Adrian Fedkiw
Lomas Brown should’ve kept his mouth shut.
”By the end of the first quarter, we’re going to have this game over with,” the mammoth left tackle said during the week leading up to the 1995 NFC Wild Card Game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions.
Brown was somewhat right, he just picked the wrong team.
Rodney Peete threw for 270 yards and three touchdowns as the Eagles routed the Lions 58-37 in the highest scoring postseason game ever at the time.
“Any time you turn the ball over six times, you could play a high school team and you’re not going to win. They had the better team today. They beat us convincingly,” Brown said after the game.
The Eagles ripped off 44 straight points after David Sloan’s 32-yard touchdown reception tied the game at 7-7 late in the opening quarter. Philly posted 31 points in the second, with three touchdowns coming in a five-minute span. Peete’s 43-yard Hail Mary to Rob Carpenter staked the Eagles to a 38-7 advantage heading into the locker room.
Fred Barnett caught eight passes for 109 yards and a touchdown for the Eagles, who lost to the Dallas Cowboys 30-11 the following week in the NFC Divisional Playoffs.
The Eagles’ defense limited Barry Sanders to just 40 yards on 10 carries and forced seven turnovers, with the Birds scoring 34 points off those giveaways. Scott Mitchell was 13-of-29 for for 155 yards with a touchdown and four interceptions for Detroit, which had won seven straight games to close the regular season. Philadelphia frustrated Mitchell by using extra defensive backs and even had safety Mike Zordich playing some linebacker.
Barnett’s 22-yard touchdown reception, Barry Wilburn’s 24-yard pick-six and Ricky Watters’ 1-yard TD plunge accounted for the Eagles 21 points in that five-minute span in the second quarter.
Watters added a 45-yard touchdown catch in the third before a pair of Gary Anderson field goals upped the margin to 51-7 in the third.
Don Majkowski replaced Mitchell and threw a pair of scores, but William Thomas’ 30-yard interception return for a score made it 58-21 early in the fourth.
Earlier, Charlie Garner’s 15-yard touchdown scamper opened the scoring following an interception by Mark McMillan.