National Football League

Jackson's late TD helps end Rams' 17-game skid

Published Nov. 2, 2009 7:47 a.m. ET

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The St. Louis Rams beat the Detroit Lions in each phase to snap their 17-game losing streak.

Offense. Defense. Special teams. Coaching.

Steven Jackson's 25-yard touchdown run with 1:38 left lifted the Rams to a 17-10 win Sunday over Detroit.

"As a rookie I said, 'That was an ugly win,' and I got chewed out," Jackson said. "I understand in the National Football League, there's no such thing as an ugly win."


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The Rams (1-7) avoided matching their worst start in franchise history and ended talk about joining Detroit as the only teams in NFL history to have 0-16 seasons.

Coach Steve Spagnuolo earned his first victory at any level.

"It's special and I know I'll remember it for a long time," he said.

Fellow rookie head coach, Jim Schwartz, won't be able to forget it.

The Lions (1-6) spent their bye week analyzing their season, searching for ways to fix their many problems.

They overlooked one tendency and it haunted them on a trick play when St. Louis lined up to kick a long field goal late in the first half.

Holder Donnie Jones took the snap, flipped it to kicker Josh Brown, who threw a short pass to a wide-open Daniel Fells for a 36-yard TD pass that gave the Rams a 10-2 lead.

Brown wasn't surprised how bad the Lions bit on it because they had two players on his left set up to push the pile.

"We had watched tape and they came every single time when they were set up that way," Brown said. "It was ours for the taking."

Schwartz said the Lions were too aggressive, but they knew Brown was within his range.

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