Bledsoe Will Play With Pin in Finger

Drew Bledsoe had a pin surgically inserted in his broken finger, but he is expected to play Sunday against the St. Louis Rams.

The New England Patriots’ quarterback underwent minor surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital on Tuesday.

The pin will stay in place for the rest of the season to stabilize the fractures--one under the fingernail and the other in the middle of the finger.

“He won’t practice again, but we still anticipate that he will start and play on Sunday,” Patriot spokesman Stacey James said.

Bledsoe has played with the injury the last three weeks, leading the Patriots to three victories. He was injured on Nov. 23 and has fully participated in only two practices since.

He broke his right index finger while throwing a pass against Miami, hitting his hand on a pass rusher during a last-minute drive. Still, he threw the winning pass as the Patriots rallied to beat Miami, 26-23.

The following week he led New England to a 25-21 comeback victory over Buffalo. Bledsoe connected with Ben Coates in the end zone on a one-yard pass with no time remaining.

Last Sunday in Pittsburgh, Bledsoe played the entire game, which New England won, 23-9. He said he experienced numbness in the finger during the third quarter.

“[The break] got worse in the Pittsburgh game,” James said. “The fracture separated an infinitesimal amount, but it was affecting the looseness of the finger. This secures the finger better along with the split.”

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Patriot linebacker Ted Johnson, the team’s leading tackler, was put on injured reserve Friday.

Johnson, 26, tore his right biceps tendon when he tried to tackle Pittsburgh’s Jerome Bettis on the second play of the game last week.

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The San Francisco 49ers haven’t stopped thinking about Bryant Young since the star defensive tackle went down because of a broken right leg.

Players voted to give Young the Len Eshmont award, the 49ers’ highest individual honor in recognition of inspirational and courageous play.

“It was well-deserved and the team was very happy to vote him in,” Coach Steve Mariucci said. “It was kind of emotional for him.”

Young has remained at Stanford Medical Center since suffering the season-ending injury during the fourth quarter of a Nov. 30 game against the New York Giants. Both the tibia and fibula in his lower right leg snapped when teammate Ken Norton Jr.’s helmet crashed into him as the two converged to make a tackle.

“I’m doing OK. I’m in good spirits,” Young said in a conference call with reporters. “I was kind of taken off guard by it. I’m not usually an emotional guy. It means a lot because of what’s happened to me in the last couple of weeks. I’m just very happy. I can’t even find words to explain how I feel, I’m so choked up right now.”

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If the Denver Broncos set an NFL record by winning their 19th consecutive game on Sunday, don’t expect Cleveland Brown Hall of Famer Dante Lavelli to be impressed.

Lavelli’s annoyed the league won’t recognize Cleveland’s 29-game unbeaten streak from 1947 to 1949.

“All they talk about is Miami going 17-0 in 1972 and Denver possibly doing the same this year,” Lavelli told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “What about our 29-game streak?”

The problem for Lavelli, Cleveland’s star receiver from 1946-56, and the rest of the Browns from his era is they went 27-0-2 when Cleveland was in the All-America Football Conference, not the NFL.

The old league ran from 1946-49 before three of its teams, including the Browns, were absorbed into the NFL. But the NFL doesn’t recognize AAFC records, although it does recognize the marks set by the old American Football League.