Broncos down Jets; Colts edge Browns
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Giants running back Brandon Jacobs leaps toward the end zone for a touchdown as Redskins linebacker Rocky McIntosh defends during Sunday's game in Landover, Md. AP Photo |
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Associated Press - Published: December 1, 2008
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Jay Cutler and the Broncos stopped the surging Jets and showed they might be a team to reckon with in the wide-open AFC with Sunday's 34-17 victory over New York.
Cutler passed for 357 yards and two touchdowns and rookie Peyton Hillis ran for 129 yards and a score at a wet and windy Meadowlands. The Broncos (7-5) washed away the sting of a 31-10 loss to Oakland at home last weekend by stopping the Jets' five-game winning streak. Denver leads the AFC West by three games with four weeks left.
It was a disappointing loss for New York (8-4), coming off emotional victories at New England and Tennessee and making a claim as the conference's top team.
Cutler finished 27-of-43, and Hillis became the first to rush for 100 or more yards against the Jets' third-ranked run defense. Brandon Stokley and Eddie Royal each had touchdown catches, and tight ends Tony Scheffler and Daniel Graham combined for 13 catches and 149 yards.
Thomas Jones had 138 yards rushing and two touchdowns for New York, but Brett Favre struggled in the sloppy conditions. He finished 23-of-43 for 247 yards and an interception. The Jets are still a game ahead of both New England and Miami in the AFC East.
Falcons 22, Chargers 16
SAN DIEGO — Matt Ryan, Michael Turner and the rest of the Falcons are very much alive in the playoff picture. The Chargers, once thought to be Super Bowl worthy, are on life support.
Ryan, the rookie from Boston College, threw two touchdown passes and Turner, LaDainian Tomlinson's former understudy, ran for 120 yards against his former team. The Falcons (8-4), one of the NFL's most surprising teams behind rookie head coach Mike Smith, remained a game behind Tampa Bay and Carolina in the NFC South.
San Diego (4-8) lost for the fifth time in six games. The Chargers came into the day two games behind Denver in the anemic AFC West. Many fans had cleared out by the final gun, and those who remained booed as Ryan took a knee to end the game.
Ryan completed 17 of 23 passes for 207 yards. Turner carried 31 times in his sixth 100-yard game of the season. He was allowed to leave San Diego as an unrestricted free agent after last season.
Chiefs 20, Raiders 13
OAKLAND, Calif. — Tyler Thigpen put together one effective drive to beat the Raiders in a matchup between two of the NFL's worst teams.
Thigpen engineered a 91-yard drive capped by Larry Johnson's 2-yard tiebreaking run early in the fourth quarter to lead the Chiefs to just their second win in their last 21 games. Kansas City had lost seven in a row.
Kansas City (2-10) scored its first touchdown on Maurice Leggett's 67-yard fumble return on a botched fake field goal by Oakland (3-9).
With the Chiefs locked in a 10-10 tie and backed up to their 9 following a punt, Thigpen got the offense moving to earn his first win in seven career NFL starts.
Tony Gonzalez added eight catches for 110 yards and Johnson ran for 92 yards on 24 carries.
After allowing a franchise-worst 54 points in a loss to Buffalo last week, the Chiefs managed to shut down a Raiders team that scored 31 to beat Denver a week ago. Oakland's only touchdown came on a 1-yard drive following Chris Johnson's 44-yard interception return.
Colts 10, Browns 6
CLEVELAND — Defensive end Robert Mathis scooped up Derek Anderson's fumble and rumbled 39 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter as the Colts stayed in the thick of the AFC playoff chase by winning their fifth straight.
Mathis' big play helped bail out Peyton Manning and Indy's high-octane offense, which never got humming with its usual efficiency.
Still, the Colts (8-4) got a 30-yard field goal from Adam Vinatieri and improved to 5-0 in November, a monthlong run that has allowed them to recover from a 3-4 start.
The Browns (4-8) lost their fourth straight at home and may have lost quarterback Derek Anderson and tight end Kellen Winslow for an extended period.
Anderson, starting in place of the injured Brady Quinn, hurt his left leg in the final two minutes. He was dropping back to pass when offensive tackle Kevin Shaffer fell on him while being knocked backward by a charging Mathis. Anderson tried to get up, but couldn't and had to be helped to the sideline.
Winslow went out on the first play of the third quarter with an ankle injury and didn't return.
Giants 23, Redskins 7
LANDOVER, Md. — Eli Manning had his first 300-yard game of the season, Clinton Portis was held to 22 yards rushing, and the Giants put aside the Plaxico Burress mess with another dominating performance.
The Giants (11-1) have won seven straight, including six in a row against teams with winning records, and have a three-game lead in the NFC East over the second-place Dallas Cowboys with four to play. They completed a sweep of the Redskins by manhandling them in the major statistical categories, including total yards (404-320) and time of possession (35:44-24:16).
The loss not only dropped the Redskins (7-5) out of contention for the division title, but now they also trail Dallas in the wild-card race. Washington has lost three of four — all at home — after a 6-2 start.
Giants president and CEO John Mara found himself answering questions about Burress, who accidentally shot himself in the right thigh at a Manhattan nightclub Friday night and expects to be charged with criminal possession of a weapon. But New York has kept its focus and shown it has more than enough talent to win without him.
The Redskins began the game remembering a much more tragic shooting. Sean Taylor was inducted into the team's Ring of Fame to mark the first anniversary of his death, and Portis honored his fallen friend by running onto the field with a No. 21 flag during the pregame tribute.
Panthers 35, Packers 31
GREEN BAY, Wis. — DeAngelo Williams scored his fourth touchdown of the game with 1:30 left on the clock, giving the Panthers a stunning come-from-behind victory in wintry conditions.
The Packers appeared headed for a comeback win of their own after breaking a 28-28 tie on Mason Crosby's 19-yard field goal with 1:57 remaining. But Green Bay immediately gave up a 45-yard kickoff return to Mark Jones and a 54-yard heave from Jake Delhomme to Steve Smith to set up first-and-goal on the Green Bay 1.
Williams then went up the gut for his career-high fourth score of the game, helping Carolina (9-3) keep pace in the competitive NFC South.
And the loss could be crushing for the Packers (5-7).
Green Bay's last-minute special teams and defensive breakdowns ruined what could have been a signature win for first-year Packers starter Aaron Rodgers. He led Green Bay back from a 21-10 halftime deficit despite blustery wind, temperatures in the 30s and snow showers.
Buccaneers 23, Saints 20
TAMPA, Fla. — Jermaine Phillips and Phillip Buchanon intercepted Drew Brees, the NFL's leading passer, in the closing minutes and Matt Bryant kicked a 37-yard field goal with 1:55 remaining.
Brees, on pace to break Dan Marino's single-season yardage record, threw for 296 yards and two touchdowns on a rainy day, but also was picked off three times — once in the end zone — and bothered by the Bucs' pass rush all afternoon.
The victory was the fourth straight for Tampa Bay (9-3). The Bucs are 6-1 since Jeff Garcia regained the starting quarterback job, which he lost after a poor performance in a season-opening loss against the Saints (6-6).
Garcia was limited to 119 yards passing, but threw 38 yards to Antonio Bryant for a third-quarter touchdown that put the Bucs up 20-10. Carnell "Cadillac" Williams also scored on an 8-yard run, his first TD since a career-threatening knee injury 14 months ago.
Brees completed 25 of 47 passes and wiped out a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit by throwing a 20-yard TD pass to Pierre Thomas and taking advantage of a short punt to tie the game on Garrett Hartley's second field goal with 5:34 to go.
49ers 10, Bills 3
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Linebacker Patrick Willis and a suddenly sturdy San Francisco defense certainly did their job as spoilers. Willis had 14 tackles and a forced fumble in a win that all but ended the Bills' dwindling playoff hopes. The 49ers' win also prevented the Arizona Cardinals from clinching the NFC West and their first playoff berth in 10 years — the longest active playoff drought in the NFL.
Isaac Bruce scored on a 12-yard touchdown pass — the 90th of his career — and Joe Nedney hit a 50-yard field goal as the 49ers never trailed. San Francisco (4-8) won for the second time in three games and second time for interim coach Mike Singletary.
The Bills (6-6) lost for the fifth time in six games and looked nothing like a team coming off a 54-31 win at Kansas City, or the team that got off to a 4-0 start.
Buffalo came away with no points on four trips inside the red zone, and also got nothing on two extended drives of 15 plays or longer.
Ravens 34, Bengals 3
CINCINNATI — Mark Clayton put a little sizzle into Baltimore's steadily evolving offense.
The fourth-year receiver threw a touchdown pass on a reverse, then made a spectacular one-handed catch for a 70-yard score.
The Ravens (8-4) have won six of their past seven games with a renowned defense and an offense coming into its own behind rookie quarterback Joe Flacco. Each week, the Ravens give him a little more freedom and a little more of the playbook.
Against the Bengals (1-10-1), they added a page for Clayton, a first-round draft pick who emerged as a dual scoring threat on a cold, rainy afternoon.
On Baltimore's second possession of the third quarter, Clayton lined up to the left, took a handoff from Flacco and headed for the right sideline, selling the play as a reverse. Cornerback Leon Hall fell for it, letting Derrick Mason run free down the right sideline. Clayton's 32-yard touchdown pass — the first of his career — was as easy as they come.
His next catch was as tough as it gets.
Clayton ran past the stumbling Hall, stretched out his right hand and grabbed Flacco's pass at the 30-yard line, then went the rest of the way with no one near him, setting the Bengals on course for their most lopsided loss since the 2000 season.
Dolphins 16, Rams 12
ST. LOUIS — The Dolphins (7-5) made it into the end zone only once, but relied on stingy play from a defense that got routed last week by the Patriots to secure their fifth victory in six games.
Miami and St. Louis had the top two picks of the draft and the Rams (2-10) are likely to get another real early pick next April after losing their sixth in a row. They ended a string of blowout losses the previous four games behind Steven Jackson, who had 94 yards on 21 carries, but were undone by mistakes in the second half against a franchise that's quickly become competitive after going 1-15 last season.
Marc Bulger, sidelined by a concussion last week against the Bears, threw three interceptions in the second half — the clincher by Andre' Goodman at the Dolphins 5 with 35 seconds to go. Renaldo Hill's second pick of the season, and second in two games, set up Dan Carpenter's third field goal for the final score with 6:39 to go.
Against a team that has scored one touchdown the past four games, that was plenty of cushion.
The Rams got a perfect day from kicker Josh Brown, who matched his season best with four field goals in four attempts.
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