NEW ORLEANS -- Drew Brees and Matthew Stafford may be separated only by age and career accomplishments, but two of the NFLs best quarterbacks are primed to ignite an impressive fireworks show Sunday when it counts -- in the fourth quarter.Staffords 7-4 Detroit Lions have won five of their past six games to move to the top of the NFC North, and Brees 5-6 New Orleans Saints, coming off a 49-point, 555-yard shellacking of the Los Angeles Rams last week, need a victory at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome (1 p.m. ET, FOX) to climb back to .500 for the second time this season and into the NFC playoff picture.But what makes this chess match so intriguing is what each quarterback is doing this season with the game on the line.Despite trailing at some point of the fourth quarter in all 11 games, the Lions came back to win seven times, a tribute to Staffords gunslinger arm and efficiency under pressure.Stafford, 28, has a 70-percent completion rate with five touchdowns and two interceptions in the fourth quarter, good enough for a fourth-quarter passer rating of 102.2.Brees, who at 37 is having one of the greatest seasons of a stellar career, has been even more on point in the fourth quarter. Brees leads the NFC with a 113.4 fourth-quarter passer rating, throwing for 11 touchdowns and completing 72 percent of his passes.Brees has completed at least 70 percent of his passes in each of the past six games -- a career-best streak -- and his uncanny accuracy prompted Lions head coach Jim Caldwell earlier this week to reference the incredible Sports Science clip on ESPN (available on YouTube) of Brees throwing a football more accurately than an Olympic archer hitting the bulls-eye at 30 yards.You better be able to play defense well across the board because he spreads it around quite a bit, Caldwell said. You can tell by his numbers hes difficult to handle, difficult to manage. ... He was 32 of 39 against us (the Indianapolis Colts) in the Super Bowl (XLIV in February 2010), and hes still obviously performing great. Every single game, hes going to put numbers up. Hes as good as they come.Brees said Stafford, a fellow Texan, has some of the best arm talent in the league -- top three for sure.He can make some throws that most guys cant or certainly couldnt even attempt to make, Brees added. He has got some moxie and savvy to him. He just has that playmaking ability in critical situations. I feel like hes always had that.That ability is even more apparent this season as Stafford -- with a strong assist from the powerful right leg of kicker Matt Prater -- repeatedly led the Lions back from the brink of defeat.Stafford is doing it despite the retirement of star wide receiver Calvin Johnson.You evaluate a quarterback often when you want to see how he does when hes behind, Saints head coach Sean Payton said of Stafford. He has had an outstanding season. His numbers are fantastic. I think hes playing as well as he has in his career. Hes found different ways to win, and everyones involved.Brees is the master at spreading the ball around, although there was a rare -- for the Saints -- mini-soap opera after their 49-21 rout of the Rams last week. Wide receiver Brandin Cooks went to Instagram seemingly to bemoan Brees not targeting him once in his 49 snaps.Cooks, who has the longest scoring reception in the NFL this year (98 yards), was used twice as a decoy on jet sweeps that resulted in huge running plays. Brees tried to quell any sense of discontent.We talked about it after the game, Brees said. If we can go out and score 49 points, play like that and win every week, then I think everyone will be OK with it. The statement it makes is that we can win games in a lot of different ways. Just because Brandin Cooks didnt catch a ball doesnt mean that he didnt have a huge role and responsibility in the game.Both teams are relatively healthy. Detroit could be on the verge of welcoming back linebacker DeAndre Levy (knee), who practiced the past two weeks. Tight end Brandon Pettigrew also is working his way back from the physically unable to perform list.Saints running back Mark Ingram, selected the NFC offensive player of the week for amassing 167 yards from scrimmage and two TDs against the Rams, is bothered by a lingering toe injury and is questionable. Starting left tackle Terron Armstead is battling knee and quad injuries.The Lions won the last two against the Saints (24-23 in Detroit in 2014 and 35-27 last season in New Orleans). Detroit faces the Saints, the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys on the road in the next four weeks. Tom Waddle Bears Jersey . Didier Drogba gave away the penalty that put Senegal one goal away from a major upset, but the veteran striker will get another chance -- probably his last -- at the World Cup after Salomon Kalous injury-time strike sealed the Ivorians place in Brazil next year. 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Amid the disappointment of having lost a Test, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson felt the team had the skill to compete but has asked his team-mates to apply them for much longer durations. There were times when New Zealand had India under pressure, the batsmen combating unfamiliar conditions, but such is the dominance of Indias spinners in their own conditions that New Zealand still lost by a whopping 197 runs. Williamson identified the breaks in concentration as something that could be improved despite the short turnover involved while playing three back-to-back Tests.On the scorecard it looks like a biggish defeat, but there were a couple of moments that I would reflect on as where the game turned slightly more in their favour, he said. The back end of our first innings with the bat and certainly when we bowled in the second innings there was probably a three-hour period where we didnt bowl very well and they got away from us. Its a combination of us not quite being at our best at certain times, and they played very well.New Zealand lost the toss in Kanpur but had competed with India evenly for the first six sessions. They had five wickets in hand and a first-innings lead was only 63 runs away when they collapsed from 255 for 5 to 262 all out. India ended up with a 56-run advantage - which is as good as 150 in these conditions - and it showed in how demoralised the New Zealand bowlers were in the second innings, and how freely the India batsmen were able to score.Obviously, whenever you lose its disappointing, Williamson said, but credit certainly has to go to India. Theyre a good side, particularly in their home conditions and they showed that again. In saying that, there are certainly positives for us to take from this Test into the next one. The way Mitch Santner played, and Luke Ronchi, coming back into the side [making 38 and 80] were a couple of highlights. As a unit we want to be able to apply that pressure for longer, which isnt always easy in this part of the world against a side like India. But its certainly a challenge for us moving forward.New Zealand have three days left for the next Test in Kolkata. They would need to recover physically, and then figure out ways to be better, both individually and as a team.The first thing is the guys need to recover well, Williamson said. There were a lot of good things to come out of this game, and for a number of players it is their first time batting in these sort of conditions. There will be a lot of lessons learnt, reflecting on those and looking to apply the skills that worked for a period of time for a lot longer..dddddddddddd. Thats certainly what the Indian players do, it is very important.[R] Ashwin and [Ravindra] Jadeja are both very good bowlers but there were a lot of positives for us, Williamson said. Guys who hadnt played here before spent some valuable time in the middle and made some valuable contributions. Mitch Santner for one and Luke Ronchi another who certainly showed they had the skill-sets to perform well in these conditions. I do think its applying ourselves for longer.As he had said in the lead-up to the Kanpur Test, Williamson pointed out how his team could learn from India. It is a challenge against a very good attack but they [the New Zealand players] have got the skill-sets, and its being able to stick to it for a lot longer. That is the same with the ball for our young spin attack, who are extremely talented. Being over here in these hot conditions, being able to remain focussed for a long period because you know if you put the ball in the area for long enough, youll get your rewards. Thats what the Indian team showed us.One of the reasons for Williamson hoping New Zealand could put up a better fight as the series wore on was Santner, who became the first player from his country to aggregate more than 100 runs and five wickets in a Test since 2011.He played outstandingly well, Williamson said. Its his first time in this part of the world playing Test cricket, and it was a great step in the right direction for his game. We all know he has got the talent with bat and ball and in the field. To apply himself like he did and bowl a number of overs and be successful was very good against good players of spin. It was a huge positive for us. Hell look forward to the next one, and Im sure hes learnt a lot from this experience.Martin Guptill, on the other hand, had an underwhelming Test with 21 in the first innings and a duck in the second. Williamson didnt say if Guptills position was in threat yet. This game has just finished so we get to sit down and talk about whatever the team may be for the next one and what balance will go in with. In the first innings, he got off to a good start and was perhaps a bit unfortunate in the second innings, but he has certainly shown his class in the white-ball format and we are backing him to show that in the red-ball [format]. He is working hard at his game and looking to improve. It isnt the easiest of places to play sometimes. Well sit down in the next day or two and look at the side we might go with. ' ' '