WHEN ALL IS SAID, IT'S DUNN Rick Stroud, The St.Petersburg Times, published 8 September 1997 It is what NFL fans expect to see when they come to the Motor City. A compact little running back who turns the corner and really accelerates in traffic. But the Detroit Lions aren't getting as much mileage from their three-time rushing leader anymore. So the Tampa Bay Bucs unveiled their '97 model Sunday, and his tread marks were left all over the Pontiac Silverdome. Rookie Warrick Dunn looked a lot like a younger version of Lions great Barry Sanders. Dunn rushed for 130 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries to lead the Bucs to a 24-17 upset over Detroit. While Dunn gave his best impression of the NFL's three-time rushing leader, the Bucs buried Sanders, holding the Lions' superstar to just 20 yards rushing. "Will the real Barry please stand up?" Bucs defensive end Chidi Ahanotu said. "Warrick looked Barry Sanders-like today. Is it a changing of the guard, maybe? I don't know. I think Warrick showed who the real Barry was today." It was a significant victory for a number of reasons. It gave the Bucs a 2-0 start for the first time since '92 and only the fourth time in club history. But in defeating the Lions, the Bucs also accomplished a rare double - winning on the road against an NFC Central opponent. Under those scenarios, Tampa Bay had lost eight straight games. The win also sets up a showdown at Minnesota between the remaining unbeaten teams in the NFC Central. Green Bay was upset by Philadelphia 10-9 Sunday. Dunn, the first-round pick from Florida State, gained 116 of his 130 rushing yards in the first half, stunning the Lions and allowing the Bucs to build a 17-0 lead. Dunn's 49-yard run in the first quarter set up the Bucs' initial touchdown - a 1-yard pass to rookie fullback/tight end Patrick Hape off a play-action fake to Mike Alstott. Dunn's 6-yard touchdown run in the second quarter also was a bit Sanders-ish as he squirted up the middle and actually ducked under Lions safety Van Malone before lunging for the end zone. He accounted for 40 of the Bucs' 53 yards on the drive. "He was awesome," Bucs quarterback Trent Dilfer said. "I had the best seat in the house and he does some things you just can't believe. He's Barry Sanders-ish in the way he can stop and can accelerate again at full speed. What happens is a lot of times people think they have him, at 2 yards, 4 yards or 6 yards, then he accelerates. Sometimes he only gets another 2 or 3 yards, but those are big yards. The thing that impressed me today was not the big run, not when he made the guys miss, but when it was stuffed. When there was nothing there. You could see him drive his legs." Once again, the Bucs defense was marvelous and this time matched its guile with guts. Defensive tackle Warren Sapp refused to come out of the game despite spraining his right ankle in the first half and aggravating it in the third quarter. He finally was forced to leave in the fourth quarter when he needed stitches to repair the gash left by a compound fracture of his left pinky finger that had protruded through the skin. Ouch. "I had a rough day at the office," said Sapp, who had one of the Bucs' two sacks. "I sprained my ankle twice and I dislocated my finger and it came through the skin. That last one got me out of the game, but I'll be back next week. If I'm not shot or dead, I'll be out there fighting." Sapp's perseverance helped the defense limit Sanders to 20 yards rushing on 10 carries - his third-lowest output when his attempts have reached double-digits. It was even worse than his 33-yard rushing performance last week against Atlanta. The problem seems to be Sanders' adjusting to running out of the I-formation behind a fullback, a scheme introduced by new Lions coach Bobby Ross. Well, here's mud in your I. In fact, most of the crowd of 58,234 at had headed for the parking lot by the time Sanders ripped off a dazzling 66-yard touchdown after taking a short pass from quarterback Scott Mitchell. Barry will be Barry. The Lions' other touchdown was a fluky pass from Mitchell that was deflected by cornerback Anthony Parker into the hands of Johnnie Morton, who raced down the sideline for a 73-yard TD. The two plays grossly inflated Mitchell's passing numbers to 29-of-50 for 331 yards and two TDs. He also was intercepted by safety Charles Mincy. But Dunn was the story. Even though the Bucs had talked about being careful not to overwork their rookie tailback for fear of getting him hurt, they had no qualms Sunday about handing him the ball two dozen times. "We have to cut that down," Tony Dungy said almost apologetically. "He was hot and we kept going to him and he wanted it. I don't foresee that happening a lot, but I could be wrong." Derrick Brooks, who played with Dunn for two seasons at Florida State, didn't buy the predraft hype that Dunn might be limited to being used as a third-down back. "It goes back to when they worked the guy out before the draft," Brooks said. "I told Mike Shula, if we're trying to turn the corner we need to make a dash at getting this guy. Then when they drafted him, I was probably the first guy to call and say, `Thanks.' "I told (Tony) Mayberry back in preseason when he saw him bust that run against the Redskins. I said, `Ya'll just get confident that any time the guy touches the ball, he's a threat to score.' " And you think the Bucs, who had their image splashed on the cover of the nation's largest-selling sports magazine, were worried about the Sports Illustrated jinx? If you're going to be superstitious, it helps to have a rabbit's foot - or feet - like the ones belonging to Dunn. "I don't think we're good enough to let that stuff affect us," defensive tackle Brad Culpepper said. "We have the mentality that we have to earn everything we get. Nothing's going to be handed to us. "Regardless of whether we're on the front cover of Sports Illustrated. Maybe if it's Dallas on the cover or San Francisco on the cover, teams will get intimidated. But we know no matter where we are, even if we're on a billboard in Times Square, no team is going to be intimidated because of the past here. So we've got to go out and earn our keep. We've got to earn our wins. There's no way we'll get lackadaisical, because we're not good enough. Some teams are. Some teams can win on their reputation, and hopefully, it'll be like that one day here. But right now, we're not."