2015 DETROIT LIONS MEDIA GUIDE

1997
Record: 9-7, 3rd NFC Central
Date W/L Score Opponent Att
8/31 W 28-17 Atlanta 61,244
9/7 L 17-24 Tampa Bay 58,234
9/14 W 32-7 at Chicago 59,147
9/21 L 17-35 at New Orleans 50,016
9/28 W 26-15 Green Bay 78,110*
10/5 L 13-22 at Buffalo 78,025
10/12 W 27-9 at Tampa Bay 72,095
10/19 L 20-26 (ot) N.Y. Giants 70,069
11/2 L 10-20 at Green Bay 60,126
11/9 L 7-30 at Washington 75,261
11/16 W 38-15 Minnesota 68,910
11/23 W 32-10 Indianapolis 62,803
11/27 W 55-20 Chicago 77,904*
12/7 L 30-33 at Miami 72,266
12/14 W 14-13 at Minnesota 60,982
12/21 W 13-10 N.Y. Jets 77,624*
NFC Playoffs
12/28 L 10-20 at Tampa Bay 73,361
*Silverdome sellout
Usual Starters
Offense
Defense
XR 87 Johhnie Morton
LE 91 Robert Porcher
LT 72 Ray Roberts
NT 95 Mike Wells
LG 77 Mike Compton
UT 94 Luther Elliss
C 53 Kevin Glover
RE 93 Kerwin Waldroup
RG 64 Jeff Hartings
SLB 58 George Jamison (10)
RT 71 Larry Tharpe
55 Antonio London (6)
TE 86 David Sloan
MLB 57 Stephen Boyd
ZR 84 Herman Moore
WLB 59 Reggie Brown
QB 19 Scott Mitchell
CB 32 Bryant Westbrook
FB 44 Tommy Vardell
CB 31 Corey Raymond
RB 20 Barry Sanders
FS 27 Mark Carrier
SS 28 Ron Rice
Pro Bowl Selections: C K. Glover, K J. Hanson, WR H. Moore, DE R. Porcher, RB B. Sanders
Team Statistics Det Opp
Total First Downs 304 268
Rushing 120 98
Passing 166 152
Penalty 18 18
3rd Down: Made/Att 78/220 85/236
3rd Down Pct. 35.0 36.0
4th Down: Made/Att 8/18 5/11
4th Down Pct. 44.0 45.0
Possession Avg. 28:39 31:26
Total Net Yards 5798 4947
Avg. Per Game 362.4 309.2
Total Plays 1028 1021
Avg. Per Play 5.6 4.8
Net Yards Rushing 2464 1833
Avg. Per Game 154.0 114.6
Total Rushes 447 472
Net Yards Passing 3334 3114
Avg. Per Game 208.4 194.6
Sacked/Yards Lost 41/271 42/287
Gross Yards 3605 3401
Att./Completions 540/304 507/281
Completion Pct. 56.3 55.4
Had Intercepted 17 17
Punts/Average 86/41.6 97/44.3
Net Punting Avg. 35.6 38.4
Penalties/Yards 94/866 112/841
Fumbles/Ball Lost 26/11 24/8
Touchdowns 43 33
Rushing 19 15
Passing 19 15
Returns 5 3
Points Scored Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 OT Pts
Lions 35 131 87 126 0 379
Opponents 100 103 33 64 6 306
Scoring TD Ru Pa Rt PAT FG S Pts
Hanson 0 0 0 0 39/40 26/29 0 117
Sanders 14 11 3 0 0/0 0/0 0 84
Moore 8 0 8 0 0/0 0/0 0 50
Morton 6 0 6 0 0/0 0/0 0 36
Vardell 6 6 0 0 0/0 0/0 0 36
Brown 2 0 0 2 0/0 0/0 0 12
Scroggins 1 0 0 1 0/0 0/0 1 8
Boyd 1 0 0 1 0/0 0/0 0 6
Mitchell 1 1 0 0 0/0 0/0 0 6
Chryplewicz 1 0 1 0 0/0 0/0 0 6
Rivers 1 1 0 0 0/0 0/0 0 6
Westbrook 1 0 0 1 0/0 0/0 0 6
Schlesinger 1 0 1 0 0/0 0/0 0 6
Lions 43 19 19 5 39/40 26/29 1 379
Opponents 33 15 15 3 29/30 25/32 1 306
2-Pt. Conversions: Moore, TEAM 1-3; Opponents 1-2
Rushing Att Yds Avg Lg TD
Sanders 335 2053 6.1 82t 11
Rivers 29 166 5.7 31 1
Vardell 32 122 3.8 41 6
Mitchell 37 83 2.2 13 1
Morton 3 33 11.0 20 0
Schlesinger 7 11 1.6 4 0
Reich 4 -4 -1.0 -1 0
Lions 447 2464 5.5 82t 19
Opponents 472 1833 3.9 74t 15
Receiving Rec Yds Avg Lg TD
Moore 104 1293 12.4 79 8
Morton 80 1057 13.2 73t 6
Sanders 33 305 9.2 66t 3
Sloan 29 264 9.1 25 0
Metzelaars 17 144 8.5 22 0
Vardell 16 218 13.6 37 0
Boyd, T. 10 142 14.2 32 0
Milburn 5 77 15.4 43 0
Schlesinger 5 69 13.8 33 1
Chryplewicz 3 27 9.0 12 1
McCorvey 2 9 4.5 6 0
Lions 304 3605 11.9 79 19
Opponents 281 3401 12.1 78t 15
Passing Att Cmp Yds Cmp% Avg TD TD% Int Int% Lg Sk/Y Rtg
Mitchell 509 293 3484 57.6 6.84 19 3.7 14 2.8 79 41/271 79.3
Reich 30 11 121 36.7 4.03 0 0.0 2 6.7 27 0/00 21.6
Blundin 1 0 0 0.0 0.00 0 0.0 1 100.0 0 0/0 0.0
Lions 540 304 3605 56.3 6.68 19 3.5 17 3.1 79 41/271 75.6
Opponents 507 281 3401 55.4 6.71 15 3.0 17 3.4 78t 42/287 72.1
Interceptions Int Yds Avg Lg TD
Carrier 5 94 18.8 66 0
Brown 2 83 41.5 45t 2
Westbrook 2 64 32.0 64t 1
Abrams 1 29 29.0 29 0
Rice 1 17 17.0 17 0
Raymond 1 5 5.0 5 0
Porcher 1 4 4.0 4 0
Boyd, S. 1 0 0.0 0 0
Jeffries 1 0 0.0 0 0
Bailey 1 0 0.0 0 0
Malone 1 -5 -5.0 -5 0
Lions 17 309 18.2 66 3
Opponents 17 191 11.2 50t 2
Punting Pnt Yds Avg Net TB In20 Lg B
Jett 84 3576 42.6 36.4 4 25 60 2
Team 2 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0 0
Lions 86 3576 41.6 35.6 4 25 60 2
Opponents 97 4296 44.3 38.4 7 29 67 0
Punt Returns PR FC Yds Avg Lg TD
Milburn 47 26 433 9.2 41 0
Carrier 1 0 0 0.0 0 0
Lions 48 26 433 9.0 41 0
Opponents 51 19 434 8.5 53t 1
Kickoff Returns KR Yds Avg Lg TD
Milburn 55 1315 23.9 69 0
Rivers 2 34 17.0 23 0
Vardell 1 15 15.0 15 0
Russell 1 0 0.0 0 0
Lions 59 1364 23.1 69 0
Opponents 62 1269 20.5 58 0
Field Goals 1-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50+
Hanson 0/0 10/10 8/9 5/5 3/5
Lions 0/0 10/10 8/9 5/5 3/5
Opponents 2/2 6/6 7/8 6/11 4/5
Hanson: () (52N,48G) (23G,33G,29G,32G) (47G) (53G,44G,22G,39G) (28G,30G) (34G,39G) (22G,28G)
(34G) (27G) (38G,52G,55G) (40G,29G) (26G) (50N,38N) (44G,25G)—26/29, 89.7%
Opponents: (30G,42N) (41G) (50S,48N) (36G,19G50G) (47G,33G) (25G) (52G,47G) (23G,44G)
(22G,40N,50G,46N,45G) (35G) (52G,32G,45N) (19G,33G,21G,42G) (21G,28G,37N) (32G)—25/32,
78.1%
Defense TT ST AT Sk Yds PD FF FR STT
Boyd, S 138 89 49 0 0 6 1 1 0
Brown 102 63 39 2.5 18 8 2 0 0
Carrier 75 54 21 0 0 14 0 0 0
Porcher 72 40 32 12.5 76 5 2 0 0
Wells 66 30 36 1 7 2 0 1 0
Elliss 63 35 28 8.5 47.5 4 0 2 0
Raymond 52 45 7 0 0 9 0 0 0
Rice 49 38 11 1 1 2 0 0 2
Westbrook 45 41 4 0 0 20 0 0 2
Scroggins 42 30 12 7.5 42 3 1 1 0
Jamison 35 26 9 1 15 1 1 1 2
London 34 19 15 2 14 0 1 0 1
Colon 33 23 10 0 0 1 0 0 0
Waldroup 33 19 14 1 1.5 0 0 1 0
Abrams 28 23 5 2 15 6 1 0 6
Malone 20 11 9 0 0 1 1 0 0
Russell 19 13 6 0 0 0 1 1 19
Bailey 14 13 1 2 25 4 3 0 9
Jeffries 9 6 3 1 19 5 1 0 0
Bonham 9 4 5 1 6 0 0 0 0
Kowalkowski 7 4 3 0 0 1 0 0 12
Spindler 4 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kirschke 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Special Teams: Rivers 13; Schlesinger 12 Jordan 8; Stocz 6; Boyd, T 5; Semple 5; Hanson 3; Stewart, R 3;
McCorvey 3; Porter, D 3; Chryplewicz 2; Hanks 2;
Lions 950 626 324 43 287 92 15 8 118
Opponents 895 643 252 40 266 79 12 9 101
NFL Standings
NFC Central W L T Pct Pts OP
Green Bay 13 3 0 .813 422 282
Tampa Bay 10 6 0 .625 299 263
DETROIT 9 7 0 .563 379 306
Minnesota 9 7 0 .563 354 359
Chicago 4 12 0 .250 263 421
NFC East
NY Giants 10 5 1 .656 307 265
Washington 8 7 1 .531 327 289
Philadelphia 6 9 1 .406 317 372
Dallas 6 10 0 .375 304 314
Arizona 4 12 0 .250 283 379
NFC West
San Francisco 13 3 0 .813 366 227
Carolina 7 9 0 .438 265 314
Atlanta 7 9 0 .438 320 361
New Orleans 6 10 0 .375 237 327
St. Louis 5 11 0 .313 299 359
AFC Central W L T Pct Pts OP
Pittsburgh 11 5 0 .688 372 307
Jacksonville 11 5 0 .688 394 318
Tennessee 8 8 0 .500 333 310
Cincinnati 7 9 0 .438 355 405
Baltimore 6 9 1 .406 326 345
AFC East
New England 10 6 0 .625 369 289
Miami 9 7 0 .563 339 327
NY Jets 9 7 0 .563 348 287
Buffalo 6 10 0 .375 255 367
Indianapolis 3 13 0 .188 313 401
AFC West
Kansas City 13 3 0 .813 375 232
Denver 12 4 0 .750 472 287
Seattle 8 8 0 .500 365 362
Oakland 4 12 0 .250 324 419
San Diego 4 12 0 .250 266 425
TB defeated DET, 20-10 and Min defeated NYG, 23-22 in NFC wild card. GB defeated TB, 21-7 and SF
defeated Min, 38-22 in NFC playoffs. GB defeated SF, 23-10 for NFC title. Den defeated Jax, 42-17 and NE
defeated Mia, 17-3 in AFC wild card. Den defeated KC, 14-10 and Pit defeated NE, 7-6 in AFC playoffs. Den
defeated Pit, 24-21 for AFC title. Den defeated GB 31-24 in SB XXXII.
IN 1997: Diana, Princess of Wales, dies following a high-speed traffic accident in the streets of Paris.
DETROIT LIONS
YEAR-BY-YEAR RESULTS