DETROIT (AP) – Big games are no big deal for the Detroit Lions.

They beat Minnesota in the 13th game of the 2001 season, guaranteeing the Lions would not be the NFL’s first 0-16 team.

Two weeks ago, a win at Chicago ended Detroit’s league-record streak for road futility at 24 games.

Dominic Raiola can laugh about such games now because, finally, his team is not the butt of jokes.

National reporters were dispatched to Detroit this week to write about the feel-good Lions.

“It’s fun for us to be in this environment,” said Raiola, a center in his fourth year, who wondered aloud if the game would be important enough for a camera to dangle on a tether over the field. “We have the Thanksgiving game every year, but we’ve been so far out of it, it hasn’t been that big of a game.

“Even though it’s early, this is the biggest game I’ll play in since I was at Nebraska.”

The Lions are 2-0 after defying the NFL’s parity with a league-low 10 victories the past three years. With more eyes on the Lions than usual, they have a chance to validate that start Sunday against the undefeated Eagles, one of the NFL’s elite teams.

For the Eagles, it’s just another matchup they’re expected to win against a team trying to gauge itself against them.

“Everyone kind of uses us as their red-letter game,” Donovan McNabb said. “We definitely appreciate that and there is a reason why they do that.”

Philadelphia has advanced to the NFC championship game the past three years. Since the Lions won the NFL title in 1957, they have only one postseason victory.

The Eagles are atop the NFC East, which they’ve won the last three years with 35 victories. The NFC North-leading Lions haven’t won their division since 1993 and have lost 38 games the previous three seasons.

If the Lions stun Philadelphia, they will be 3-0 for the first time since 1980, the year before rookie receiver Roy Williams was born.

“Everybody will be on our bandwagon as the surprise team if we win this game, with all the hype and hoopla surrounding it,” Williams said. “But we’re not surprised here in Detroit.”

The Eagles were expected to be very good and they have been, led by McNabb and Terrell Owens, who have helped them score an NFC-high 58 points. McNabb has completed 70.3 percent of his passes for 575 yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions.

Lions defensive tackle Dan Wilkinson watched McNabb’s sack-slipping, 20-yard TD run on Monday against Minnesota.

“That was unbelievable,” said Wilkinson, still shaking his head. “We watched that play on film and there were at least five linemen and linebackers that had him in their grasps. Any other quarterback on the planet would’ve been sacked.”

Owens had three TD receptions in his Eagles debut at home against the New York Giants and a 45-yard TD against the Vikings.

Williams, who made two spectacular catches for his first two scores last week, can’t wait to watch the player he’s emulated.

“I’m going to have my eyes on T.O.,” Williams said. “He’s been in the league for nine years, and I’m a rookie, so I’m going to be watching everything he’s doing.”

Owens established himself as a star during eight seasons in San Francisco and often feuded with his head coach in six of those years – Steve Mariucci, now the Lions’ coach. Just don’t expect Mariucci, who faced Owens in San Francisco last season, to engage in a war of words.

“He’s playing well, just like he has been,” said Mariucci, who replaced current Eagles assistant Marty Mornhinweg last season.

In the past, the Lions have crumbled when key players went down with the inevitable injuries that happen to almost all NFL teams. This year has been different.

Detroit won on the road against the Bears and at home against Houston without three of its top players: Pro Bowl cornerback Dre’ Bly, Charles Rogers and Boss Bailey. Rogers is gone for the season, Bailey for much of it, and Bly might wait to come back after Detroit’s bye next week.

“That says a whole bunch,” said safety Brock Marion, a key 2004 free-agent acquisition, along with Damien Woody, Tai Streets and Fernando Bryant. “We’re able to win when our best guys are out, and that’s what the NFL is all about.

“We’re 2-0, but those were the games we’re supposed to win. But this is a game you look at and say, “They’re a good team. Let’s beat them.’ They’re a good team, but so are we.”

Detroit’s confidence doesn’t shock McNabb.

“It may not be their time, but they feel like it is their time now,” McNabb said. “We definitely feel that it is our time, as well.”

McNabb said falling one win short of the Super Bowl three straight times has only motivated the Eagles to start and finish strong.

“We kind of gave it an extra kick and jump-started this thing the way we wanted to because of that,” he said.

AP-ES-09-23-04 1441EDT