mmeting out of first place after surging to the top of the division by winning their first five games.Minnesota could ha

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- He began the night in everyones face, the New England Patriots oldest and greatest player bouncing around the field and the locker room shouting at anyone who would listen and a few who didnt know what to think.Monday Night Football! Tom Brady bellowed at his teammates in the moments before the game. Playing the Ravens! Whats better than that?!?!?He was very excited, I know that, Patriots tight end and amused relative newcomer Martellus Bennett said after it was over. Any midgame glimpse of Brady on the sideline, barking animatedly at teammates after third-down plays gone wrong, was all you needed to know about how fired up he was for this one. If you needed it, a look at the postgame stat sheet would drive home the point.It shows three touchdowns and 406 yards on 38 throws (25 completions) against the NFLs best defense. A 30-23 victory over a traditional rival and potential playoff opponent. A 79-yard enough-already touchdown strike to Chris Hogan in the fourth quarter, after too many turnovers and too many missed chances had made the game closer than it ever should have been.Someone asked Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh what happened, how his defense got so thoroughly roasted, and he couldnt have been more matter-of-fact.I think you just chalk it up to Tom Brady does a great job and obviously had a great night throwing the ball, Harbaugh said.Shrug.Sometimes, its just that Brady is too darn good, and theres nothing you can do. With the playoffs just a couple of weeks away, Monday night was a reminder that the biggest difference-maker in the field is still the guy flinging perfect passes at Patriot Place.You cant make a mistake against this guy, Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs said. Hell make you pay for it, and he made us pay big.Harbaugh has a pretty good team. The 7-6 Ravens seem good enough to make the playoffs, and if they do they may be good enough to win a game or two. This is an apt description of pretty much any AFC contender right now. Its a flawed, muddied field, and much of Monday nights game made that clear.The Patriots looked ready to run away with the game until Brady threw a terrible second-quarter interception in the red zone and their punt-return and kick-return units handed the Ravens 14 points in the third. At that point, the game started to look like a coin flip that would clarify little about whats to come in January.Then, Brady split the hashmarks with a laser, Hogan caught the ball in stride and delivered it to the end zone, and all of a sudden everything looked clear again. The AFC playoff field may be a collection of imperfect, at-times-unimpressive squads. But only one of them has the quarterback who has won more games than any other in NFL history, and come January that might just be what makes the difference.I still think its amazing to be on the same field as him, Hogan said.Legitimate greatness in a time of parity is a thing to sit up and notice. Brady is playing without his best offensive weapon -- injured tight end Rob Gronkowski. The Ravens came in allowing a completion percentage of 35.2 on deep passes (balls thrown at least 15 yards downfield), and Brady completed 8-of-10 of those throws for two touchdowns. Overall, hes at 22 touchdowns and two interceptions in the nine games he has played since his four-game suspension ended. Theres no one on the league playing his position any better, and as fired up as he was before the game, he was just as satisfied when it was over.Yeah, it was a big game for us, Brady said. Playing at home in December on Monday night against a great defense, it was important for us to come out and play well.They played well in some aspects of the game, poorly in others and escaped in spite of three turnovers. And as the time ticked down at the end of the fourth quarter, the crowd at Gillette Stadium began chanting the biggest reason why.Brady! Brady! Brady! they cried.The playoffs are less than a month away, and after all of the tumult this season has brought, it still looks as if the road through the AFC cuts through Foxborough and the biggest factor in deciding the biggest games is still the guy wearing No. 12 and screaming at his teammates to try to get them as fired up as he is. Wholesale Custom Spurs Shirts . Pirlo limped out of Sundays 1-0 win over Udinese after just 13 minutes. Juventus says Pirlo underwent tests on Monday which revealed he has "a second-degree lesion to the collateral medial ligament in his right knee. Custom Spurs Jerseys . Bradwell was scheduled to become a free agent Tuesday. Born and raised in Toronto, Bradwell is entering his sixth CFL season, with all six played for his hometown Argonauts. http://www.customspursjersey.com/ . PAUL, Minn. Cheap Custom Spurs Jersey .875,000, avoiding arbitration. Clippards deal Monday means all eight Nationals players who filed for arbitration wound up settling before a hearing. Authentic Custom Spurs Jersey . Still, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke thought taking him out before the fifth inning was an unusual move. "Im looking up at the board and hes got two hits given up and one run, and Im taking him out after the fourth inning," Roenicke said. ARLINGTON, Texas -- Dak Prescott accounted for two touchdowns, fellow rookie Ezekiel Elliott ran for a pair of scores and the Dallas Cowboys extended their franchise regular-season record with a 10th straight victory, beating the Washington Redskins 31-26 on Thursday.The rookie quarterback tied Don Merediths club record from 50 years ago with his fifth rushing TD and the NFL-leading Cowboys (10-1) won despite 449 yards passing and three touchdowns from Kirk Cousins, the first Redskins quarterback with two 400-yard games in a season.The Redskins (6-4-1) were swept by their NFC East rival, and the defending division champions fell 3 1/2 games behind Dallas after their seventh Thanksgiving loss to the Cowboys in eight tries.Elliott, the NFL rushing leader, had the fourth score on five straight second-half touchdown drives between the two teams with a 1-yard run for a 31-19 lead midway through the fourth quarter. The 21-year-old had 97 yards to give him 1,199 for the season.The Cowboys had an eight-game streak with at least 400 yards snapped, finishing with 353. But Dallas answered with touchdowns each time the Redskins got within a score. After Cousins second scoring toss to Jordan Reed, an 8-yarder with 1:53 remaining, Dustin Hopkins onside kick went out of bounds, and the Cowboys ran out the clock.Prescott was 17 of 24 for 195 yards and one touchdown. Cousins was 41 of 53, finishing 8 yards shy of his career highLIONS 16, VIKINGS 13DETROIT -- Matt Prater kicked a 40-yard field goal as time expired affter Darius Slay returned an interception 13 yards with 30 seconds left, lifting Detroit past Minnesota and into sole possession of first place in the NFC North.dddddddddddd.The Lions (7-4) have won six of seven, including two against Minnesota this month, despite trailing in the fourth quarter of every game this season. They extended their NFL record of having their first 11 games decided by seven or fewer points.The Vikings (6-5) have lost five of six, plummeting out of first place after surging to the top of the division by winning their first five games.Minnesota could have played for overtime on its last drive, but coach Mike Zimmer allowed Sam Bradford to throw and Slay made him regret it.STEELERS 28, COLTS 7INDIANAPOLIS -- Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown hooked up for three touchdowns and Pittsburghs defense shut down Indianapolis.The Steelers (6-5) helped their playoff chances with a second straight victory.Andrew Luck sat out with a concussion, leaving Scott Tolzien under center for the Colts (5-6).The Steelers built a 21-7 lead by scoring touchdowns on each of their first three possessions -- a 5-yard TD run from LeVeon Bell, and touchdown catches by Brown of 25 and 33 yards.Roethlisberger was 14 of 20 for 221 yards, Brown caught five passes for 91 yards and Bell ran 23 times for 120 yards. Tolzien was 22 of 36 for 205 yards with a TD and two interceptions. ' ' '