Stafford stopped. Two rushers got ready to cream him. Defensive tackle C.J. Mosley, all 305 pounds of him, was two feet away and closing fast when Stafford finally let the ball go toward the left corner of the end zone. Bang! Mosley drove Stafford as hard as a quarterback can be driven into the ground. The ball fluttered into the air, right into the arms of safety Brodney Pool.Interception. Ballgame.
Flags.
"Game's over,'' Stafford said. "I was sure it was, even though I was on the ground and pretty much in a lot of pain. Then I heard there was a flag.''
Seems that Browns nickel back Hank Poteat tackled wideout Calvin Johnson in the end zone, thinking physical play was OK because Stafford had left the pocket. "No! No!'' one of the officials kept saying over and over to Poteat. "Pass interference!''
But because Stafford lay on the field and caused a stoppage in play, Detroit was charged with a timeout. It didn't have one, that was the Lions' fourth charged timeout of the half ... but because time had expired, the Lions would not be penalized five yards, not penalized by having time run off the clock. [Only on a fifth timeout of a half -- three timeouts followed by two due to injury -- does yardage actually get marked off.]
Meanwhile, Stafford was ushered to the Lions sideline, where four team medics began to examine him. In the game went backup Daunte Culpepper. Detroit would have one, last, untimed play at the one-yard-line because the game cannot end on a defensive penalty. Culpepper began to call signals.
Then Cleveland coach Eric Mangini called timeout, and proceeded to appeal to the officials about something. The non-runoff of time on the clock? The pass interference? I don't know. After the game, he said he took the timeout to see if he had the right personnel package on the field for the last play.
"I was flat on my back on the sidelines, and the doctors were trying to figure out what was wrong with my shoulder,'' said Stafford. "But I heard, 'Timeout Cleveland,' and then I knew I could come back in.''
An injured player who leaves the field has to sit for at least one play -- unless there is a charged timeout by either team. Stafford knew. And he immediately began trying to get up, but the doctors kept telling him, basically, to hold on, hoss -- he wasn't authorized to go back in. But Stafford got up and weaved his way onto the field, telling offensive coordinator Scott Linehan to call a pass play if he wanted, because he had one play left in him.
"Only one,'' Stafford said. "But I knew I had one. I had the adrenalin going.'' He jogged onto the field and Culpepper jogged back off.
Meanwhile, Schwartz hollered at his medical staff: "Is he good to go?'' And one of the doctors said no, and Schwartz asked what was wrong, and the doc said he didn't know because they hadn't had time to examine him yet.
"The kid put himself back in the game,'' Schwartz said.
Lord knows what the Browns thought the wounded Stafford would call, but tight end Brandon Pettigrew, a fellow first-round pick in 2009, ran a short square-in at the back of the end zone, and Stafford flicked it to him. Ballgame.
― jØrdån (omar little), Monday, 23 November 2009 18:02 (sixteen years ago)