In like Bucs, out like lions Rick Stroud, The St.Petersburg Times, published 4 October 1993 Stop cutting eyeholes in those paper bags. Wipe the lighter fluid off those season tickets. Call the television repairman to fix the big hole you put in the screen last week. At least for another game, it's hunky if not dory to be a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan. Against the division-leading Detroit Lions, the Bucs willed their winless start to stop here. They gave tailback Reggie Cobb room to run. They gave quarterback Craig Erickson time to throw. They gave Mel Gray, the dangerous return man, a sore neck as he watched kickoffs sail out of the end zone. And for once, they never gave up. Despite falling behind by a touchdown and a field goal, the Bucs rallied for three scores in the third quarter and cruised to a 27-10 win over the Lions before 40,794 at Tampa Stadium. It was an improbable comeback for the Bucs (1-3), who overcame a turnover, the costly reversal of an official's call, and a 10-0 Lions lead. Historians will note this was the Bucs' first victory since 1987 with a starting quarterback not named Vinny Testaverde. "I've been around here four years, and we've been waiting for the game to get us over the hump," Cobb said. "Maybe this is the one. We had every situation imaginable. We were down. Taking the lead. Having to protect it. There were so many different scenarios, and we rose to every challenge." But even in victory, the Bucs suffered a big loss. Wide receiver Lawrence Dawsey tore ligaments in his left knee after catching a 22-yard pass on Tampa Bay's first play from scrimmage and could be lost for the season. But for Cobb, who had been bottled up for just 68 yards rushing in three games, it was a breakthrough game. He rushed for 113 yards on 25 carries, including a scrambling, 3-yard touchdown that broke a 10-10 tie in the third quarter. "Finally," Cobb said, sighing. "I dug myself a hole. People will wonder, `Where's he been for three weeks?' But there's still a lot of ball to be played and hopefully a lot of big games." And Cobb wasn't even close to being the most productive running back on the field. That honor belonged to the Lions' Barry Sanders, who rushed for 130 yards and a touchdown - averaging 5.9 yards - in a losing cause. Sanders collected 50 of those yards on the opening drive - a five-play, 80-yard march that included sprints of 10, 20 and 20 yards. With eight minutes to go in the first half, Sanders had 100 yards. But the defense held him to just 30 yards over the next 37 minutes. "After that first drive, my gosh, they marched right down the field," Sam Wyche said. "The concessions went way up out there, I understand. It was time to get another beer. But we just stayed on the field and kept working at it. Not one head dropped." Not even after receiver Courtney Hawkins fumbled away a first down on a 16-yard reception, a turnover that set up the Lions' field goal and a 10-0 deficit. Not even after officials, who threw a flag after spotting 12 Lions on the field as the play began, reversed their decision and awarded Detroit the ball. Wyche, predictably, went bananas. "I know they're omnipotent," Wyche said. "Their answer to it was they didn't have time to count up the extra players." There was one player, however, the Lions probably weren't counting on: Bucs placekicker Michael Husted. The rookie from Virginia got the Bucs going by kicking a 52-yard field goal on the final play of the first half and drilled four of his five kickoffs for touchbacks. In fact, a frustrated Gray went 7 yards into the end zone to return a Husted kickoff and was crunched at the 10-yard line. "They were like a big, sleeping dog," Lions coach Wayne Fontes said. If so, they awoke for good in the second half. The Bucs' defense forced two interceptions and confused Detroit quarterback Andre Ware, who was lifted for Erik Kramer in the third quarter after completing just 5 of 14 passes for 56 yards. "We thought he would be erratic, throwing the ball on cue where it was supposed to go no matter who was there," Bucs safety Marty Carter said. "I think a couple times he second guessed his throw. I think he got rattled because of the different things Floyd (Peters, defensive coordinator) was doing. We walked to the line a couple times disguising blitzes, and he looked at Hardy (Nickerson) and audibled into a play we wanted him to." It was a day of redemption for the Bucs' defense, which played without injured cornerback Ricky Reynolds. Gone was the tentativeness of the defense that entered the game 25th in the league. "We decided, if you mess up, run the wrong way full speed," Carter said. "That's the only thing that kept us in the game. They were going to hit somebody. The referee - anybody. If you mess up, go full speed in that direction until you hit something. There were a couple times I jumped in the pile I came too far to hit nobody." Offensively, the Bucs scrapped complicated game plans that failed at New York and Chicago and went back to running Cobb behind two tight ends. Erickson, making his third pro start, completed 14 of 25 passes for 210 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. "They just held themselves together," Wyche said. "They weren't going to let anything, anybody's comments, anybody's forecast of what was going to happen the rest of the year bother us. I spent part of last week wondering if I knew one thing about football - the rules, techniques or strategies. You start questioning everything." For one glorious game, the Bucs found some answers.