No joke: Bills, Lions are 3-0

Forget Dallas, New York, Miami or San Francisco.

The most glamorous places to be in the NFL right now are those two fabled destination cities - Buffalo and Detroit.

Brian Moorman jumped on Rian Lindell's shoulders around 4 o'clock to conclude the best Sunday afternoon in Buffalo since Jack Kemp and Cookie Gilchrist left town.

Lindell's 28-yard field goal as time expired capped a shocking (feel free to supply a stronger adjective), 34-31 victory over previously high-flying New England.

Never mind that Tom Brady continued to set passing records - he eclipsed Drew Brees and John Elway and nearly tied Joe Montana - he threw four interceptions and the Patriots fell to 2-1. And Buffalo is 3-0.

Sunday belonged to the other quarterback - Buffalo's Ryan Fitzpatrick, who went 27 of 40 for 369 yards and two touchdowns.

Dating to 1950, the Bills became the only team to overcome deficits of at least 18 points to win in consecutive weeks, according to STATS L.L.C. In fact, only six teams have won twice in one season when trailing by 18 or more points.

The last team to do so: the Patriots in 1996.

When Detroit rallied from a 20-0 first-half deficit to beat Minnesota, 26-23, in overtime the Lions improved to 3-0 for the first time since 1980.

To give you an idea of how long ago that really was, Jimmy Carter was in the White House, a country that no longer exists (the Soviet Union) was bogged down in Afghanistan, Earl Campbell and Walter Payton were all-pro running backs, and Mike Schmidt had not yet won the first of his three MVPs.

But the story here is not so much the dramatic improvement of the Lions - predicted in many quarters - but the abject collapse of the Vikings. Minnesota blew a double-digit lead in the second half for the third straight week. They can't blame that on Donovan McNabb.

There's a reason Drew Brees is about to sign a gigantic new deal that will make him the best-paid quarterback in a QB's league. You saw it again on Sunday.

Saints 40, Texans 34, after Houston had led, 16-7.

The Bears managed just 13 yards rushing on 12 attempts in a dull, 27-17 loss to the Packers in Chicago.

The 49ers, the Eagles' next opponent, went to Cincinnati with the league's top run defense (54.5 yards a game) and held the Bengals' Cedric Benson to 64 yards on 17 carries. The Niners haven't allowed a 100-yard rusher in the last 25 games.

The Eagles' Shady McCoy has rushed for more than 100 twice this season and got 95 against Atlanta.

Brady's 387 yards passing gave him 1,326 in three games. That eclipsed the record of 1,257 set in 2006 by Brees. It was also Brady's 37th 300-yard career game, moving him into ninth place, one ahead of Elway.

Brady's four touchdowns gave him 272, one short of tying Montana for ninth place on the NFL list.

Tennessee wide receiver Kenny Britt limped out of the stadium wearing a brace over his right knee. Coach Mike Munchak would not speculate on the seriousness of the injury and neither would Britt.

"My status is limping," the receiver said.

Tennessee's Britt, Tampa Bay's Aqib Talib, and Cincinnati's Cedric Benson and Adam "Pacman" Jones are among eight players who could be suspended under the league's conduct policy for incidents during the lockout.

The other players the NFL and the NFL Players Association agreed could be disciplined are Albert Haynesworth, Clark Haggans, Brandon Underwood, and Johnny Jolly.

The story was first reported by Yahoo Sports.

It's unclear whether the league can discipline players for conduct during the lockout. No official announcement has been made by the league or the union.

Eli Manning, on winning at the Linc:

"It's always good to beat those guys, especially here."

(Are you as shocked as I was to discover that Manning now has won five games in Philadelphia, including 2005 through 2008.)