"Todd Heap's two-touchdown performance in the Ravens' 37-34 overtime win against the visiting Buffalo Bills at M&T Bank Stadium Sunday validated what he had been convinced of last week: that the tight end would play on despite absorbing a violent blow in the helmet the previous week.

"I don't like sitting out," Heap said. "If there's any possibility of me playing and if I feel like I can play at the level I expect from myself, I'm going to be out there."

The Ravens are probably thankful that Heap willed himself to play because he scored the team's only offensive touchdowns in the first half to trim what had been a significant deficit to Buffalo to a more manageable level.

His first touchdown catch, a 26-yard strike with 8:15 left in the second quarter, occurred after he threw a double move at a safety and caught a well-timed pass from quarterback Joe Flacco in the end zone. The second touchdown, a 14-yarder 23 seconds before halftime, came when a safety missed Heap, who stopped and offered Flacco a target in the coverage.

"Yeah, you're always shocked when you make those plays, and they come together like you've practiced all the time," Heap said. "It was a good play. We needed a lot of those big plays today that we had to get the momentum back. It was a game of momentum, and at times they had it and at times we got it back. We're just happy to get it in the end."

The day wasn't entirely rosy for Heap, who crumpled to the turf after the Ravens scored a touchdown to open the third quarter and assume a 27-24 lead. Afterward, Heap, who was described as suffering from a right shoulder stinger, said the injury was linked to the helmet-to-helmet collision he had suffered when New England Patriots safety Brandon Meriweather had launched himself into Heap in the Patriots' 23-20 overtime win last Sunday.

Heap said he could not recall with certainty that he had passed out, only that the pain was intense and re-emerged again on the team's final possession in overtime.

Heap, however, said the possibility of an injury linked to the Meriweather didn't impact his decision to play.

"I don't think anybody is 100 percent coming into these games," he said. "After Week 1, that all goes out the window. But like I said, my body's felt great all year long. I was just battling the tightness, stiffness. It was a little bit of a reoccurrence from last week's hit. So [it was] something I was battling all week. I felt like I was good enough to go, and I was hoping to not reinjure it or not make it worse. We'll see how it feels tomorrow.""