Stefanie Spielman, wife of former Lions linebacker Chris, died last Thursday. Before the Lions-Browns game a moment of silence was given in her honor. With the last play of the game Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford made a play that honored both Spielmans.

You can teach a young quarterback proper mechanics, how to read a blitz, when to throw the ball away and how to manage a game. But you can’t teach him toughness, guts, courage or leadership. These virtues are innate characteristics.

No Lion since Chris Spielman roamed the middle of the Lions defense has a player in Honolulu Blue and Silver shown the type of toughness and leadership that Stafford displayed at the end of the Lions’ 38-37 comeback victory over the Browns.

Coming into a game that pitted two of the worst franchises in NFL history, prognosticators felts this would be a boring contest consisting mostly of ill-conceived plays and so many punts it might be confused with a soccer match.

But the formerly inept Browns offense came out firing, scoring on its first four possessions and hanging two dozen points on the Lions defense in the first quarter. Brady Quinn who last Monday night looked like he couldn’t play for a Pop Warner team, sliced the Lions faster than a chef at Benihana.

At this point most Lions fans were singing “Here I Go Again” and covering their faces with paper bags.

Then Stafford began the charge back.

First he read a Browns blitz and hit Aaron Brown on a bubble-screen for a 26-yard touchdown. Then he threw a nifty pass to RB Kevin Smith for another 25-yard touchdown. He then avoided the rush on a second and five from his own 25-yard-line, stepped up and unleashed a bomb on the run to Calvin Johnson for a 75-yard touchdown, a pass which displayed just how big an arm the young quarterback possesses. He then led a 10-play, 84-yard drive capped off by a beautiful play-action pass to TE Will Heller in the corner of the endzone.

Then things got a little rocky for the rookie. He held onto the ball too long in his endzone and took a safety that cut the Lions lead to two. Then trailing 37-31 with 3:49 left he threw an ill-advised pass into triple coverage that was intercepted in the endzone.

But the Lions defense forced the Browns to punt on a third-and-five by putting pressure on Quinn and forcing and errant pass.

Stafford got the ball back with 1:46 and no timeouts left needing to go 88 yards. The rookie showed poise in the two-minute drill not seen in Detroit since they broadcast games in black-and-white. He found receivers for first downs keeping the drive alive and didn’t fall prey, as most young quarterbacks do, to trying to gain huge chunks of yardage against the Browns prevent defense.

Then the hold-on-to-your-shorts drama began.

With eight seconds on the clock Stafford took the snap at the Cleveland 32-yard-line. He scrambled left, spun past a Browns tackler, ran back to his right, alluded another sprawling defensive lineman, stepped up and heaved a ball to the endzone just as he got crushed by defensive tackle C.J. Mosely.

The ball was intercepted by Browns safety Brodney Pool with no time left, but the Lions were the beneficiaries of a pass interference call in the endzone–and since the game cannot end on a defensive penalty the Lions got one more play from the one-yard-line.

On the pass Stafford took the crushing blow and injured his left collar-bone, a play that looked eerily similar to the one that took out Oklahoma’s Heisman winning quarterback Sam Bradford.

Stafford hobbled to the sidelines and indicated that No. 11, Daunte Culpepper, would need to play the last, untimed, down.

But after a Cleveland timeout Stafford came back on the field obviously still in pain. He took the snap and found Brandon Pettigrew for the winning touchdown.

“He just said, ‘I’m ready.’ He could walk.” said Lions head coach Jim Schwartz about his rookie quarterback. “There was no one who was going to stop him from going back on the field. He had come way too far in that game to not finish it.”

The toughness displayed by Stafford by finishing the game is practically unheard of from players in Honolulu Blue. He could have let Culpepper take the final snap and no one would have blamed him. He could have worried more about his own situation, his own health and sat on the sideline as the game was decided.

“I knew it was one play, I was going to get it off,” said Stafford after the game with his left shoulder wrapped in ice.

One play for the win and no matter how much pain he had to endure he was going to make it count. After fighting back from 21 points down, after suffering sacks, hits and interceptions all season Stafford wasn’t going to watch his team from the bench.

On a team devoid of leaders Stafford cemented his status on this team.

“I almost wanted to cry seeing how tough Matt was at the end,” Smith said. “No one knew what his injury was, or how bad he was hurt, but he still came back out there and made a play. No one would have complained if he had let Daunte take that play, but he wanted to be out there for his teammates.”

With one play Stafford validated every positive word spoken by management, coaches and teammates about his toughness. With one play he made that $41 million guaranteed worth every nickle. With one play he proved that the future is sunny in Ford Field.

And with one play he proved that the hardworking, blue-collar city of Detroit finally has a quarterback to match its grit.

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Kevin Patra lives by the adage: Those who can’t do or teach, write. Currently, he is a graduate student at the University of Southern California studying online journalism, after spending four years at the University of Michigan obtaining a bachelors degree from the school of Language, Science & Fun. Patra grew up watching the Honolulu Blue and Silver every weekend, so he is an expert on what football is not supposed to look like.