Garcia and the Lions edge the Browns 13-10

By John Onan | Sunday, October 23, 2005 | ( 0 )

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When Jeff Garcia left Cleveland after only one season, he was looking for an opportunity to redeem himself. Thanks to former coach Steve Mariucci, he got his chance, but it took a little while. Garcia broke his leg in the preseason and was forced to miss almost the first half of the season. It just so happened that as he was ready to return, Detroit starting quarterback Joey Harrington was struggling to lead the offense once again.

On Sunday against his former team, Garcia completed 22-of-34 passes for 210 yards to help lead the Detroit Lions to a hard-earned 13-10 win. He ran for Detroit's only touchdown from a yard away and kicker Jason Hanson added two field goals including a 50-yarder that proved to be the difference.

Not only was Garcia impressive shaking off the rust of not playing, but Detroit was also without two of its top receivers, Roy Williams and Charles Rogers. Rookie Mike Williams led the team with five receptions for 95 yards. On the ground, Kevin Jones carried 21 times for 74 yards.

Trailing 13-10 after the Hanson field goal, the Cleveland Browns had three more possessions to try to score, thanks to their defense shutting down the Lions offense. But quarterback Trent Dilfer was intercepted once, and Cleveland was forced to punt the other two times. Dilfer finished 10-of-19 for only 73 yards and was intercepted a total of three times on the day.

The Cleveland Browns got a great effort out of running back Reuben Droughns, who went for 100 yards on 19 carries, but Dilfer's three turnovers proved costly. Cleveland was outgained 329 yards to 174, and the Lions also controlled the time of possession, having the ball 37 minutes to only 23 for the Browns.

Detroit evened their record at 3-3 to lead the NFC North, while Romeo Crennel's Browns fell to 2-4 on the season.

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