Friday, December 10 Lions roaring right along By Tom Oates Special to ESPN.com

Their list of victims reads like a who's who of the NFC.

	Lions backup quarterback Gus Frerotte has been terrific in relief of the injured Charlie Batch.

The Packers, Vikings, Buccaneers, Rams and Redskins all have fallen to the Detroit Lions this season.

That's an impressive list of conquests for any team, much less the Lions. But the team that lost Barry Sanders before the first football was hiked, the team that has battled a plague of injuries all season, the team that was coming apart at the seams only a year ago, now has an 8-4 record and is tied with the Buccaneers for first place in the NFC Central.

About the only thing the Lions can't get this year is respect.

"I know everyone's waiting to see if we're for real," safety Ron Rice said recently, "and that's understandable."

It's understandable for two reasons. One, no one can quite figure out how the Lions are beating all of these good teams. And two, their greatest challenges lie just ahead, starting Sunday with a game at division co-leader Tampa Bay.

So, while no one can ignore the fact that if the NFC playoffs started today the Lions would have a 5-1 record against the rest of the field (they split with the Packers), people also can't forget that these are the Lions, and it's only a matter of time before they start acting like the Lions.

"I think they're waiting for us to collapse," coach Bobby Ross said.

They might be waiting a long time.

Even though the Lions were coming off a 5-11 season and lost the most electrifying runner in NFL history to a messy premature retirement, they are on more solid footing this season than at any time in their recent history. For a change, they have good coaching, good depth, a good defense and a good attitude.

They aren't winning impressively, but they are winning.

"They find ways to win," owner William Clay Ford said. "I don't know how they do it, but they're finding them."

That's something too few Lions teams could say in the past. But these are not your father's Lions. Heck, they're not even Barry Sanders' Lions.

They're Bobby Ross' Lions. After isolating himself from the players during the difficult 1998 season and nearly losing them as a result, Ross, 62, has changed his ways. Always a coach who did the most when the least was expected of him, Ross has once again become an even-keeled leader to whom players respond.

The results speak for themselves. Twice this season the Lions have lost two games in a row and both times they've responded with winning streaks. In the past, two-game losing streaks would only have served to expose a bickering, selfish team.

"I went back and looked at myself, and I thought I had removed myself from the human side of things," Ross said. "I'm talking about the communication with players, the every day contact with them, other than just on the football field. So that's where I tried to make my biggest changes in just how I dealt with things and the approaches I took to them.

"I've always been a person who believed in positive reinforcement, I really have. Of course, it's easier when you're winning. But last year, I would have to say that maybe I got a little bit away from that from time to time, and I didn't feel comfortable doing that. So I went back to doing it the way that I would like to do it."

One way Ross has always liked to do it was with depth. This season, depth has been more than a luxury for the Lions, it's been a necessity.

Sanders walked at the start of training camp. Early draft picks Aaron Gibson and Jared DeVries had their seasons wiped out by injury. Wide receiver Herman Moore didn't catch a pass until Thanksgiving Day. Quarterback Charlie Batch sprained his thumb and has missed the last four games. Cornerbacks Bryant Westbrook and Terry Fair have both been out with injuries.

And those are just the biggies. Many other starters have missed a game here or there.

	“	It takes change for things to be different. We're never going to have a complete meltdown like last year. A lot of that is because we got rid of a lot of selfishness.”
		— Lions receiver Herman Moore

Fortunately for the Lions, they had themselves backed up in almost every case. Redskins castoff Gus Frerotte, signed as a free agent during the offseason, has completed 63.1 percent of his passes for 1,398 yards, eight touchdowns and only two interceptions. He won the Rams game after replacing Batch and has gone 2-2 as a starter since then.

Quarterback isn't the only position were the Lions have been a little lucky. Germane Crowell stepped in when Moore went down with a knee injury in the opener and has more than 1,000 yards receiving. Free agent Barrett Brooks has made people forget about Gibson at offensive tackle.

In-season pick-ups Corwin Brown and J.B. Brown have held the secondary together. The Lions signed Desmond Howard last Saturday, and his 68-yard punt return for a touchdown helped them beat the Redskins 33-17 the next day.

"We have a little bit more depth than what people were giving us credit for, and I think that's been one of the really significant things," Ross said. "I think free-agency acquisitions were very beneficial to us."

It was especially beneficial to the Lion defense. A battle-scarred, injury-riddled mess at the end of last season, the defense has become the strength of the team.

By adding free agents James Jones and Kelvin Pritchett at tackle and first-round linebacker Chris Claiborne through the draft, the front seven went from the team's greatest weakness to its greatest strength. Jones, in particular, has solidified the defense's play against the run and has made everyone around him better.

The Lions lead the NFC in turnover ratio at plus-9, a figure due largely to 24 forced turnovers. Detroit forced 21 all last season. The turnovers are the direct result of increased pressure from the front four. Detroit's 39 sacks rank fourth in the NFL. The Lions also rank sixth in the NFL in run defense and have held opponents to less than 75 yards rushing in eight of their 12 games.

The defensive line dominated the high-scoring Redskins last week, finishing with five sacks and four forced fumbles. Its pressure also led directly to two interceptions.

"We have been a better football team, and it probably starts more on the defensive side," Ross said.

No, it really started in the locker room. The Lions have gotten along all year, which is not something past teams could say. Ross admits the Lions feel they have "something to prove" in the absence of Sanders, but his departure has unified the team in more ways than that.

Togetherness has helped the Lions during the tough times. No longer do they automatically fall apart in close games. Five of their eight wins have been by eight points or less.

"It takes change for things to be different," said Moore, who wasn't given his starting job back after returning from injury and yet hasn't complained. "We're never going to have a complete meltdown like last year. A lot of that is because we got rid of a lot of selfishness."

The Lions haven't adequately replaced Sanders' production -- halfback Greg Hill has gained 144 yards on 61 carries over the past four games -- but they haven't had to. They rushed for only 16 yards against the Redskins but won because the defense and special teams each contributed a touchdown.

Performances like that are the reason the Lions have exceeded everyone's expectations this year, with the exception of Ross.

"I didn't know if they could be special, but I just felt like all along, from the very beginning, that we could be better," he said. "I felt that way back from the time that we began."

What Ross couldn't foresee was that fate would also deal the Lions a strong hand. Frerotte's fourth-and-26 completion that kept alive the game-winning drive against the Rams would have to be considered lucky. So would the 11th-hour, injury-induced signing of Howard that resulted in a game-breaking punt return against the Redskins.

Things like that make you think this is the Lions' year.

"You've got to be lucky some of the time," Ross said. "I'd rather be lucky than good."

If the Lions are merely lucky instead of good, we'll find out soon. Three of their final four games are on the road, all against division opponents. Games at Tampa Bay, Chicago and Minnesota will show if the Lions are as good as their record.

"Deep down, I do wonder how good we can be," Rice said.

The rest of the football world is wondering the same thing.

Silent feud brewing in Big D
Four times this season, the Cowboys defense has held an opponent to one touchdown.

On all four occasions, the Cowboys lost because of an inept offense.

In a division famous for finger-pointing between offenses and defenses -- i.e. the Giants and Redskins -- the Cowboys have maintained some semblance of team unity.

"We talk about being a team every week," coach Chan Gailey said. "It's never going to be a situation where everyone is pulling an equal load on any team. So you always talk about being a team. These guys have pride, and they want to do well in their area. They want to win. But you make sure you emphasize the team aspect at all times."

Indeed, if there is any finger-pointing in Dallas, it is at Gailey. With a good offensive line and a rejuvenated Emmitt Smith running the ball, Gailey's Cowboys have the most conservative passing game this side of the Buccaneers.

Quarterback Troy Aikman, starved for a deep threat since Michael Irvin was lost for the season with a neck injury, is lobbying for cornerback Deion Sanders to play some at wide receiver and, hopefully, give the Cowboys a big-play threat to go with Rocket Ismail. Gailey seems to be resisting the notion of using the injury-plagued Sanders on offense, and one detects a note or two of dissatisfaction in Aikman's comments this week.

"I think there are probably people in the organization who underestimate what it meant to lose Michael," he said. "It has had a tremendous impact ... (because) Michael is one guy who had been in big games before and had made big plays."

Aikman clearly isn't comfortable with the ball-control, short-passing game favored by Gailey, either. He has just four completions of more than 25 yards in his past 225 passing attempts.

"Our emphasis is as a running football team," he said. "When you put that much emphasis on the running game, then the passing game is not going to be as sharp when you get into a passing situation."

Who'll win the tug-of-war? We'll be able to tell when we see where Sanders lines up Sunday against the Eagles.

Trying to tackle the problem
After a season of missed opportunities and mounting criticism, Packers safety Darren Sharper finally has come clean and admitted that his tackling has been poor.

"I think we can be a very good defense," Sharper told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "One thing we have to do is eliminate big plays. That's me. I need to eliminate the big plays (allowed). If you look at all the big plays we've had as far as long runs, the majority of them I've had my hands in on not stopping them. It's all on me. I have to improve on that and stop them."

Sharper, who has been solid in coverage, is only saying what others have been saying all season. The Packers' run defense, which ranks an uncharacteristically low 28th in the NFL, has allowed five runs of 35 or more yards this season. On four of the five, Sharper has either missed a tackle or taken a poor angle of pursuit.

The latest miss came in Sunday's 35-19 victory over the Bears, when Sharper failed to wrap up wide receiver Bobby Engram on a short pass in the waning seconds of the first half and Engram ran for 56 yards to the 10. That set up a field goal that cut the Packers' lead to eight points.

Missed tackles have plagued the Packers all season, but no one has missed more than Sharper. So far, however, he has not been publicly singled out by coach Ray Rhodes.

"We just have to do something about (the tackling)," Rhodes said. "It's not going to continue if guys want to play on this team."

Iron Mike finds no quick fix
The Saints have lost 10 of their past 11 games, astonishing when you consider they traded their entire draft for halfback Ricky Williams, thinking he would be the missing piece to their playoff puzzle.

With his team now 2-10 and facing a tough remaining schedule, coach Mike Ditka could finish with a worse record than the 3-13 team he took over in 1997.

"Is there right now an elixir or fix-all for this team?" Ditka asked. "Yeah. The only fix-all we can have is winning. But if you think there's any one way that any person is going to come in and this thing is going to get better tomorrow, it's impossible. It doesn't matter who it is. It could be Knute Rockne, George Halas, it's not going to happen."

One thing we do know: It wasn't Ricky Williams.

Tom Oates of the Wisconsin State Journal writes a weekly NFC column that appears every Thursday during the regular season.