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Am I going too far by suggesting that the Legend of Matthew Stafford began Sunday in Detroit?



I don’t think so.



I don’t care that he was playing Cleveland, a team that can rival his own in terms of recent futility.



I don’t care that he threw two more interceptions, one of which contributed to a 24-3 first-quarter deficit, or that he was called for intentional grounding in the end zone for a safety.



Watching him race back onto the field for the game’s final play, his left arm hanging limp on his side, was really, truly and honestly the kind of event that can lift an entire franchise.



Early tests were negative for a broken collarbone, but it’s clear Stafford suffered a significant injury to his left shoulder on the previous play. It’s remarkable to think that not only did he drill the game-winning pass to tight end Brandon Pettigrew, but he did it after taking a hard snap from center. (A shotgun formation probably would have been easier, but there will be no nitpicking from us on this day.)



The game-winner capped a 422-yard, 5-touchdown day for Stafford. We’ve picked on him from time to time this season, but Sunday he showed a level of toughness, leadership and flair for the dramatic that simply can’t be inferred from a set of statistics.



From the sound of it, Stafford didn’t let doctors evaluate his injury until afterwards. (Remember, Cleveland’s timeout prior to the last play was the only reason Stafford got back in the game in the first place. Originally, backup Daunte Culpepper was on the field for the final play.)



“[Stafford] made a great play to finish the game but probably his best play was eluding four team doctors on the sideline that were all trying [to stop him],” coach Jim Schwartz said, laughing. “I mean, he was lying on his back when Cleveland took that timeout to set their defense and when he found out it was a timeout he popped up and all the team doctors said, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa.’ I said, ‘What does he have?’ They said they didn’t even know yet. He made a nice scramble on the previous play but he did a nice job eluding [the doctors]. It’s a good thing our team doctors didn’t play on varsity because Matt had to work his way back onto the field.”



It’s the stuff legends are made of. There have been too many years of too many Lions players not caring enough to do what Stafford did Sunday. Maybe they’ve turned the corner.

Matthew Stafford threw his fifth touchdown pass from 1 yard to Brandon Pettigrew, and Jason Hanson’s extra point with no time on the clock gave the Detroit Lions a stunning 38-37 win over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.

The Cincinnati Bengals remain winless in Oakland.







Despite Cincinnati being a first-place team this year, the Bengals played like the old Bengals again for one game in a 20-17 loss to the lowly Oakland Raiders.



Cincinnati receiver Andre Caldwell fumbled a kickoff return in the final seconds that led to Oakland’s game-winning field goal. The Bengals (7-3) are now 0-9 in Oakland all-time.



This loss hurts Cincinnati’s chances of getting home-field advantage in the playoffs as AFC division leaders Indianapolis (10-0), New England (7-3) and San Diego (7-3) were all victorious in Week 11. Overall it was an awful weekend for the AFC North, which went 0-4 Sunday as Cincinnati, the Pittsburgh Steelers (6-4), Baltimore Ravens (5-5) and Cleveland Browns (1-9) all suffered close defeats.

BALTIMORE — The Colts pride themselves on plugging people into holes with no drop-off. They expect that when mistakes are made, they will find a way to overcome them.



Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium, as they improved to 10-0 with a 17-15 win over the Ravens, second-year tight end Tom Santi came to symbolize both themes.



The Colts were without Gijon Robinson, a starter who does a lot of blocking in the shadow of Dallas Clark, helping keep Peyton Manning clean and create room for Joseph Addai and Donald Brown. While he was in Indianapolis recovering from a concussion, Santi got the call.



Santi proved himself a capable blocker and a largely reliable target for Manning, chipping in with six catches for 80 yards.



He also had three costly plays — a lost fumble near the goal line, an apparent alligator-arms moment in another scoring chance and a false start penalty.



“Everybody makes mistakes. You’ve got to watch, how do they handle it afterwards?” Addai said. “He was able to handle it afterwards. He hasn’t been playing a lot. This game he did a lot of good things. Yeah, he fumbled. But you’ve got to kind of let that go. I know he’ll learn from it, but move on. He did a great job for us today and I know he’ll improve from there.”



“That doesn’t surprise me,” Reggie Wayne said of the positive contribution. “He does it every day in practice. So now he just turned it over to the game. I think he did a pretty good job, minus the fumble. But that happens. I’m just glad it didn’t cost us.”



The Colts don’t so much plan to feature a guy as they allow Manning to take what’s available.



Robinson isn’t generally a large piece of the passing offense. Santi had a sense in the middle of the week that he’d be in line for a good share of the work that usually goes to Robinson.



Clark made a spectacular one-handed catch in the back of the end zone for a 3-yard touchdown to cap the game’s opening drive. Other than that, Baltimore did things defensively that prompted Manning to look elsewhere, and he turned to Santi for four of his 12 first-half completions.



“We saw some things, and obviously the quarterback is pretty good back there and he does a great job putting us in great position,” Santi said.



Down 9-7 in the second quarter, Manning placed a pass to Santi over the middle and in the middle of a crowd for a 22-yard gain. Santi got nailed, suffering a neck injury that briefly forced him from the game. It was a key play on a touchdown drive that put Indianapolis ahead 14-9.



On a day when he made his first NFL catch, he might have also scored his first NFL touchdown.



Instead, he ended the Colts’ first possession after the half when he was clobbered at the 1-yard line, hit low by Ed Reed and then high by Ray Lewis, who jarred the ball free for Dwan Edwards to recover.



Just about anyone might have coughed it up when scrunched by two eventual Hall of Famers.



Santi didn’t know who the defenders were.



“That’s a bad play on my part,” he said. “I definitely left points out there. As far as I am concerned, that’s unacceptable.”



The Colts’ defense didn’t allow it to translate into points. While Baltimore moved 84 yards on the ensuing possession, Billy Cundiff missed a 30-yard field goal wide right.



Later, with Dawan Landry closing fast, Santi seemed tentative on a ball he could have pursued more aggressively on a second-and-goal from the 7. Just before the 2-minute warning, he was whistled for a false start.



He said both errors were a matter of lost focus. On the pass, he needs to come out of the break faster and be ready for it quicker.



“I definitely left some plays out there,” he said. “As you can see we’ve got a good team with a lot of great veteran leadership and that’s what we’ve talked about the whole year. Play the next play, next man up and when it’s your time, go out there and perform.”



He will enjoy the win, review the film, then shred it, mentally, as he knows his coaches will.



Then, if still needed, he will plug back in to the next-man-up, play-the-next-play philosophies that are a big part of why the Colts are the AFC’s lone undefeated club.



He’ll simply look to be the kind of player Wayne says all of the Colts are supposed to be.



“We’re like machines,” Wayne said. “They program us to keep pushing, don’t fall. Keep chugging away, chugging away. There is no time to point fingers or put your head down. Just keep going, keep going and find a way to get it done.”

BALTIMORE — The Colts pride themselves on plugging people into holes with no drop-off. They expect that when mistakes are made, they will find a way to overcome them.



Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium, as they improved to 10-0 with a 17-15 win over the Ravens, second-year tight end Tom Santi came to symbolize both themes.



The Colts were without Gijon Robinson, a starter who does a lot of blocking in the shadow of Dallas Clark, helping keep Peyton Manning clean and create room for Joseph Addai and Donald Brown. While he was in Indianapolis recovering from a concussion, Santi got the call.



Santi proved himself a capable blocker and a largely reliable target for Manning, chipping in with six catches for 80 yards.



He also had three costly plays — a lost fumble near the goal line, an apparent alligator-arms moment in another scoring chance and a false start penalty.



“Everybody makes mistakes. You’ve got to watch, how do they handle it afterwards?” Addai said. “He was able to handle it afterwards. He hasn’t been playing a lot. This game he did a lot of good things. Yeah, he fumbled. But you’ve got to kind of let that go. I know he’ll learn from it, but move on. He did a great job for us today and I know he’ll improve from there.”



“That doesn’t surprise me,” Reggie Wayne said of the positive contribution. “He does it every day in practice. So now he just turned it over to the game. I think he did a pretty good job, minus the fumble. But that happens. I’m just glad it didn’t cost us.”



The Colts don’t so much plan to feature a guy as they allow Manning to take what’s available.



Robinson isn’t generally a large piece of the passing offense. Santi had a sense in the middle of the week that he’d be in line for a good share of the work that usually goes to Robinson.



Clark made a spectacular one-handed catch in the back of the end zone for a 3-yard touchdown to cap the game’s opening drive. Other than that, Baltimore did things defensively that prompted Manning to look elsewhere, and he turned to Santi for four of his 12 first-half completions.



“We saw some things, and obviously the quarterback is pretty good back there and he does a great job putting us in great position,” Santi said.



Down 9-7 in the second quarter, Manning placed a pass to Santi over the middle and in the middle of a crowd for a 22-yard gain. Santi got nailed, suffering a neck injury that briefly forced him from the game. It was a key play on a touchdown drive that put Indianapolis ahead 14-9.



On a day when he made his first NFL catch, he might have also scored his first NFL touchdown.



Instead, he ended the Colts’ first possession after the half when he was clobbered at the 1-yard line, hit low by Ed Reed and then high by Ray Lewis, who jarred the ball free for Dwan Edwards to recover.



Just about anyone might have coughed it up when scrunched by two eventual Hall of Famers.



Santi didn’t know who the defenders were.



“That’s a bad play on my part,” he said. “I definitely left points out there. As far as I am concerned, that’s unacceptable.”



The Colts’ defense didn’t allow it to translate into points. While Baltimore moved 84 yards on the ensuing possession, Billy Cundiff missed a 30-yard field goal wide right.



Later, with Dawan Landry closing fast, Santi seemed tentative on a ball he could have pursued more aggressively on a second-and-goal from the 7. Just before the 2-minute warning, he was whistled for a false start.



He said both errors were a matter of lost focus. On the pass, he needs to come out of the break faster and be ready for it quicker.



“I definitely left some plays out there,” he said. “As you can see we’ve got a good team with a lot of great veteran leadership and that’s what we’ve talked about the whole year. Play the next play, next man up and when it’s your time, go out there and perform.”



He will enjoy the win, review the film, then shred it, mentally, as he knows his coaches will.



Then, if still needed, he will plug back in to the next-man-up, play-the-next-play philosophies that are a big part of why the Colts are the AFC’s lone undefeated club.



He’ll simply look to be the kind of player Wayne says all of the Colts are supposed to be.



“We’re like machines,” Wayne said. “They program us to keep pushing, don’t fall. Keep chugging away, chugging away. There is no time to point fingers or put your head down. Just keep going, keep going and find a way to get it done.”

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan cried for his team this week. They had to jolt the New England Patriots again if they wanted to stay in the playoff hunt. Anything less than victory was unacceptable.



The Jets failed to come through.



The Patriots totally outclassed them on offense and defense, cruising to a 31-14 triumph Sunday in Gillette Stadium.



The Patriots bounced back from last week’s debacle in Indianapolis to reassert their dominance in the AFC East. They’re 7-3, two games ahead of the second-place Miami Dolphins and three ahead of the Jets.



The Jets have lost six of their past seven games, with their lone success against the woeful Oakland Raiders nearly a month ago.



Star cornerback Darrelle Revis won his showdown with Randy Moss, but that and a 103-yard rushing performance from Thomas Jones were about the only things that went well for the Jets. Moss made five receptions for 31 yards, but a couple plays were against other defenders. He did beat Revis on a timing play for a 4-yard touchdown in the first quarter.



Patriots quarterback Tom Brady minced the Jets’ defense with Wes Welker instead. The slot receiver had the best yardage day of his career, catching 15 passes for 192 yards.



Patriots running back Laurence Maroney carried 22 times for 77 yards and two touchdowns.



New England has scored at least 27 points in five straight games.



The anti-star of Sunday’s game was Jets rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez. He committed five turnovers. Patriots cornerback Leigh Bodden snagged three of Sanchez’s four interceptions and returned one of them 53 yards for the game’s first score. Sanchez also lost a fourth-quarter fumble.



Sanchez did make a beautiful 29-yard pass to Jerricho Cotchery, who made an even prettier catch in the end zone. That was the Jets’ lone offensive score. The other touchdown came on a blocked punt.

Drew Brees threw for three touchdowns and the Saints shrugged off a slow start defensively to remain unbeaten Sunday with a 38-7 rout of the struggling Tampa Bay Buccaneers and young quarterback Josh Freeman.

ST. LOUIS — Kurt Warner‘s injury status will be the primary focus when I head down to the Cardinals’ postgame media sessions momentarily.



Warner absorbed what the team called a “blow to the head” late in the second quarter. He stayed in the game for five additional plays as the Cardinals finished a touchdown drive. He did not return after that drive.



Backup Matt Leinart had trouble getting much going in the second half even though he inherited an offense that was running the ball effectively.



The Rams did a poor job capitalizing until it was almost too late. And when they did have a chance to force a potential tie, receiver Brandon Gibson dropped a pass in the end zone, bailing out Leinart and the Cardinals.



This game illustrated Warner’s value and how much ground the Rams still must make up from a talent standpoint.



Warner watched the second half from the sideline and remained in uniform. If he is not injured seriously, the Cardinals all but wrapped up the NFC West title by opening a three-game lead over the 49ers in the division. Looking down on the field as I write, Warner is holding hands with the Rams’ Jonathan Wade and Keith Null as part of the postgame prayer circle.



Arizona is 7-3 for the second season in a row. The Cardinals are 5-0 on the road. They should be able to get to nine or 10 victories, which should be enough to defend their division title.

Roethlisberger: The last time the Ravens and Steelers faced off, a trip to the Super Bowl was at stake. Next week they will just be fighting for playoff survival. The Ravens would love nothing more than to knock the Steelers down another peg.

Roethlisberger: The last time the Ravens and Steelers faced off, a trip to the Super Bowl was at stake. Next week they will just be fighting for playoff survival. Mike Tomlin said that Roethlisberger’s injury is “concussion oriented.” The Ravens would love nothing more than to knock the Steelers down another peg, no matter who is at quarterback for them.