American Football: Detroit rely on returns

BRYANT WESTBROOK returned an interception 34 yards for a touchdown and Terry Fair raced 105 yards on a kick-off return as the Detroit Lions beat their NFC Central rivals, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 27-6 on Monday night. Both sides have a record of 1-3.

Barry Sanders, the Lions running back, rushed for 131 yards on 27 carries to record his 70th career 100-yard rushing game for Detroit. Charlie Batch, the Lions rookie quarterback, completed 14 of 23 passes for 115 yards, but recorded his first career rushing touchdown and first NFL victory.

With the Lions 6-3 ahead Westbrook helped break open the game less than two minutes into the second half when he grabbed an errant pass from Trent Dilfer, the Tampa Bay quarterback, and raced untouched into the end zone for his second career touchdown.

A 44-yard run by Sanders to the Tampa Bay two midway through the third quarter set up the Lions for another score, Batch sneaking in to make it 20-3.

Fair's return was one yard longer than the longest in the Lions' long history and one short of the longest on the NFL record books.