Lion legend built for the long haul Hubert Mizell, The St.Petersburg Times, published 13 October 1997 Barry Sanders was continuing to suffer against Tampa Bay. After three Sunday carries, Motown's shiftiest product was clunking along with minus-1 yard rushing. Same old ... ? A month earlier, as the Bucs hit the Lions with a 24-17 hammer, Sanders ran for a harmless 20 yards. Tampa Bay rookie Warrick Dunn had the smoking, screeching wheels. He gained 130. "Would the real Barry please stand up!" defensive end Chidi Ahanotu demanded amid Bucs locker-room glee in Pontiac. "Warrick looked very Sanders-like. Is this a changing of the guard? I think Warrick showed who the real Barry was." Fast-forward to this rematch in October. Tampa Bay was ahead 3-zip. Big Sombrero packed and roaring. Bucs after a ninth straight win at home, plus the first 6-1 start in the franchise's predominantly loathsome history. But no matter how dreary, cloudy and drizzly it gets for Detroit's up-and-down pro football team, there is always a chance Sanders lightning will strike. Crack! Detroit's offensive lineman suddenly blew open a hole. Bucs defensive tackle Warren Sapp was sealed off. Knocked inside. John Lynch, the smacking safety, came up attempting to be a plugger. "I made a little move," Sanders recalled. "Got past him." Oh, yeah, like a Porsche juking by a Humvee. "I see (wide receiver) Herman Moore has a Tampa Bay guy tied up in the secondary," Barry continued. "After that, there was nothing in front of me but air." Sanders, at full spinnaker, went sailing for 80 yards. Longest touchdown gallop of his nine NFL seasons. But, for Barry, let's unearth a cliche. Records are made to be broken. Made against the Bucs, soon to be outdone by No. 20 against his long-running NFC Central patsies. In the third quarter, as Detroit hugged a 10-9 lead, an off-tackle run was called for Sanders. Deep in Lions territory. Looking for more air. Room to punt. But when its Barry against the Bucs, lightning can strike at least twice. Crack! Detroit's squat wonder went blurring through tacklers, breaking toward the right sideline. Bucs safety Melvin Johnson had a shot. Just like last month in the Silverdome, when Sanders faked Melvin into sillydom on a 66-yard TD reception. Johnson did no better on Sunday's second chance. Still couldn't use the sideline as an ally, managing to trap No. 20. "Again, my offensive line again sealed off Tampa Bay's front four," Sanders said. "Tommy Vardell threw a nice block to get me outside. Then I got past that safety (Johnson) before cutting to the center of the field. Nobody else was in my way." Eighty-two yards on this trip. After just an hour, Barry had broken his record for longest career TD run. Lightning kills again. Tampa Bay, for 22 of Sanders' 24 carries, held him to 53 yards; 2.4 per tote. But on Barry's two long-distance calls, he gained 162. An average of 81.0. "Let's say that the real Barry is still around," commented Detroit center Kevin Glover. "We passed around the comment from that defensive end (Ahanotu). You don't become Barry's equal with one or two good games." On this Sunday in Tampa, a well-harnessed Dunn rushed 10 times, gaining 9 yards, an 0.9 average. When the Bucs whipped us in Pontiac, we abandoned our running game too quickly," Sanders said. "Our coach (Bobby Ross) promised earlier in the week that it'd be different this time. Come hell or high water, we were going to keep running the football for four quarters." Running it a long, long way. In his extraordinary NFL time, Sanders has the three longest runs ever against the Bucs. Before the 80 and 82, there was a non-scoring Tampa Stadium flight of 85 yards Dec. 13, 1994. His latest total, 215 yards, was the second-highest rushing figure ever allowed by the Bucs. Who ranks No. 1? Barry, of course. That same 1994 afternoon, he wound up with 237. For his 1989-97 career, Sanders has more carries (344) for more yards (1,988) and more TDs (14) against the Bucs than any other NFL team. On this latest journey, Barry leaped a legend. With 12,513 career rushing yards, he moved to fourth place, ahead of the old Cleveland Browns sensation Jim Brown (12,312). Barry has a chance, by season's end, to overtake Tony Dorsett (12,739) and Eric Dickerson (13,259), but record-holder Walter Payton (16,726) will have to wait. "It's no small deal, going past Jim Brown," Sanders said, "but there's one thing for sure, that my father will never, never figure there's any way that I'm close to Jim Brown. I agree. Jim played in a lot fewer games. He could've gone on for many more seasons. To me, and my dad, Brown was the best ever."