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Kevin Jones ran for 127 yards Sunday, his first 100-yard game in 20 games. Teammate Dan Campbell helped celebrate his seven-yard TD. (RASHAUN RUCKER/Detroit Free Press)
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More Photos Lions 20, Bills 17
Kevin Jones had his best game of the season and his best run since 2004 in Sunday's 20-17 victory over the Buffalo Bills at Ford Field.
Jones sprang for a season-high 52 yards on his first carry of the game. It was his longest run since his 74-yarder on Dec. 5, 2004 against Arizona.
Although he failed to score on a pair of goal-line carries on that drive Sunday, he scored on a seven-yard touchdown run later in the quarter and kept churning out yards, even after getting a hip pointer, until he finished with 127 on 23 carries. He also added three catches for 36 yards to finish with 163 all-purpose yards.
He snapped a 19-game streak of rushing for less than 100 yards.
"I'm happy, but I'm more happy about the win," Jones said. "Tired of losing. A hundred yards is icing on the cake."
Jones gave credit to the team's patchwork offensive line, which was missing three starters.
"Without them I couldn't do it," he said. "That's even more credit to them because they had second-team guys stepping up, young guys that actually weren't going to be expected to play at this time. We've got guys hurt and they came in. Big (Damien) Woody is out for the season and they just came in and did their job and it helped me out a lot."
Quarterback Jon Kitna was glad that Jones broke the 100-yard barrier.
"Well, anytime you have a back go over 100 yards, No.1, it means you were in the football game for four quarters," Kitna said. "We were on our way to 100 yards a couple of times in the first five games, but (when) you get out of the game it's hard to keep running the football."
Jones said he couldn't remember what happened on his 52-yard carry.
"I just know I got the ball, seen daylight and ran," he said. "I got caught. Shouldn't (have) got caught. I was just happy to be off to an early start."
Jones said offensive coordinator Mike Martz told him the plan was to feed him the ball.
"He told me he was going to establish the run and try to stick with it a little more today," Jones said.
LEGGING IT OUT: Jason Hanson showed some rare emotion after missing a 56-yard field goal in the first quarter. The Lions had a 10-0 lead when Hanson's attempt fell short.
"I was mad because I've been working hard to hit those and I thought I hit it really good," Hanson said. "I did, then it came up a little short. I couldn't believe it.
"It was more just fury, thinking you've done everything right."
He finished with field goals of 43 and 29 yards and made both of his PAT attempts.
Hanson's 53-yard field goal the week before looked like it could have been a 60-yarder, but he said there aren't any "gimme" field goals at that range.
"This week, I hit it really good, but I hit it a lot higher than I did last week," Hanson said. "It's right at a range of what I do normally."
Hanson said he was mad because "I still want to hit those real long ones."
Hanson said he didn't lobby the coaching staff to attempt the kick. He said he thought he got the green light because he's been kicking well of late and "I think it was ' Let's make some plays.' "
GETTING NOSEY: Pro Bowl defensive tackle Shaun Rogers usually plays on the right side, but with nose tackle Shaun Cody out with an injury, Rogers moved to nose tackle and helped clog up the middle of Buffalo's run offense. "Shaun's a load in the there, wow. He was just sort of disrupting some stuff in there," coach Rod Marinelli said.
INJURIES: Running back Shawn Bryson (knee), fullback Cory Schlesinger (hamstring) and linebacker Ernie Sims (elbow) suffered injuries and will be evaluated today. Bryson's injury seemed the most serious. He was hurt on a kickoff return in the first quarter and did not return. Marinelli didn't want to speculate about the extent of the injury but when he was asked if he thought it was serious, Marinelli said, "Without knowing, kind of."
PLAYING TIME: Rookie receiver Devale Ellis was promoted from the practice squad last week and started the game at the tight end position. He had only one pass thrown at him, along the right sideline on a broken play, but failed to catch it with pressure coming from behind ... Receiver Mike Williams -- the 10th pick in the 2005 draft -- failed to see action for the fourth game this season. Williams wasn't involved much in last week's practice and was the only receiver not activated. Asked about the ongoing enigmatic situation involving Williams, quarterback Jon Kitna chose to punt: "That's ... why are we ... I'm not going to answer that question right now. That has nothing to do with today."