Quote:The game was indeed relatively late in the 1998 season.   It was the Lions first game after the Thankigiving Day OT win over the Steelers that many Steelers still talk about because of the OT coin toss controversy.

 

 The specific play you mentioned is something I forgot about until reading your post.

 

 What stood out for me that day was despite the impact Barry Sanders had,   Fred Taylor was sensational.    It was difficult watching the Lions Defense get carved up but when watching Taylor,   I knew I was viewing football greatness.     Even with the injuries,   Taylor had a borderline HOF career.   Early in his career,   Taylor was destined to be a 1st or 2nd ballot HOFer if he could have stayed relatively healthy the vast majority of the time.

 

  Also,   Tony Boselli was sidelined with an injury that afternoon.   Ben Coleman moved to LT and performed very well all things considering. 

 

Yes...Taylor was amazing that game.

 

One of the things that struck me about how little exposure the Jaguars received nation wide was in the aftermath of that game, many Lions fans were dismayed that an "unknown" back like Fred Taylor could have that amount of success vs. the Lions.  Here he was, a rookie FIRST round, top ten draft pick on a playoff team on the way to 17 TDs, and more than 3/4 of the season past, and people still never heard of him.

 

As for Coleman, he gave us lots of quality play at LT in Boselli's stead over the years.  He shut down some great pass rushers, including Derrick Thomas, Jason Taylor and Jevon Kearse.

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