorenzo white had two straight big names at minnesota in a victory and at miami where the oiler almost went and then down the middle deep in a first down at the lyon 46-yard line as the catch is made by slaughter hit by william white 19 yards in the play defensively robert porche they think very highly of this rookie from south carolina state spindler ball pritchett on the front line two linebackers against the run and shoot jameson and spielman to start with crockett considered the best cover man at one corner the veteran melvin jenkins at the other william white pro bowler benny blades at safety and sheldon white the extra db and when they go to the dime kevin scott from stanford joins that group first down detroit 46. lorenzo white's first call that's him about three chris spielman one of the many in on the tackle he had 13 solo tackles against the bengals in the win last week and he called that his best game ever yeah in designing the defense that is moving it around and also making the plays but this is the part of the game today that chris bielman starts he is walking to the sideline he's a coach's son and when he talked to the defensive coaches here at detroit and they said look we're going to go with some interesting defenses you're not on the field he was not happy at all on the coach's son i'll do what they want but i want to be on that field talk about an encaged lion he was walking the floor carlson white on the draw and launch alonzo excuse me lorenzo white for a first down at the 32-yard line toby caston made the tackle 11 yards for white one of the things the run and shoot for houston is employed a little more than they have in previous years has been the draw play to lorenzo white of course last year alan pinkett was their runner lorenzo white has really filled the bill nicely here playing the super back and these little draws takes pressure off of the quarterback and in the run and shoot one thing that's been very noticeable the last couple of years this year the run and shoot quarterbacks have been hit the quiet riot lorenzo white you see he's enjoying his best rushing year approaching 900 yards on the season he gets the call again and plows inside the 30 a tough four yards for white before melvin jenkins and others can make the stop there's always a chess game going on out there on the field dick and what the detroit defensive coordinator and coaching staff is trying to do that's what he would and harper their defensive coordinator because they're trying to match up personnel houston would like who was second as a sophomore in the heisman balloting at michigan state when he led the nation in rushing he's from fort lauderdale florida and played with his neighborhood friend against him in high school benny blades who's a lion safety man today and when you we saw him in practice yesterday you mentioned that nickname quiet wyatt he had a nice little grin on his face he kind of likes that name there's blades said he once hit lorenzo white so hard in a game that he almost swallowed a lot of cotton he'd bend to the dentist had lorenzo white blade said i hit him so hard that i i think he swallowed the wall to the sidelines and they try to use the height of jeffries as he goes up over the shorter defender at 6-2 jefferies couldn't uh climb the ladder on that one that's one of the things that kevin gilbride the offensive coordinator mentioned to us last week against miami the dolphins used a great deal of bump and run he said specifically haywood jeffries has to win the bump and run match-ups and we see gilbride that the houston euler's face with his tall long arms good strength he's got to bounce off those defensive players and make those catches and it was an outstanding high school basketball player jeffrey's in greensboro north carolina where his teammate was danny manning third down eight flags fly no play it appeared that kevin donnelly is first nfl start and now we've got both sides uh entangled make a wish webster slaughter one of those for the others fonts in his fourth year jack pardee in his third fonts uh who played at michigan state false start 77 offense moving prior to the snap five yards still third top of the screen 77 his first start you can understand why he's a little anxious i've been in this situation as a touring professional football player donnelly from north carolina his brother rick played six years in the league third down and 13. houston among the elite in converting third downs detroit near the bottom also the jeffries almost intercepted that would have denied a possible field goal as it was through the arms of george jameson jefferies was wide open carlson has had trouble throwing high he's pressured slightly but not enough to really affect this he's got a nice lane there when you when a receiver comes across the middle he wants that thing in the framework of his chest any time you reach up there high you can envision a trainer's visit to the field looking for you are you all right so you got to put that one on the quarterback over the middle hit him in the numbers it's a 41-yard attempt and ironically as you can see 41 yards and this one it was a 41-yarder that he missed against miami that might have won the game against the dolphins last sunday and they've run out of time and don't call time and that'll make it a much more difficult chance for del greco there's a little more pressure on mr del greco too it's been a week of pressure of oil the fans and press been on him down in texas after missing against miami had missed against pittsburgh earlier this year that cost the oilers a victory but when the general manager says to you is leg from 46 punter greg montgomery to hold there's hole back the general manager facing the floors in this week plenty of leg it's the upright no good the left upright lions fans give thanks no score i don't know how it is that this football seems to hit these uprights so often these kickers are good they're not that good and the five yard penalty might have been the difference between no yellow paint and that result might also be a difference between a phone call to a free agent kicker and continued employment so wayne fonts off to a slow start offensively but his defense good enough and el del greco's leg just bad enough portrait of the loneliest man in the silver dome at the moment al del greco missing from 46 yards the lions take over at their 28-yard line and it's barry sanders first chance and he gets to the 31. two and a half sean jones a better veteran at uh defensive right in to make the tackle now the lions have a patchwork offensive line they have only lomas brown the left tackle from last year's starters bowens miller delapor and conover look at their background free agent free agent free agent and the fifth round draft pick from purdue as commonwealth so they've gotten better through the course of the year and barry sanders numbers have gone up accordingly again a pass too tall that one intended for aubry matthews this one was the cover well dishman certainly read this very well watch how quickly he comes up this is just a little hitch pattern this one is right on it ball thrown high and uh o.j simpson said before the game that uh even though rodney pete is the number one quarterback on this team kramer starts today it's not going to be too long before rodney pete is warming up yeah mr dishwa he's he's not a quiet runner he is a loud writer well mark jackson who played with him with purdue called him dish rag because he's always bragging opponents always talking uh trash out of bounds with the lions first first down at the 43 a dozen on the play boy did detroit need to play like that nothing to this point they had called offensively work full protection ramer steps to this one very nicely even though there's a little game run up front ray childress is right in his face easily done jackson on the coverage but he's got enough for the first down inside receiver out of the slot or breaks away from the young rookie defensive back you would think that these defensive backs are certainly used to looking at the run and shoot fred perriman one of the strongest wide receivers in football can bench press 500 pounds i'd like to see that i'd like to see that barry sanders using that stutter step that t stop from tennis move of his and he skitters out to the 50-yard line a gain of nearly seven there's a lot of statistics kept in the nfl some of the private ones say that barry sanders is the best back in the league at making the first guy miss and the second and the third jim eddy told us last night the defensive coordinator of the houston oilers they got to surround him keep him in the box gary sanders from oklahoma state where he won the heisman see three and a half yard average the first six games 5.1 the last five and much more yardage and touchdown that reflects the better offensive line how does he get out of trouble in the first down at the 46-yard line and that was the word used by the oilers as we talked to him yesterday the defender saying we've got to put a roper on him we got to build a corral but sanders finds a way to escape he's very dangerous long-running situations you get a wide rush by anybody in the defense and that's where barry sanders goes through you mentioned his success a lot of people around the country wondering why the lions went from the run and shoot to more tight ends they were facing defenses with seven guys at the line of scrimmage they need 150 yards of games from barry sanders good solid tackle by marcus robertson to drop him at the 36 yard line that's close to another first down just to show you what a mule this kit is for the detroit lions i mean the workload in nine of 11 games to this point in the season he's been the only running back to carry the ball last year in 10 of 16 games he was the only running back to carry the ball and lynn fonts goes nowhere without barry sanders and always checks on barry sanders first he has the chance to hit the thousand yard mark today become the third of this season to hit 1 000 yards very fast for the steelers emmett smith of dallas already over 1100. hey childress charging through let's see if he was thrown offside from his reaction uh it looked as if children's guest wrong there's a man who's frustrated he's one of those guys who has the makeup that he never encroachment number 79 defense childress never gives up on any play never gives up on any team never gives up anywhere move from defensive end into defensive tackle doesn't like it but is resigned to playing in there and is an all-pro just not playing with playing with excellence he's been in the full goal of the last three years he watches from the sidelines cheering for his teammates no score and the flag goes down as a face mask at the 28-yard line william fuller made the tackle we'll see against whom they call the penalty when you talk to this coaching staff of the detroit lions the thing that amazes me most when they talk about barry sanders as good a football player as he is they all say he's an even better person he wouldn't want that to accolade personal foul grabbing a face mask half a distance it was fuller that gets the 15 yard penalty reverse angle left hand across the face mask certainly dangerous for all players it was a flagrant foul you see the sweep bowen 66 out in front yeah fuller spins them all the way around half the distance to the goal penalty first down detroit from the 14-yard line there's the fuller rush man 54 who's going to have a busy day he was almost perspiring as he talked about barry sanders yesterday he said i know i'm going to have a tough job but he made that play kept him within his range here he is a man from utah state who had more tackles than anyone in the history of that school when he left all the defensive players from houston were willing and quick to admit even though they faced barry foster twice this is the best running back they have faced at this point in the season and again encroachment jeff owen a former notre damer uh in the backfield to tackle sanders but no play well penalties have hurt houston but you know in a short week it's hard as a player to concentrate there are a lot of things you have to overcome you're still sore you're still stiff it's your third straight road game if you're a houston euler they flew in here at 1am the other night body clocks are really off for these houston euler players offsides number 76 defense yard line and the ball now rests at the eight five penalties in the first quarter but it has to be just not being used to the short week and also the third road trip in a row that's a tough call for jack party's team and they're now almost in that desperate zone for victory they lose today they're six and six and this is a team many thought would be a real contender to be the super bowl finals good coverage by disman no penalty dismay he booked him beyond the five yards oh they're not number one they're number three in the afc center so the penalty yards mount against the houston oilers there's no question that this would push them there is no penalty on the play the pass was uncatchable third down goodness the pass was uh uncatchable and the gesture apparently wasn't caught either there's no question that there's contact there whether the ball is catchable or not is a judgment call by the officials this is the fade pattern run i don't know if that was catchable or not i mean if he's unimpeded to the ball he's got a shot to catch that thing intended for him 84 the second-year receiver from virginia number one pick framer just just get it off and now we'll scramble inside the five he's close to a first down eddie robinson the rookie from alabama state the former hornet stops kramer uh right at the sticks it'll depend on the mark there's dan hanning former head coach of san diego he's the offensive coordinator came in here brought tight ends to alleviate some of the pressure from barry sanders this team the detroit lions only has two running backs on its roster well the oilers have only three can you believe five running backs total no these two teams have more quarterbacks than they have running backs the game has changed light years we're going to measure mike holaback you saw his picture earlier the general manager of the oilers who played in the thanksgiving day game in 1947 for the chicago bears said that hey five running backs there's hollow back he said you know the average team used to have you know six running tracks sure and you were scared when the sixth or the first got hurt because you doubt you were down your last five it is just short and lane fonts on fourth and uh about a foot he's going to go for it well now this year with the tight ends they can well last year with the pure run and shoot no tight ends it was a real problem and they've already gone for it four times this season and with the tight end in the backfield they put three tight ends in the game but a more reasonable chance to make it they put jimmy johnson a 255 pound tight end at that up that position harry sanders weights mary sanders jordan nest we're not talking about a big running back five eight around 200 pounds watch the leg stream runs through dumas after shredding robertson who had him for a loss wayne and kim fox celebrate the first down four shots from the one-yard al smith was one of the houston tackles sanders 32 yards rushing now all on this drive he's not scored a touchdown at the silver dome this year that in itself are quite remarkable he has a total of six all on the road last year 14 touchdowns and he scored plenty here the lions were unbeaten at home 9-0 including their playoff win against dallas not quite the same though in 1992 not barry sanders fault as we said but not quite the same record here defensively from eugene seal the 5 10 253 pound linebacker he's a barry sanders style build only just about 45 pounds heavier gaucio uh clapping with his own personal effort at the end of the first quarter no score the lions on the door the nfl on nbc is brought to you by dr pepper and your local dr pepper butler dr pepper is just what the doctor ordered by the people at nike who encourage you to just do it by canon canon cameras so advanced they're simple and by mazda mazda it just feels right welcome back we open the second quarter no score the detroit lions third and goal at the one-yard line an eight-minute plus drive the oilers had only one possession in that first quarter and missed on the 46-yard field goal now fox two tries by sanders from the one and knocked away by the order defense does he go with sanders again i think it's two more tries by the detroit lions if necessary same formation sanders 10 into the end zone a man from wichita left after his junior year at oklahoma state explaining that only 24 years of age he's the all-time lion rusher over 5200 yards gets his first home score dick in that drive barry sanders carried it 10 5. that could be a message yes one of the things you can't coach any running back is the feel for the game the bounce you see jimmy johnson leading him look at the move inside johnson is the only guy that keeps him out of the end zone he flips around and scores 72 yards 14 plays touchdown barry sanders in only his fourth season barry sanders has another touchdown his 50th 50 already the kick by hanson down to pat coleman and coleman to the 25-yard line barry sanders doesn't say much but he knows what day it is i'd like to wish a happy thanksgiving day to sanders family in wichita that couldn't be with me today and all the other family i have everywhere else you know who you are with wrinkle that is not an ordinary graphic time of possession for detroit lions fans they just haven't had the ball much this year next to last in the league yet they're 2-1 over houston to start the game today and in this season when they lead in possession time it is produced wins 6 and 0. backs in this sequence against the four wide receivers that cody carlson deploys good protection wide open to the 37-yard line ray crockett made the bump out of bounds nice block also by curtis duncan out there to extend the run a little bit now we showed you the lions with all the free agents the oilers and let me fill in the blanks mags supplemental but was a number two pick dawson free agent but he was a number two pick originally by the cardinals so they're all either ones or twos in the offensive line max is out however and being replaced by a third round kick there's a mag kevin donnelly at left tackle today there for the two young guys from fort lauderdale that was an awful busy play just to try to throw the ball to white watch what happens they fake the counter jenkins comes on the blitz on carlson he has to hurry it a little bit and lorenzo white can't make the catch so far houston's offense has done zero and it doesn't look that the way detroit's going to be able to run the ball they're going to have many chances dick they were ruining the that in the second half against miami they had only three possessions move the ball each time they got so little out of it have only this now their second possession and then we're in the second period white twist to the 40. a tough three melvin jenkins and others with the stop and dick to carry your point about the the job they did against miami this game of football is very simple two things control the line of screaming and have balance run the pass offense the defense if you can be around even in all those spots then things can work for you but when you have a defense that is on the field for over eight minutes in the first quarter all of a sudden houston's defense now tired now the offense has got to keep the ball to give the defense some rest and here's the third and seven for carlson as warren moon injured on the sidelines watches the slaughter not even close only a two-yard game yeah and he's a veteran receiver and that's a veteran quarterback nolvin jenkins who starred with the seattle seahawks and played three years up in the canadian league at calgary and hasn't lost a thing he's just having a fine season one of the things about the run and shoot is that they've not been able to get the ball down the field much anymore the way they used to because they're just not giving them the deep throw mel gray the best kick returner aloe dion sanders might argue but he's had more time in the league and he's produced every season gray for last year led in kick and country turns first time ever nfl history flags down however and he is too at the 19-yard line bruce matthews made the tackle and flags down 45 yards on the kick jack pardee wayne fox couldn't find two personalities uh more juxtaposed no i'm glad we found out what kind of mud jack pardee was either buying or selling he explained it to us he was selling educated us there is no foul on the play time out and we will reveal that mud story as the vice president of that company jack pardee told us the nfl on nbc is brought to you by starter look for the stars and you'll find starter by the card the american express card don't leave home without it buy diet dr pepper and your local dr pepper butler diet dr pepper the taste you've been looking for and by chevy trucks the most dependable longest lasting trucks on the road thanksgiving football celebration here in pontiac of course it's uh the entire state of michigan it's not just the detroit time the state supports its sports franchises and all four come outside you figure somebody pulled back for the lions it could have been pat conover the right tackle false start 76 offense moving prior to the snap five yards you thought that size it's hard to disguise a little movement backwards the penalties plaguing the oilers on the lions drive to a touchdown eventually scored by barry sanders from a yard out detroit has been guilty of too many fires on their coaching staff's evaluation yard line steve jackson assisted on the play by eddie robinson very important to make completions there because houston is now putting seven guys up at the line of scrimmage so even though it's for very few yards it's important to try to get the houston defense out of those seven guys at the line of scrimmage and that seven-man defensive front is to stop number 20. second down and eight kramer two for five both catches and a rare time drag down behind the line of scrimmage by the all-pro ray childress childress jumps around the block basically took away any chance for barry sanders to move that's what he does here he comes around the block and you see al smith 54 give him an assist made barry sanders bounce outside but detroit's now got to throw the ball down the field get those seven guys away from the line of scrimmage a little bit loosen up that defense yeah the cattle rancher children's favorite target and he has a first down out of bounds at the 36 yard line 18 more yards this is very important for detroit's offense loosen that defense up be a threat somewhat down the field excellent pattern run again we saw the same one before the same combination brett perriman tony brown to the outside watch the out pattern run see brown just drops him rimmer does a good job of looking around through the defense and finding the guy who is open one of the many city of miami products and the national football league free spirit he has 15 kids that he brings to all the home games five chapter ones from the inner city enjoying the game kramer fires herman moore has his first catch it's good for about ten same pattern the other side of the field war came into the game with a turf toe and kind of a bruised shoulder they weren't sure he was going to be able to contribute but this is more on dishman nice little hesitation move there than the hits to the outside moore is a big receiver and when you got big receivers just stand there like a goalie and play big hope the quarterback gets you right between the numbers set the receiving records for the cavs at the university of virginia now in his second season that's his 30th catch this year and they have bruised that oh uh was just one man away and it was bubba mcdowell who saved a long run i think again that's the defensive design by jim eddy they've got to keep that one extra man at the line of scrimmage you can't really see mcdowell in the picture here he is here he comes he's going to be right there to make the tackle see the offensive line can account for the five guys but the sixth is mcdowell the strong safety and he's there to make the tackle the defense worked stop cold at the 50 crowd of oilers after a yard game eddie robinson the rookie better every week he did not even go to college on a football scholarship an academic scholarship to alabama state majored in chemistry there and was a walk-on freshman i i just always catches my eye whenever there's an nfl player a walk-on in college no one thought enough them for whatever reason to give him a full scholarship and yet here he is playing in the big league now some of these guys see the weight room for the first time when they go to college and suddenly a coach sees this muscled athlete walking on campus son you can play third and seven for kramer william kramer down the middle mike farr at the 24. a flag is down at the line of scrimmage that may come back far the son of mel farr one of the great runners in lion history and that one won't count a clipping call there's a rare signal it used to be a common one in the nfl but with all the rule changes to avoid that very destructive block below especially the one below the legs or below the waist but any block in the back is a clip i believe that's a 15-yard penalty too it is personal foul clipping 67 offense 15 yards replay third down the diesel ken delafor who has such bad knees he doesn't practice hardly at all all week long you're going to see it on ray childress the pass is gone an unnecessary clip by dallas for a veteran player who has very bad knees you would certainly be surprised that a guy who has had that many knee surgeries would hit anybody in the knee that's a 41-yard play 26 they don't get and 15 they take away thinking that the oilers would be looking past they give it to sanders and sanders is smothered at the 35 yard line and on comes the lion punting team actually you hear the detroit fans screaming and yelling they don't like this call but barry sanders third and long is probably the most dangerous back in the game jim arnold the punt he's had just one block this year against the steelers and then added a long string without being blocked wedged to slaughter at the other end at the 20. harry coleman number 21 who was down first and then is stopped at the 20-yard line by andre jones euler's ball down by seven well it's a day where uh you can give your loved ones a big hug but certainly don't do what the ken dalafor did childress great way to protect those aching knees of his practice carlson lorenzo white out to the 29-yard line just to complete the story dallaphor used to tape aspirins to his knees figuring that would help the pain yeah unfortunately dick uh that's kind of an iq test for offensive line most people take aspirin they don't tape aspirin i'm presuming he had one of those cheap phones and didn't get the right message he was taping them not taking them but he doesn't practice during the week his knees are so bad that he he can do nothing physically he goes through all the film sessions and then plays on sunday and it takes him the last guy to the watchmen now this guy just wants to play 33. don't give it up second and one and white for a first down to the 31-yard line chris spielman making the tackle certainly look like lorenzo white they're taking a page from barry sanders book nice little spin move but watch the other side chris spielman first of all taking on dawson 66 and then there for the tackle now this young man among other things can scare you when you sit with him and he's listening to your radio show a few years ago yeah he have corrected you you're back in your old radio show in cincinnati he said you said that bosworth ryan bosworth would be a better football player than me and i've never forgotten it carlson going deep has a man wide open gibbons and ernest gibbons who was very questionable whether he could play a severely twisted ankle against miami and he has the speed to get deep and it gives the oilers a first down at the 28-yard line 41-yard play well you could see that heavily taped ankle too this is a young man that they need a lot of production out of he is when they lost dru hill last year they need these slot receivers they're the big guys it's just a corner pattern run and frankly the coverage was not acceptable blades just didn't rotate out i see him again just up the field blaze is trying to read the quarterback carlson throws it beautifully for a big pickup trailing seven nothing with four and a half minutes to go in this first half that's his long catch of the year forgiven and a flag down they've spent their time a delay of game a lot of what makes the run and shoot work is the ability to stand at the line of scrimmage and audibilize to something else in other words you put your defense out there then we'll decide what play we're going to run carlson's not had a lot of starts only eight in the run and shoot warren moon is for sure a little more expert at going to the audibles so first down and 15 for carlson flag down and so is carlson kelvin pritchett who had two sacks against the bengals last week that was great coverage down the field by detroit if there's an underestimated a segment of this lion team this roster it's their defensive unit particularly their back four defenders they're very good that's what he wouldn't hope for the defensive coordinator i think the reason it was such coverage is watch this penalty dick i think it's gonna be on the guys in blue the rookie from south carolina state first round pick of the lions that's the home blue you see 91 hands to the face of munchak 63. so it wasn't the coverage downfield but it did give houston a first took a sack down from him as well that's a time all alone make lorenzo pulled his way down to the 10-yard line jeffrey's making a little block downfield to help him in an 18-yard play you can see how many places cody carlson looks before he finds an open receiver he looks right left pumps once and then right in front of him is lorenzo white now watch 84. hey what jeffrey he makes a little block okay what do you went up there he went but it didn't work what's outside the 10 yard line jameson poor shea and blades on the stock if you look at that defense wayne fox on the sideline but that defense jerry ball is not in there chris fema's not in there and they run the football and the draw to lorenzo white ball is an all-pro player spielman the leading tackler he wanted to make it clear he's a team guy he said i don't like not playing but hey i'm not going to disrupt any team attitude because my feelings are hurt there's a two-minute timeout 7-0 detroit miami dolphins with dan marino at the controls of one of the nfl's elite offenses they're on a playoff mission the new orleans saints led by a dominating defense these saints are marching towards the postseason get ready for this battle on bourbon street between two inner conference powers sunday we're back at the silverdome stay with us at halftime look at those faces bart starr vince lombardi don shula thanksgiving day 1962 we visited on nfl live domino's pizza nfl live what's your doing in there you're going to find out the oilers have figured out here you see the defense 58 jameson as a coverage linebacker jerry ball the nose tackle out chris bielman the leading tackler out so they run the football while he was having trouble keeping possession clearly down before he loses the dress third down and three third and three and a half for a touchdown he was open for quite some time you could just see him nervously saying throw it to me and by the time it got there he had lost his position it was deflected that's part of the problem and the field judge is standing right there number 37 saw the right foot out of bounds through the end zone and makes the call immediately and it is absolutely the correct call but look how clever then knowing that you hauled your body parts he actually got that right to back and touched it inbounds before he fell out and now the field goal try by al del greco with uh 116 remaining in the half and again it's been the frustration of these oilers who've been in almost every game off so many close ones they move the ball can't get the big score last play there was illegal motion on the offense player moving and going in motion in the backfield with alignment dropping into position at the same time we will give them the choice of the penalty so two men in motion on the play and uh you would think the lions here would decline the penalty and and be happy if the oil has tried the field goal what do you think the penalty on the offense has been declined it's fourth down is that what you think i think i decline it make it fourth down and have them go to the field though i just like the way we're getting in get them here don't you don't we head down the stretch toward the super bowl on nbc from pasadena in late january well del greco even though this isn't much more than an extra point a 20-yarder you know his adrenaline's flowing seven three detroit and a flag and the preliminary signal from referee white is it's against the oilers oh no al del crick will say now i got to do this again you remember when he tried the 41 yarder in the first quarter there's a penalty had to try from 46 hit the upright holy number 64 offense 10 yards will replay fourth down and now a 10-yard penalty will make it a 30-yard attempt for del greco almost as if the demons are working against del greco top of the screen is the man who moves yeah when a kicker is not going well and she tries to hook the guy on the outside kind of grabs him by the helmet and he puts his hand out there kickers are going tough they don't want more chances than are absolutely necessary so from 30 yards with montgomery holding you can hear the whole del craco clan psi release down there in houston it's 7-3 107 left for detroit before the intermission 107 remaining in this first half each team with only three possessions the lions getting the only touchdown you're looking at mike gutley paralyzed 53 weeks ago in the game against the los angeles rams and bob costas will be talking with mike gutley at halftime on the domino's pizza halftime report as well as a look at that 1962 game for those of you old enough on that thanksgiving the packers seemed unbeatable with bark star lombardi building that tremendous force at green bay and the lions with the incredible pass rush and don chula was part of that story short kick taken by troy stratford and flag down as stratford finds a little slice of daylight along that far sidelines gets to the 37 spencer tillman makes the tackle now let's check the flag boy you see the respect they're paying to mr gray they don't want him to have the ball at all they'll sacrifice 10 15 20 yards get it to enough back el gray what a return man he is he has a touchdown both on a punt and a kickoff return this year you know dick i'll tell you you hear coaches talk about the special teams being a third of the game and you've got to emphasize them if you look at teams who really don't emphasize the special teams as we hear the call here illegal block during the return 10 yards still first down as i was going to say when you have good special teams and special teams players like ray they might win you two or three games keep you close and a couple others five or six games a year you'll have an effect this is franken's the special teams coach when you don't pay a lot of attention to special teams a guarantee you lose five or six games guaranteed you'll lose five or six games because of the lack of attention to special teams well there's a former head coach of kansas city who is in charge of special teams mark levy was a special teams manager george allen now the head man of buckler barry sanders twisting out to the 20-yard line did you see him run through ray childress's arm i mean ray childress is an all-pro performer and when barry sanders broke the outside he went right through watch 79 when he comes out here you'll see him run right barry sanders run right through 79's left arm look at that you need both arms on this guy wrapped around him to get him down 40 yards for sanders but as you look at childress only a 2.7 average so the euler defense has done a good job of protecting against the long gainer fans i'm happy with the fact that around the football uh out the clock here with sanders who gets another yard fans not happy but the lions are content with a halftime lead of seven two three lorenzo white and the oilers a couple of chances to score missed one field goal and connected from 30 yards to mike cutley a day when this tough former lion has had his moment to take a bow finally back in detroit we'll hear what he has to say about it when we return i care about lions lead the oilers at the half in the silverdome 7-3 coming up a bit later during the halftime show we'll talk live with mike utley we're miking him up right now along the sideline at the silver dome in the meantime this year marks the 30th anniversary of a very memorable thanksgiving day game detroit hosting green bay the packers were the defending nfl champions and they were 10-0 entering the game the lions were a very solid team at eight and two but few thought that they could beat the mighty packers green bay had future hall of famers almost at every position well i had an excellent football team no question i had a great great depth we were the bridesmaids for many many years against the packers the packers were a cocky bunch of players because they had won the championship in 60. and we just didn't like them yeah i hated the guys and because they were number one all the time here we were going number two the setting was tiger stadium in detroit the lions turned in one of the great defensive performances in nfl history they sacked bart star 11 times and thoroughly dominated the packer offense the architect of the lion defense was a 32 year old assistant under head coach george wilson an assistant named don schulich it was one of the great defensive games that i've ever been around and we dominated that game from beginning to end it was a game where we blitzed a lot and green bay never got their great offense on track roger brown and alex carris just were tired of hearing about the green bay packers and jerry cramer and fuzzy thurston and blocking them and everything and i can remember one time when roger picked up fuzzy thurston and threw him back and knocked him in the bart star and karis just went through him like they weren't there that day i felt like in in a dream sequence a wonderful a movie dream sequence where you're floating around doing the right things and that's basically what that football game was all about they shouldn't have even showed up that day it was terrible alex karis was was a story in itself every game and alex uh after we shacked him maybe ten times he was saying let's step on toes let's break some legs i know vince lombardi was really upset with his offensive line because they they got killed that day i really remember saying to our equipment man friday macklin when i came off the field i said friday you don't have to send my uniform out because i literally had not been on the ground our fans were so excited about our defense and our defense was playing so well that they actually booed our offense when it went on the field they wanted to see the offense go three and out if you can believe this and then have our defense go back out onto the field and play the exciting football that we were playing against green bay's offense of course the next year shula started as the head coach of the baltimore colts that was the only loss for the packers that year they were 13-1 lions finished and 11-3 no wild card teams in the playoffs then they stayed home and the packers beat the giants for the title the irony bob is if you had to pick maybe the best offensive line of all time you might have said that packers team had it but three years later in green bay detroit did it to him again in 1965 11 sacks in a game both times there were records for the league okay let's uh now turn the clock ahead 30 years to this afternoon and get the thoughts of o.j simpson on today's matchup in pontiac with the lions leading 7-3 juice you know bob bob trump he said in the first half that to run the run and shoot you've got to be able to audibilize at the line of scrimmage i asked warren moon right before the half what was going on he said we're not getting the ball to our wide receivers downfield they're running a lot of tricks at us and they're playing more man-to-man against us than any team has ever done they normally play us with an umbrella zone uh cody carlson is going to have to recognize it find the wide receivers guys are getting open get the ball to him dave levitt the assistant head coach of the lions said it's the perfect first half for us juice we didn't turn the ball over we kept our defense off the field and if we get the ball to number 20 enough he's going to make something happen so the lions are happy the oilers have to get the ball to their wide receivers back thank you bob oj thanks a lot check with you a bit later now after these messages from your local stations we'll be back to talk things over with mike utley who is standing by at the silverdome that's after a station break stay with us this is the domino's pizza nfl live halftime report brought to you by domino's nobody knows like domino's how you like pizza at home lions lead at the half over the oilers 7-3 honorary captain for detroit today their one-time guard mike utley mike is standing by at the silverdome give us a sense first mike of what this has been like for you personally coming into the silver dome going out to midfield for the toss of the coin what's it been like for you i'll tell you what it's been a hell of an honor especially when chris billman lomas brown asked me to come out wear my own jersey one more time these guys mean a lot to me and it's something to come back to see people here in detroit the way they you know when they came out there they have every right to their feet it's been a hell of a honor honor that's all i can say do you have a sense of how people have responded to your story not just the people in the stadium today but around the country it's a you know it's it's great just because if everybody here and in the rest of the country has been stood by me as i stand by you know what i believe myself i'm going to walk again i just want to make sure i say thank you for nbc sports and you you bob and francine lisa and especially gail gardner for hell of a job she did this story this morning i just want to say thank you for people in detroit and everybody else for standing by me thank you so very much what did wayne fonts say to you if it isn't too personal for you to relate that to us this has been a difficult year for him the death of his brother lenny and of course the death of eric andelsek and other lions offensive lineman plus your situation and we could see that he was shedding tears on the sideline during the national anthem basically what he said what he said to me when i came off the field he goes this one's gonna be for you guy we gotta do it for you and he said that that's what he believes and that's what i believe you know that all the work i do coach fons has been great he stood by me and everything else and now he gave me the opportunity to come out here as a coach to a player he's one he's telling me to hang tough that's what i'm going to do david rocker of the rams was the player who was involved in the contact with you there was nothing even remotely illegal about that contact it was just something that happened in the course of a game no one blames him even a little bit ironically it turned out to be his first nfl game and he has had to go for some counseling because of his feelings in the aftermath i know that you haven't spoken with him yet he says at some point he would like to speak with you what would you like to say to him if anything well you know no one knows what's going to hold down the future for me and something right now i'm just going to take david day by day and i'm just going out here right now rooting on the lion lions because that's where i you know that's my team and this is the guys i want to play for so whatever happens down the road i don't know so i'm taking day by day we know what's in your immediate future mike stick around we'll talk with you again on the post game if that's all right with you you bet i'd love to do it thanks bob okay mike gottly folks stay tuned right now we'll send it back to dick enberg and bob trumpy for the call of the second half in just a moment with the lions leading it 7-3 and we'll see after the game and we will and we welcome you back to the silver dome where the lions have a slender 7-3 lead after a very uh quickly paced first half only four possessions for the lions three for the oilers and here's the coors light halftime statistics anything that jump out at you there robert yeah most uh i think of detroit's 92 yards came in their one drive to score so other than that that eight plus minute drive dick the detroit lions offense has sputtered and sputtered badly houston has gotten a little bit together and i think they've also recognized that there are situations when spielman and ball are out of the game that's when they'll run when they're in the game that's when they'll throw but it's a recurring theme for the oilers they move the ball but they don't get many points for doing it a little a post script on mike hudley and it tells you more about the man the player that his teammates adore they said that every summer camp there's always a fight many fights in training camp he would always create the first one and most teams have a guy like that yes and dick the strange thing is most teams that have that guy that's a defensive player it's very unusual to have an offensive lineman who was always stirring things up but what a champion of spirit this young man is even with his problem it's not going to let him get him down he's going to live the fullest life he possibly can in his circumstance the oilers get the ball first in the second half and out to the 30-yard line and a little push and shove there after the tackle made cody carlson getting a final word from the bane brain thrust along the sidelines kevin gilbride every week you saw him standing there talking with cody carlson every every week now has had to he has to defend the run and shoot and it looks like teams are beginning to uh attack the protection of the run and shoot and trying to bang on the receivers i was interested in his reaction to your question have you missed drew hill and tony jones yes lorenzo white starts with a six yard gain as he is finally dragged down by kelvin pritchett to expand on that a little bit when i asked kevin gilbride about the loss of drew hill his replacement is webster slaughter the inside receiver the slot receiver for in the run and shoot they are the receivers that have to do the bulk of the adjusting and slaughter when he came out of cleveland was only a wideout ran the sideline a lot it is very crowded inside when you play the slot receiver in the run and shoot it's been a big adjustment for webster a very frustrating one he's a very proud man and he just hasn't been able to produce the way he thought he could down the sidelines and out of bounds a flag is down as they try to find hayward jeffries good coverage from sheldon white offsides number 90 defense lined up in the neutral zone five yards first down so with that a first down they needed only four and here comes a 324 pound jerry ball the lions uh pro bowler last year injured late what he felt was an illegal block tore up a knee he says he isn't any heavy you just don't see about much about me because i'm always occupying two men i can't get the section that's where you get the notoriety ernest gibbons and he's out of bounds with another first down out at the 40-yard line well gibbons many felt he wouldn't play today and he has made the biggest plays for the oils get a nice assist from the official there too that's when ernest gibbon gibbons catches this ball crossing underneath see the official knock off the coverage man and that turns ernest gibbons absolutely loose he had a catch for 41 yards in the first half and now this one for 20. 7-3 the lions lose the owners have moved into scoring territory on each possession they have only three it's intercepted off the deflection ray crockett has his third of the year went off curtis duncan's fingertips again slow thrown a little bit high dick but should have been caught watch how much time carlson takes her you see a defensive end drop out spindler 92 another attempt by defensive coordinators drop defensive lineman into coverage and rush guys off the corner to get to the quarterback lions stop the oilers on the interception they have it at the 31. the nfl on nbc is brought to you by miller genuine draft light the cold filtered light with smooth drab taste gd light by callaway golf makers of big bertha the world's friendliest drivers in fairway woods find norelco patented lift and cut shavers we make clothes comfortable and by pontiac and your nearby pontiac dealers we are driving excitement lions taking over after the interception and barry sanders hit in the backfield by jeff holm and then ray childress secures the stop rocket comes up with a ball but watch the defense this guy is going to rush this is a defensive end engage the tackle drop perfectly in coverage so that carlson has to throw the ball slightly high to duncan the outside receiver get hands up by spindler defensive in that's another way they're defensing the run and shoot those inside lyman making contact and drifting back into the short zone spindler he moved he knew exactly where the pass was going for sanders on first down he's now 17 carries the 40 end jimmy johnson what's happening here a completed pass to the tight end it's a mistake it's a mistake eddie robinson makes the tackle a very short game johnson who played with the redskins and has his super bowl ring played in only six games last year in their super bowl season and uh lion said he's young and yet he's got that special something that comes with being with a great football team now that kind of spreads around when you're in the super bowl you should be surprised how your your career seems to be extended year after year green green without a catch yet today jerry gray the cover man there's a flag down dick and i'm telling you the houston alders are putting now eight guys to the line of scrimmage to to stop barry sanders declined his penalty count in there it's very simple to understand why those little passes out in the flat are so important eight guys all there to stop barry sanders so rodney pete would he get a chance here if eric connor did not produce that rodney pete could be expected to play picks up some blockers get a chance and he's to the 37-yard line good open field tackle to save a possible long gainer by george jamison a starter on defense playing on special teams that's why they're good you know i'd like to wish a happy thanksgiving to my family back home in stockton california i know you're watching i know you're eating that turkey at ham right now wish i could be there with you but hopefully i'll be there sometime after january peace i presume he means late january january and it's been part of the pressure this houston oilers team bob is at the start of the year with all those pro bowlers and a fine year lasting they figured hey this year we're going to be a serious threat to make it to the super bowl now here they are staggering at six and five and uh the frustration levels are very high down the middle that one's not too tall and slaughter pulls it down a first down at the 38 yard line william white makes the tackle so webster's slaughter right on cue you mentioned their expectations in the slot he runs the behind the underneath coverage runs the crossing pattern you put it well dick when this season started the houston orders were talking home field advantage throughout the playoffs and now they're tied with the san diego chargers at six and five who would have expected that at the beginning of the 1992 season slaughter now four cancels 60 yards but here again the oilers moving the ball into scoring range but thus far have but three points what did ray childress tell us the other last night we were talking to him said frustration he said yeah we allow everybody to stay in the game until the very end and then we either win or lose last week or two weeks ago in minnesota they said we had to score in the final minutes carlson replacing the injured warren moon said that's nice to win but that's even when we win it's right down to the final tips just can't put people away this year he's got two men in front of it and finally good hustle from behind as tracy scroggins the rookie from tulsa able to drag down white after 19 yards and the young kevin donnelly playing at left tackle throws a good block on the screen and jameson is in there 58 without spiel and you see an excellent job done by this offensive line of the houston hollers bruce matthews out front finally does the job and runs that down he's in there because of his 4-6 speed a lot of ways you can use that super back as they call in the run and shoot draws traps and screams he's a home guy lorenzo white he wears out those air paths between houston and fort lauderdale he gets the ball again short yardage this time well covered by benny blades who filled the hole from his safety position and blades and lorenzo white as we said earlier we're a natural geographic location and attraction yeah there's two magnets they have hit each other a lot let's see when the detroit lions take out chris spielman they expect benny blades to kind of move up and be part linebacker the blaze is 220 but there's the leading tackler to detroit on the sidelines and the emotional leader of uh perhaps the entire team yard line a yard short of the first down five catches for webster slaughter having perhaps his best game in that oiler uniform drives started at the 31. they've been very good here carlson excellent job follows through on that one dick you can see him all almost overemphasize the follow through to get that thing right on the numbers but from the ten third and one webster slaughter again and it's off his fingertips kevin scott covering he seemed to have a step on him a flag is down and they may have hit carlson late the flag is back where cody carlson threw the ball spoilers don't look happy here dick unsportsmanlike conduct chop see if we can pick out one what happens here you see you see donnelly engaged the defensive end once he's engaged lorenzo white the new rule cannot then block it and that's a major penalty and lorenzo white knows better it wasn't flagrant but that just once one is engaged you can't hit him low a second man up for grabs and the lions get it melvin jenkins tracy's froggins 59 hit carlson the ball flopped in the air and jenkins gets his fourth interception of the year pick this game now for the houston oilers is becoming redundant pressure from the outside as you mentioned and then jenkins does a great job of going to the ball through earners givens for the detroit lions second interception of the day both in fairly deep lions territory cody carlson blindsided by scroggins intercepted by jenkins lions again take over by sanders has been quiet the last quarter and a half that's his uh 11th carry and he's gained only 10 yards let's go back to the interception yeah and we're gonna have to point a finger here as the young man donnelly top of the screen scroggins was a big pass rusher for tulsa just a speed rusher donnelly making his first start scraggins just runs right around him carlson does not see him and then the momentum of crockett gets him to the ball before webster's slaughter and the pick melvin jenkins fourth interception to lead the lions he's half the total of the nfl leader buffalo's henry jones with eight there's the demise of sanders and the detroit running game just showing at the line of spinach to defend the gooseberry framer going for willie green who headed up field jerry gray on the coverage flag down in defense of eric kramer here he's getting some pressure houston doing a good job of pressuring inside and outside on eric kramer but he's not throwing the ball very well 48 outfits on a pull down 10 yards still second down mike kenneth uh h back number 48 there's rodney pete he said this is tough for him he said i've never sat on the sideline since i was a red shirt at southern cal as a freshman when i was healthy i've been hurt and i've had to watch but now i'm healthy i want to play rod defeat eric framer best of friends they don't fight amongst each other do the best they can under this circumstances but i think pete's going to see some action here quickly after the penalty second and 17. and the fumble and it's bubble mcdowell and picked up by william fuller for a touchdown bubba mcdowell the safety man slipping in to just steal it right out of the hands of eric kramer and then william fuller into the end zone with a touchdown watch watch bubba right there see they're outnumbered the detroit team is outnumbered barry sanders has got to pick up mcdowell mcdowell runs around him an easy pickup for william fuller and the houston orders take the lead in this football game 10 yards on the rumble by fuller kramer has no idea what's going on but he should have recognized before the ball was snapped there were 10 guys at the line of scrimmage there has to be in the detroit offense under dan hanning and audible for that he can't sit back there take five steps and expect to have a chance to throw oh he smiled and posing for these thanksgiving photographs as if he knew something good was going to happen and that's exactly what happened to kramer and the oilers score on defense to take the lead turbulence in chicago as winds of change swirl mike dick is the eye of the storm o.j has the story of this flustering bear sunday dick here's the look before the snap eric kramer should recognize this everyone coming mcdowell is the guy who gets there but you'll see when he drops back one two three four five six seven step drop there has to be an audible he should have called it barry sanders missed the block but the quarterback has got to put the offense in the right spot that's a three-step drop get it away avoid the blitz the turnover in the touchdown situation fuller's first touchdown this will be a thanksgiving he'll remember 10 yards on the run after the fumble this one coming down to mel gray at the 11. oh what a move didn't get much tackled at the 17-yard line by gary brown and the lions now down for the first time of the game 10-7 sunday on nbc sports here's our lineup and one of the big games miami and new orleans both clubs eight and three kansas city takes its 7-4 record to new york against the jets pittsburgh atop the central at and three meets rival cincinnati new england and atlanta in the four o'clock game of buffalo with the best record in the afc nine and two will play at the hoosier dome that's all sunny beginning at 12 30 nfl finally gets a little working room and out across the 20 a game of five or six al smith ray childress make the tackle let's look at the lions and what they've done with each position possession today their touchdown coming on the second possession and they were helped along the way by several euler penalties and that was an eight plus minute drive that featured barry sanders a whole bunch i think if you're dan hanning and and wayne fox let's get back to the franchise and that's barry sanders yeah that's what the others are thinking and they're daring them to throw because they're gonna keep those seven men right up on the screen goes the other way 77 yards and what an effort by kramer he wanted to go left he was in trouble the quick spin move the judgment and a perfect throw to moore dick the back side of this pattern is two more you see him plump and i think chris dishman 28 relaxed a little bit separation by more dishman can't get his head around the ball actually goes through dishman's hands great concentration by more he's out there playing with the church throwing a bad shoulder 77 yards lightning longest touchdown of his two-year career the number one pick of the lions a season ago and now hanson strive for point and the lions reclaim the lead to 10. well if you're a defensive player you can never lose your concentration top of the screen hitch and then see if the play completely breaks down this one makes contact great concentration here by moore didn't catch it as much as he just kind of cradled it and he runs it he walks it into the end zone that looked like you coming home the other night he's a terrific target at 6-3 herman moore he gets a 77-yard touchdown 14-10 lions pat coleman at the sixth for houston and sunday we hope you'll tune in at 12 30 nfl live well the chicago bears boy you make news when your name is mike ditko when you're winning and when you're losing it's been a tough year dikka's bears are four games behind the division leading minnesota vikings and o.j simpson we went we took uh votes and we decided let's send our toughest guy the most courageous guy to chicago and talk with iron mike and that'll be a part of nfl sunday at 12 30. yeah i'm just pleased that uh oj looks fine today the bruises are here i like disappeared i'd say i like it i'd like to play for him he could deflect it and duncan catches it anyway a man who grew up watching the detroit lions a product of the city of detroit curtis duncan with his first catch ray crockett with a tackle at the 46-yard line oh look here they come with a full split seven guys coming after the quarterback just gets his hand on it slightly which it misses great concentration by duncan excellent release turns rocking around now that ball's floating catches it 59 catches for duncan and he doesn't have a touchdown this year and he's had almost well this is his almost 100 catches none for a touchdown that's hard to do lorenzo white to the 49 of detroit nearly five yards robert forshay and dan owens collaborate you know that catch by duncan was impressive i wonder if his wife meredith has taken time away from her studies today she's trying to graduate from law school to watch hubby play here in detroit oh i think so and duncan who went to northwestern academics being his pursuit and look at those fine numbers and his sixth year enjoys reading 4-3 as well down and six and the lion's offside this is a free down for carlson so he's going to go wrong with it jeffrey's double team now the lions apparently offside pritchett one of the two detroiters to jump again yeah the thanksgiving wave has begun i think you've got your choice here 94 goes first and then others and you're right carlson had a free play actually the open receiver was gibbons down the middle he went to the outside leading 14-10 thanks to a 77-yard strike from eric kramer to herman moore four minutes 20 seconds remaining in the third quarter scroggins gets him again his third sack of the season but earlier forced the interception that stopped the houston drive with a similar play same kind of fast rush too he's just too quick for donnelly off the line of scrimmage he's got that real speed once he engages donnelly engages and he just can't push him by carlson when he flushes at least he hangs onto the football yeah donnelly got him out in the backyard but scroggins just climbed up the back porch and right through the screen door and seven now he's got lots of times but no one open the lion's defense is hell and scroggins with another tackle oh he's terrorizing cody carlson and you know he he's kind of pressed in the surface service here their best pass rusher has been michael cofer out for the season with knee surgery they didn't want to rush this kid in here but he's done an excellent job he was a pure pass rusher tulsa montgomery who has the second best average in the league at 46.1 but his net is only 35-9 his second puck so that'll look good in the statistics 51 yards but it's only a net of 31 as the lions will have the ball at the 20 when we return 250 left in the third quarter as you watch this sack again the best thing about strogans here is that's not the sack that we just saw that was a play where he was cutting inside went back and got the tackle out of the sack after all so he's got two today do you think that holovac who is a former nfl player nfl head coach assistant coach now the general manager he plays every down there's michael cofer just happened to be right by our camera there that looks like a movie audition this guy's got another career ahead of him delivered by rodin well what a terrific pass rusher defensive player cofer is yeah has been for a long time too back dwayne fox and woody woodenhoper was very concerned without him in the lineup would they be able to put pressure well scroggins certainly has today thanks so much for part of this game and clyde simmons of the eagles leads at the thanksgiving break with 14 chris coleman minnesota 12. very famous and ricky good backside support so they wouldn't give him the outside headed him back inside and sean jones trailing the play makes the stop and again al smith you see him come into the picture as the run comes right at you gives him no place to run when he starts to hesitate you can see 54 there he is right there al smith middle linebacker i love this guy as a player i love this guy as a player pro bowler but when i look at a middle linebacker we need a name like gucci bona connie tommy novice dick butkus al as take your choice here when the whole defense goes it usually means the office yeah make his choice false start number 12 five yards still second down well i know you've been thinking about al smith as we watch uh the quarterback pullback and this there's no uh look at the match of course the poor center blake miller trying to reach as far as he can watch after framer pulls away oh that's so embarrassing oh i mean the quarterback is the guy who says last thing he says it's on two ready break and then he goes up the expected autumn one and they get to make the adjustment of all those guys at the line of scrimmage marcus robertson attacker i know you're thinking about al smith you're going to give him a nickname before that i'm going to i want a nickname for elle smith before the day is through actually wait a minute i i know al i want i want a nickname with his approval i don't want to just sneak a name him on al smith and he catches me sometime in the practice later on this season that's a tough one down and they oh what a good spot on the slide normally the ball way back because with a slide you're carrying the ball up around your shoulders and that down where you'd be diving straight forward that's a great spot and dick to protect quarterbacks they put this this his feet first slide in now as i understand the rule where he starts to slide is where the ball is supposed to be marked where the ball is when he starts to slide over now watch where he starts right on the line i'm going gonna give him about a half a yard and that's good enough for the first half he needed to get beyond the 30. and they're not a particularly good runner but comes here out of sheer necessity yes they call it the catch at the 39-yard line part of the detroit thanksgiving tradition as he carries on his dad number 24 with the lions are running back oh the old days that one wouldn't have counted that is the end of the third quarter thank goodness no time for rebuttal for my partner we'll be back fourteen ten did you cheat happy thanksgiving from nbc sports and thank you for joining us on this holiday the oilers and the lions detroit leading 14 to 10 going for their fourth consecutive win on this holiday and they had the ball at their own 39-yard line second and one with a 14-10 lead as we open the fourth quarter the candle with bob trumpy eric kramer grew up in l.a his idol roman gabriel from los angeles went on to north carolina states and didn't realize that he got there that that was gabriel's alma mater as well contact before the snap i think that's obviously going to be on the defense no question about that you know in several of the little shots i've seen before we go on there's a there's a thanksgiving table encroachment number 76 defense five yards that's a first down first down out at the 45-yard line there's a picture of the thanksgiving table there's some glasses and i also see a craft of wine what wine would you suggest today with dinner i think if you're buying that it's a nice 82 bordeaux maybe the peter mouton i'd be very pleased to keep very pleased very pleased i'm going to be busy here for a little while but i'll try to get it for you before you leave i don't think you're going to fight it around here with the penalty first down trender goes to work and his shot is caught and then stolen away intercepted green got it and then jerry grey the veteran took it away on the bobbles jerry gray with his third of the season that leads the orders in fact gray with two interceptions led houston coming in they've just not pilfered many he does recover very well here if green catches the ball cleanly it's no play jerry gray the veteran does take it away and houston has another opportunity very heads-up play the oilers last year had 38 turnovers fifth in the league but coming into this game had only nine interceptions and eight fumbles in 11 games they just aren't getting the breaks and yet as jack pardee said the ball's been there it's been on the ground there's been chances for interceptions but today two interceptions and now trailing by four they stop the lions and have it at the 39-yard line and in the case of jerry gray he's been taking some real heat down in houston he's given up some big plays last week fought on a fake that was a very poor fake that resulted in a red banks touchdown go ahead touchdown boy with that mourinho i mean to have those eyes this vision of the field to be able to pick that up let's see uh this has been this is normal routine for me this year i'll take the lafitte 82 defeat now then where's where's yours the the turkey is my job i cook you down absolutely my wife only allows me to cook one day a year not because she doesn't like what i cook because the mess i make now i used to cook i used to cook with a breast down to keep all those juices in the white meat do you do that no dick i i'm an expert when it comes to cooking turkey they have spread the turkeys to the point where you can't mess it up if you can get it out of the wrapper and into the oven it'll come out perfect it's all in the breeding you say absolutely i don't think the mothers and grandmothers that have pleased me and my aunt would like to hear that they always said that they did yeah but back then i agree it it took a mother or grandmother to cook a great turkey yeah nowadays you put them in brown bags you put them in a plastic bag upside down the breast down right there it all comes out delicious i don't know if that signs directly but houston or us first down 14 50 left in the game and white trapped at the line of scrimmage by dan owens well that is a big play by dan owens cause the middle linebacker george jameson was blocked and blocked well you'll see matthews come out here what oh man i'm telling you if owens doesn't make that tackle lorenzo white is still running they were going right at scroggins too figuring they could push him outside run inside watch the block center on jamison look at the room at lorenzo what a key tackle that matthew's put on a block no underneath for the guy that has perhaps the top tender in the nfl wide open again and it's white on the screen for the 49 of detroit that's a first down betty blades and sheldon white with a tackle 13 yards lorenzo white not only rushing for almost 900 so far this year but he's approaching 40 catches on the season he has 39 with this one he does a great job of faking the defense and then watching wait for the blocks a lot of running backs get impatient lorenzo white has always been a very patient runner let the offensive lineman do their job 58 yards on receptions 49 rushing today underneath jeffrey's 46-yard line where melvin jenkins makes the tackle it was an interesting feature i'm sure you enjoyed it on nfl live today i'm jeffrey is honoring his teacher at greensboro page high school a family of 17 children he was number 16 handsome guy thoughtful man how would you like this coming into their house on thanksgiving if i could pick a house in the country to go to that would be the one i bet they're watching right now and happy thanksgiving to that jeffrey's fine second down and six carlson grills it is that a catch it appears to be by ernest gibbens no a trap is the call the um player comes all the way from the line of scrimmage to look at i thought he caught it givens isn't arguing watch the umpire he's going to turn around you see him at the bottom of the screen well that's a tough call the umpire runs up there immediately and says no catch so if this looks any better and now there's going to be a conference what'd you say that looked as if that might have slipped through and touched the ground as i was making the catch and then a previous life ruling on the field is a completed pass first down you can't have it both ways now all right a first down is the call at the 25-yard line well it's consistent the other the lion play over the middle look much the same and was ruled again i agree field goal won't do it for houston they trail 14 to 10. 12 minutes to go cody carlson the webster slaughter jenkins drives him down at the train a game of six water is catching on to this offense he is doing an awful lot of things here that we used to see drew hill do he comes in motion hesitates a little bit breaks back outside to lay outside this is a tough offense to learn week to week because it's just game plan the game plan when you're a part of the run and shoot you need to learn it in the summer go through an entire camp but he's catching on six to be specific today for 71 yards lorenzo white barrels inside the 10-yard line first and goal for the houston oilers william white the tackler one of the things we mentioned earlier what the run and shoot can do the quarterback one of his responsibilities is if they call a run to the right you count number of people to the right and if the number is correct in other words you've got more people than they have defensively you can just run to play that way sometimes there's nobody out there to make the tactic carlson with the great fall there lorenzo white gives them first and goal 10 35 left in the fourth quarter they can do it again here they'll try to him instead and he's to this is so simple and it's there's a certain genius to this offense and kevin gilbrand and the players you talk to you say is it are we coming to the end of the run and shoot and they all say look the only thing that stops the run and shoot are the people that are playing the running shoe there's been no defense that stopped us we've stopped ourselves jerry ball and mark spindler come in to fortify that defensive line on second and goal from before lions did not allow a touchdown last week against the bengals they have not allowed the oilers one today with his hands on it they certainly like to go to him down in the golem they're trying to get the ball to the slant running inside that's not a good throw it's tip just a little bit short and yeah it was thrown behind jeffrey's these three step drops i don't think the ball was tipped oh there could have been a touchdown had given scottie very ball coming off the field here lincoln third and goal houston is over five on third downs today oh that's a cheat stat mini game jefferies he got away with a push-up on sheldon white and used that height how many times have euler opponents seen that the tall jeffries a great leaper isolated on man coverage and just out leaking his opponent for the ball he did it last week for a touchdown same situation short yardage at the goal line receivers have to win this contact the hand contact was allowed by the official ball thrown at the perfect moment by carlson and the emotional haywood jeffries celebrates the score it's his eighth touchdown of the season jefferies who is second in the nfl in catches coming in to sterling sharp for the green bay packers and with that catch he is now tied with sharp have a field goal advantage 17 14. responsible adults the nfl on nbc is brought to you by coolers life the silver bullet is the right beer now by nintendo get your daily dose of fun with game boy have you had your fun today buy cotton the fabric of our lives and by black decker the source of powerful gift ideas baby lions don't look too strike back with 9 44 left in the fourth period the lead 17-14 on the four-yard pass carlson the jeffries kickoff troy stratford former miami dolphin and he is to the 27-yard line there's the touchdown maker david jeffries as we told you before the game actually an nfl live part of his tradition he lost his mother before he was drafted and after every national anthem sends a salute to the sky and it is part of this holiday remember all of those who have touched us are the lions now playing catch up out of bounds to willie green green and eric kramer were roommates in 1990 in the summer camp green a long shot from mississippi an eighth-round pick and kramer a free agent now here's a guy kramer who uh had it not been for the strike probably wouldn't have played professional football he had been drafted by new orleans in 87 they cut him and then the strike and he came back played for atlanta was one and two thought he played well enough went to the canadian league and drifted around and finally found himself a spot and the players all say he just he throws a great spiral every time with whom he has an affinity he's unable to pull that one in jerry gray the reason these detroit receivers as you can see are big very tall now he is not as heavy as moore but again jerry gray with excellent defense just pulls the arm back at the last moment you know you were talking about eric kramer i like what he told us yesterday he started last year in his thanksgiving day game and an inauspicious beginning that's why he throws the pass and he gets hit by william the refrigerator barrier just saddled him and watched the end of the play don't look at chase and he has the first down out at the 42-yard line eric kramer of the lions normally i do this with not three of these today i'm just doing it with one go try this at home dangerous he has those eyes with that smile i bet his mom watching today had to take him to the woods at a tiger too did you mention that he was uh he was jeffrey's quarterback in north carolina that's right for two years no opponents yeah good play from steve jackson he got a hold of the jersey and able to twist sanders out of bounds that's sanders first catch of the day and he's been absent from this offense in the second half houston has done a great job this is an unprotected screen you're hoping to fool the defense again there's al smith on one side jackson on the other giving him no place to run it's his own version of a spanking from fuller you have a feeling this entire oiler defense were sent life-sized photos of number 20 saying this is the man that you must stop on thanksgiving day they're just smothering every move by sanders and you know the thing that's very obvious on this defense dick is that they're not really penetrating that much on the run as much as sliding along the line giving barry sanders no cut back no chance to bounce outside and just waiting for other people to come and make the tackle it's worked beautiful but that means those cornerbacks often are isolated man coverage on those wide receivers it's worked once for kramer when he found carmen miller for 77 yards and the blitz by the orders produces the third sack of the game and it's lee williams who has six and a half now on the year the former san diego charger houston's getting a little desperate here they need the ball back but you can see just about everybody making a move inside here to try to get to kramer and there's good coverage downfield you know you mentioned that they were man-to-man coverage childress flushes him he runs into sean jones i'm not sure who will get credit for the sack for the sake of news so jim arnold's a punt register slaughter at the temple yard line before a crowd of 77 575 at the silverdome today is brought to you by domino's pizza everyone at domino's wishes you and your family a happy thanksgiving 77 575 tickets sold over 73 000 here including the cedarburgs from penn county michigan and uh one of the kind of a tragedy the michigan fans for several years don't get to see thanksgiving day game this is their game and yet it's blacked out even though this is the second largest nfl stadium and they sell 77 000 tickets and they still can't see it somehow any blades was breathing in the area was going to try to make a big play out of a little uh drag pattern when all he had to do was catch it blades his brother brian spitting out the year with injury with the seattle seahawks lions in the fourth quarter last year that's when they were tough but they wrecked up 12 wins most in lion history but uh fourth quarter has been destructive for wayne france issue and they're running out of time shannon 17-14 the lions are six minutes to go orders hoping to generate a long time consuming drive duncan for the 29 very close to a first down appears to be a yard short another example of how the little things mean so much in the nfl when you're clicking you win the close ones they didn't lose a close game last year i mean by four points six point they won every close game this year they won six straight to finish the season last year they did it a lot of different ways beat dallas handily in the playoffs before succumbing to the super bowl champs in washington lorenzo white keeps the drive alive for the houston owners when this game is over and they start examining exactly what houston did to detroit to win this game it's with the run and shoot keeping jerry ball and chris spuman out of the game hold on holding against houston so a break for the lions the penalty will make it third down and 11. and that's about as animated and vociferous as you'll see jack pardee holding number 73 offense 10 yards david williams by the way see if we can pick up it we think that's the holding right there can we pick it up yeah there's a left hand grabbing well i don't know he let go but the intent was to pull him away from where the ball carrier was and that must have aided uh you're asking so much third and eleven for cody carlson screen it to lorenzo white and much as he might battle he's left a yard and a half shy of a first down ray crockett up from the corner to make the stop and the lions will get the ball back with 4 45 4 44 left we talked about the cloud of the year all the disaster the lions have have to have to assimilate even last week when they win at cincinnati on their way to the airport fancy's a tornado and sure enough they get to the airport the sirens go off i said get your team down into the basement of the airport wayne fox was concerned where's barry get in the basement make sure he's in the basement whoa it's a great play montgomery hit by blades he couldn't even get the ball out of his hands blaze was in there so fast that was not a designed point block lions have it at the 13-yard line this is an individual effort by blades here he comes and he just overruns the up this is not a punch block see they're all dropping off that's just blades taking it all by himself and making a huge play in this game for the detroit liars boy there are big plays and there are huge plays and here's blades and why he's a pro bowler i mean was he going to do you think he was going to fake it not no way no way no so that is the third that counts a block that's the third time montgomery has been blocked this year the lions trail by three framers escapes should have been intercepted in the end zone right into the hands of jerry gray kramer didn't even see him herman moore was playing defense for the lions oh my goodness is he so lucky moore is crossing the field and you'll see there's jerry gray right in front of him kramer never sees him you can't throw it any better collective side relief there by lions fans and eric kramer 3 56 left in the fourth quarter detroit trails by three steve jackson almost pulled the shirt right out of brett perriman's back are they questioning whether or not it's catchable or is it interference or holding it's it's just holding that's five yards first down 12th houston penalty today twelve this man was out on the corner let's see if we can pick up what happened right down here is where the hold is going to take place jackson falls left hand on the jersey slowed him down enough it is absolutely a good call here right hand side of the screen no question about it and then size 44 jersey becomes size 54. the officials throw yellow flags first and goal from the eight the fans chanting very very they get their wish but again he strung out and the tackle made by the man who just committed the penalty steve jackson eddie robinson holding his ground on the corner of the linebacker he's been defense again this week and an excellent job of shutting down a very good running game last week against miami and even though barry sanders in that and that big drive in the first half gained a lot of yards they really made it tough on him deliberately executing the plays i think we're going to get it worse the field goal they want to chew up the time so euston won't have much room to operate at the end of this game it's clicking down near the three-minute one second and goal from the eighth touchdown this is coverage linebacker 54 on sanders sanders doesn't make a great move but al smith all day long has been so consumed with stopping him on the run sanders just makes the move away from him to become the receiver and he scores sanders second touchdown today 51 in four tremendous views with the lions hanson has the extra point a big one it is that gives the lions a four-point edge pressure on the oilers with 2 57 to go a flag down on the extra point the thing about barry sanders that he just casually throws up all the official goes to the sideline the extra point is no good holding 62 offense 10 yards from the previous five will re-try to try blake miller so hanson who has made 11 field goals in a row this will be a short field goal when it happens holding on kicks it's always the outside guy they're trying to hook those guys down and you see 62 on 38 dumas and i got to kick it again this would be the equivalent of a 30-yard field goal for the extra point the difference between a field goal lead or forcing the oilers to score a touchdown to win he's been a good acquisition this young man a second round pick from washington state where he set an ncaa record for long field goals kramer knows divinity he's watching sanders go through the line of scrimmage he knows he's got six on that throat hi super dave osborne here with hager wriggle free cotton pants they look great right out of the dryer with no ironing but hagers asked me to put them to the ultimate test i'll wear these pants through high-pressure jets brushes and dryers at three miles per hour ready oh we're out of time i guess hager will have to pay me for another commercial maybe not oh announces his name different than wayne was the defensive coach of blades and blades said he taught me everything i wonder if that was one from his departed coach pat coleman met by a trio of honolulu blue and silver jerseys and led by willie clay and harry cohen was there too tonight after the turkey the thanksgiving celebration well emphasis on fun your favorite comedy starting with out all night then the network premiere of patti labelle's music video all right now then a different world cheers wings and then la la they're all tonight on nbc you know you hear coaches talk making big plays to win a game that won by benny blaze for the star next to that if that was hockey the score by sanders assists blades they both deflected and caught by webster slaughter it's a catch at the 31-yard line how many of those are that's a third catch on a deflection by the orders today you know charleston is a tall quarterback and he doesn't hunch when he throws he's standing right up there tall poland gets his hand up there slaughter with great concentration pulls it to his chest for the kicks yes seventh catch today the lead houston 2 18 to go ooh that's a dangerous long out and curtis duncan with his third reception ray crockett the title and they didn't stop the clock looked as if he's going out of bounds up to the two-minute timeout so when we return the orders with the ball at their 36-yard line needing a touchdown to win back at the silver dome a reminder our sports weekend on nbc the full slate of nfl action on sunday then on saturday be with us at 2 30 for the bayou classic rambling in southern eddie robinson the all-time winningest coach lead scrambling against southern university they run like six in a row they're ranked number one that was a thrilling game last year hope will be with us 2 30 saturday second down and five wide open is ernest gibbons and he's to the 45-yard line first down with 150 to go both teams have all their timeouts left well you got the perfect offense for a hurry up down by four-point situation the run and shoot should be able to produce a lot if cody carlson can orchestrate it all taking too much time with green plays here triple left deep and open is jeffries and he's to the 10 yard line make it the eighth before they down him melvin jenkins finally touches him down along with the sheldon white and jeffrey's using that tremendous leaping power to stab this one he was wide open he does an excellent job on the release oh he's just the defensive back just turns him loose sheldon white and so with the timeout 122 left the oilers eight yards from regaining the lead in some 40 seconds the oilers have driven from their 17 to a first goal at the detroit eight-yard line it's 21-17 lions lorenzo white quarter the touchdown thing wrong with that score is maybe the owners did it too quickly well they executed this beautifully by formation they spread the defense all over the field again watch matthew 74 goes out of frame he makes a big block but they got six defensive backs in there one linebacker again without jerry ball and without chris spielman reaction white wasn't touched until he got to the goal 83-yard drive and five plays for the houston oilers check the time on that it did take them a minute 40 seconds to deliver and with 117 left detroit will have which chance to drive for possible at least tying field goal del greco makes it 24-21 a reminder the nfl gold spice live post-game report and they've got some interesting uh features for you warren moon will be involved as will lawrence taylor will be uh the human side of these two great nfl stars on this thanksgiving day i think you'll enjoy and uh i believe i heard bob costas and mike cutley make a date for a post game chat as well so stay with us let's go back to the touchdown beautifully executed you spread the defense by having these receivers out here but you got to give credit to the guys up front and here's the big block again this is jamison george jameson not chris spielman and it's beautifully executed up front and lorenzo white has little or no work to get to the end zone look at matthew i mean that's 275 280 on 225 jameson is a great player but chris bielman is out because of the concession to the run and shoot and that's the sacrifice that detroit has made all day to the run and shoot all right in the expression spielman continues to face like a lion he just wants to play so desperately now he's out there on special teams here's a pro bowler special teams i asked him when we were talking in the locker room the other day what his day went like and he said i start watching film at 6 15 in the morning to 8 30. he says i like to beat the coaches in then i take a film home and watch another hour at night his wife doesn't totally understand she says nobody else does it he says that's why i'm doing it del greco trying to keep the ball away from mel gray they don't at the 14. high enough that the coverage is excellent gray only to the 24. the lions have one minute 11 seconds for kramer to rally them down 24-21 on a day when cody carlson has a career high 338 yards passing and on sunday i know a lot of the guys from the various teams enjoying this telecast that's part of the tradition as well they practice and watch the game here's our lineup kansas city and the jets but uh miami and new orleans will be the future game two outstanding clubs both sporting eight and three down an months catch by hermann moore a man who nailed a 77-yard touchdown reception and it's a penalty against detroit for holding illegal use of the hands to the face number 62 offense 10 yards still first down i think he wanted us to make the point that regardless of the outcome today he emphasized to us that this year is the aberration for this football team last year is the kind of football team this detroit lion football team is and will be in the future steve jackson was pounding him all the way to the sidelines and camera kind of looked to his receiver all the way and you know coaches like easy decisions this performance by eric kramer today has made wayne fox a very difficult decision what does he do who does he start at quarterback next week he's been furry he's been hustled he's been harassed but he's not thrown the ball particularly well those aren't bad numbers though and uh even though he says rodney pete is his number one quarterback he didn't play today after the sentence breaks out of the grasp of sean jones for a moment but then stumbles down that'll be a sack for jones his total now six and a half on the year kramer calls time with 52 seconds left so the lions hopes are dimming on this thanksgiving day 24-21 houston kramer with dan henning who calls the place the offensive coordinator wayne fontes when henning was fired out at san diego called him and wanted to bring and i think even during the days of mouse davis here with a total run and shoot that uh fonts never totally comfortable not having tight ends in that part in the office and dick i think today is a perfect example of why they want to get the tight ends and make the offense more multiple houston was able to shut down barry sanders in the last half of this football game 52 seconds left in a tough third and 23 for the lions jackson intercepts for houston and that should do it for the oilers at the 26-yard line steve jackson his second of the season kevin donnelly saw cheering that play as donnelly his first start for the injured don mags childress puts pressure up under right underneath kramer c79 coming in there can't really follow through he didn't even see he was throwing it through hey let's give credit to these houston oilers the third of three road games minnesota miami and then here in detroit as many problems as this houston franchise has experienced this year two and one on this road trip is amazing and they came here six and five where lost six and six might have taken them out of the playoffs now they'll go home seven and five and they have three of their last four at home the bears green bay then they go to cleveland and you finish at home against the buffalo bill carlson has done a great job he he did the job today cody carlson did in the replacing warren moon got him the win special guest on the old spice postcard report lawrence taylor the giants and warren moon of the houston oilers to star veterans of the national football league now time for the haggar wrinkle free cotton super play of the game apparently the winning touchdown play by lorenzo white who has rushed for 14 times today 68 yards this eight-yard touchdown also caught six passes for 69 a day of production for lorenzo white the former michigan state all-america 137 yards that's our hager cotton super play of the game our thanks as always to our executive producer terry o'neal coordinating producer of nbc football john francis who has produced today's game telecast john gonzalez who sends along a happy birthday to his grandmother 91 years young mitch today focus stanzi dick there's one last thing to do to finish this broadcast we never got to the mud story with jack pardee we never told the end of the mud story what the mud was for i don't think we want to tell it yet do you all right the mud helps the drilling and oil apparently when you drill for oil you run into pockets where there's nothing there so you send mud down to give give weight to the drilling operation that's about as best i can simplify it and he said yes i did buy the mud he bought the money he said he went down to the to the oil business you see the derrick on his jacket he went down to the oil business just as it went away man boy what his thanksgiving days must have been he went to a school that had only eight in the graduating class he played six-man football was an honor student at texas a m and academic all-america is in the hall of fame as a college football star he played in the league 15 years as a linebacker wore number 32 with the los angeles rams never said much but boy was he a doer he could play he's gotten old fast in this season though i'll tell you that yes he has been a tough season but he'll go home with a smile boy beat the vikings and to beat the lions on the road and almost beat miami last week pretty good effort by the houston oilers meanwhile the detroit lions and a day of very deep emotion go three and nine and uh this perhaps a symbolic of their entire season as you see andre ware won the heisman playing for the university of houston party was his coach for wayne fonts just not enough a lot of emotion and a lot of caring on this team but just not enough to get the job done dick maybe this thanksgiving day with mike cutler here is now the opportunity for the detroit alliance to go forward maybe this was a defining moment a defining weekend for the detroit lions this is a quality football team what's happened off the field has been more injurious to this team than what's happened on the field all right stay with us now the old spice post game report coming up they'll have highlights of today's game you'll hear from mike utley his reaction and his inspiration as well as from warren moon and lawrence taylor from mike cutley those smiles are very real even though his lions failed to houston 24-21

Channel: Bart Simpson

Views: 12,152

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Id: rR5XWWmHZZ0

Length: 145min 49sec (8749 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 26 2020