DETROIT -- It's official. It's Calvin Johnson's world and the rest of us are living in it.
That includes highly talented Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant.
All Johnson did in the Lions' miraculous 31-30 comeback win Sunday was make 14 catches for 329 yards and one touchdown.
While they weren't in triple coverage like his touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals last week, most of his catches had a high degree of difficulty.
His final catch was for 22 yards to the Cowboys' 1-yard line, setting up Matthew Stafford's pretend-spike, game-winning touchdown.
For comparison's sake, the Cowboys as a team had 268 yards of offense.
"It's crazy," Johnson said. "Shoot. We got one-on-one coverage and were able to hit on a lot."
The 329 yards are second only to the Los Angeles Rams' Flipper Anderson, who had 336 yards against the New Orleans Saints in 1989. However, only 296 of those yards came in regulation. Anderson had 40 yards in overtime.
"Just wait until he's 100 percent," Lions coach Jim Schwartz said.
Wait, what? Johnson did that at less than 100 percent?
"He's unbelievable, we all know that," quarterback Matthew Stafford said. "We see it week in and week out.
"The touchdown that we had before the last one, going up and catching that ball in the first play. The safety was out of position and Calvin Johnson on a safety is as good of a matchup as you're going to get. The guy goes up and makes a freak-show catch. He does it all the time."
"He's a living legend," fellow receiver Nate Burleson said. "I feel like I've been telling everybody how great he is for a long time, ever since I got on the team. I'm just glad that everybody's able to share in moments like this.
"I'm extremely appreciative playing with him, just knowing that every day I'm playing with one of the greatest to ever do it.
"With longevity on his side, he can go down as one of the best to play the game. He's equipped with not a lot of tools that people were born with, he works as hard as anybody on the team and he's the most humble, quiet leader that I've ever been around. Everything that he's getting, the praise, he deserves it."
Lions cornerback Chris Houston pointed out that ESPN's SportsCenter was making comparisons between Johnson and Bryant.
Bryant finished with three receptions for 72 yards and two touchdowns.
"I said, 'Dez, you're good,'" Burleson said. "You're one of the best in the league. He had a hell of a game today. But you're not Calvin Johnson. Nobody's Calvin Johnson. That's not a shot towards Dez. That's just me being honest with him. You can't compare Calvin to mere mortals."
Houston agreed.
"Dez is an unbelievable, talented guy and is going to be for years in this league," Houston said. "Calvin is Megatron, what can I say? He's not human to me, he's an alien to me. He had this look on his face like he wanted to prove and show SportsCenter, stop putting those comparisons up there."
Rookie right guard Larry Warford didn't compare Johnson to another player, he compared him to a video game.
"You hear about great receivers, you're like, OK, cool," Warford said. "But when it really comes down to being in the game with him, you see how important that is. It's amazing to watch. I can't really explain it.
"Even last week when he made that ridiculous catch in the end zone, I was like, that's something you only see on Madden. That's some Madden stuff right there but he does it in real life."
HOUSTON BOUNCES BACK
Houston had a rough time against the Bengals but had a much better game against the Cowboys.
"Chris Houston played an outstanding game," Schwartz said. "We doubled Dez Bryant just about the whole game. That meant that we were singled up away from him. Most of those fell to Chris Houston (on Terrance Williams)."
Houston said he felt his play mirrored that of the team.
"Adversity hit us, we didn't stop," Houston said. "Same thing. Adversity hit me last week. You don't stop, you see what you're built of. If everything went well, you wouldn't know what your character is.
"This team's character got revealed today. It was battle-tested, but we came through."
INJURIES KEEP COMING
Injuries are a part of football and the Lions keep losing players. On Sunday, they had another big one.
Receiver Ryan Broyles left the game after a fair catch on a punt in the third quarter.
Schwartz said it might be a long-term Achilles injury, possibly a ruptured Achilles.
"There’s a potential for that, yes," Schwartz said. "That’s what we’re looking at. If he does, that would be season-ending. That would be disappointing. Let’s pray it’s not, but that’s what the initial diagnosis was."
Broyles had one punt return for four yards and one reception for eight yards.
Defensive end Ziggy Ansah left the game with an ankle injury and nickel back Bill Bentley also left with a knee injury.
"We lost a significant amount of players," Schwartz said.
It's a good time to have a bye week.
Burleson, out with a broken arm, is still hoping to return after the bye.
"I'm trying to shoot for Chicago," Burleson said. "I just taped it up. I'm out of the brace now, so I was able to catch a few balls before the game, trying to get myself back in a rhythm.
"I gotta jump in the water swimming. These guys are playing at a high level. So I don't want there to be any drop off when I get back on the field."
