There was the Lions' season, bouncing along the soggy Giants Stadium end zone following a James Stewart fumble. And there charged Hartings, outhustling New York Jets linebacker Dwayne Gordon for the ball and the touchdown.

"We've been getting on ourselves on offense because we've been blowing great scoring chances the last three weeks," Hartings said. "And I wasn't going to let that happen this time. I went after that ball like our whole offense depended on it."

In fact, it did.

Two touchdowns in eight quarters isn't indicative of an offense hitting its late-season peak. And although the Lions' 10-7 victory serves as a triumph of will, it cannot mask the continued erosion of Charlie Batch's performance and an offensive unit that has become more excuses than execution.

The Lions' playoff hopes live for another week, but their hopes for doing anything in the playoffs remain on life support. And, as a result, there's some lunacy in celebrating a hard-fought road win that's probably only going to result in another first-round playoff humiliation because nobody respects the Lions' offense.

Including themselves.

Boyd, defense come to the rescue

"We've been an easy offense to figure out," said Stewart, who provided big dividends on his big free-agent contract with a career-high 164 rushing yards. "If the other team isn't stopping us, then we're stopping ourselves. We won the game and the offense got the ball into the end zone when we had to, but I don't want to use the word 'redeem' to describe how we feel about how we played. The offense has probably cost us three games this year. And if Hartings doesn't grab that loose ball...."

Stewart closes his eyes, shakes his head and trembles, pretty much the standard reaction for anyone watching the Lions' offense.

They're placing too heavy of a burden on a defense that has been spectacular in seven of the past eight quarters. With all due respect to Stewart, Stephen Boyd was the player of the game, twice staying what seemed an inevitable Lions execution with a fumble recovery and interception on successive New York fourth-quarter drives.

But if they're expected to hold the opposition to fewer than 10 points every time, then enthusiasm over playoff possibilities becomes pointless.

If opponents don't respect the Lions' offense, it's primarily because they don't respect the quarterback.

Batch isn't making plays. He was only 8-of-18 passing and was responsible for the Jets' lone score, overthrowing Germane Crowell over the middle for an interception that Jets safety Victor Green returned to the Lions' 1.

The Lions had nine consecutive snaps inside the Jets' 10 on one drive, yet got no points.

Granted, the blustery combination of rain and 30-m.p.h. winds plus continued offensive-line breakdowns made it difficult, but it appeared Gary Moeller grew uncomfortable with Batch following the interception.

Consider the Lions' final possession of the first half. They had the ball 26 seconds and three timeouts. Enough time against a prevent defense to march the necessary 40 yards and give Jason Hanson an opportunity for a long field-goal attempt. But the Lions meaninglessly ran the ball twice and burned two timeouts.

Charlie still gets Mo's vote

What was the point?

Was Moeller afraid of Batch botching it?

"I need to look and see if we're having problems getting separation with our receivers," Moeller said of his deteriorating passing game.

"And I know that we need to do a much better job on the offensive line. But look ...call me thick-headed, call me hard-headed. I still believe that Charlie is going to be a good NFL quarterback, and I'm going to die trying to find out."

The Lions weren't mistaken in taking Batch three drafts ago or expediting his ascent through the depth chart. But they were mistaken in not keeping an accomplished quarterback as a backup, someone capable of competing for the starting job and steadily pushing Batch to improve.

And they were mistaken for not using a middle- to low-round draft pick in either of the past two years on a young quarterback as a developmental project.

Don't you think the Lions might have been better long-term using a sixth-round pick on Tom Brady as New England did?

"People are still going to have questions about me and our offense, and that's fine," Batch said.

"But until you know what it's like to play in those kind of conditions, then it's hard to pass judgment. We might have done all any offense was capable of doing in that kind of weather. But all I care about is getting the win. A win in December. That's all that matters."

But it's never that simple with this franchise. Like a Supreme Court ruling, even the sweetest of victories comes with a dissenting opinion.