PITTSBURGH (AP & Staff) — Quarterback Joe Flacco hooked up with rookie wideout Torrey Smith for a 26-yard TD with 8 seconds left to lift the Baltimore Ravens over the Pittsburgh Steelers Sundayat Heinz Field. Torrey Smith wasn’t going to let the game-winning touchdown slip through his hands twice. Five plays after a sure scoring strike tipped off his fingers, the Baltimore rookie receiver held onto a 26-yard touchdown pass from Joe Flacco with 8 seconds remaining to lift the Ravens past the Pittsburgh Steelers 23-20 on Sunday night. “For him to keep coming back to me, that meant a lot,” Smith said. Smith also was flagged for a costly penalty on the game’s first play, negating Ray Rice’s long touchdown run. But he capped Baltimore’s game-winning 92-yard drive by beating William Gay down the right sideline as the Ravens (6-2) snapped Pittsburgh’s four-game winning streak. Flacco finished with 300 yards passing and Baltimore swept the season series from the rival Steelers (6-3) for the first time since 2006. “Don’t be fooled, we’ll see them again in January,” Baltimore linebacker Terrell Suggs said. “This is the only team in the world that can play like we play and match us blow for blow.” The Steelers appeared to be in control after rallying from a 10-point deficit to take a 20-16 lead with less than 5 minutes to go when Ben Roethlisberger hit Mike Wallace for a 25-yard score. Pittsburgh’s defense held once and the Steelers moved in range for Shaun Suisham to attempt a 47-yard field goal that could have pushed their lead to seven. A delay of game penalty, however, pushed Pittsburgh back five yards and the Steelers opted to punt. “I accept responsibility for that,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “There was some hesitation on my part.” Flacco, who fumbled midway through the fourth quarter to set up Roethlisberger’s strike to Wallace, atoned during a brilliant 13-play drive. He converted a fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 49 with less than a minute to go to keep Baltimore’s hopes alive and Smith made up for a drop with the biggest play of his young career. The Steelers got the ball back with 8 seconds left but Antonio Brown fumbled a lateral from Wallace and the Ravens poured onto the Heinz Field turf in celebration. It was sweet vindication for the Ravens, who watched two of their three previous seasons end [...]
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GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP & Staff) — Rookie cornerback Patrick Peterson returned a punt 99 yards for a touchdown in overtime to give the Cardinals a stunning 19-13 win over the St. Louis Rams on Sunday. An ugly game turned gorgeous in the nick of time for the win-starved Arizona Cardinals. Patrick Peterson returned a punt 99 yards for a touchdown in overtime to give the Cardinals a stunning 19-13 victory over the St. Louis Rams on Sunday, bringing a dramatic end to Arizona’s six-game losing streak. Peterson, the fifth pick overall in the draft out of LSU, became the first player in NFL history to have three punt returns for scores in his first eight games. His latest was the second in NFL history to come in overtime. The other was 86 yards by Tamarick Vanover of Kansas City to beat San Diego on Oct. 9, 1995. “He’s a special young man,” Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “I’m glad that we have him on our football team — my new son.” Said an admiring Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo, “That is a great player and he made a great play at a critical time.” Peterson, whose pass interference penalty moments earlier seemed to set up the Rams (1-7) for a game-winning field goal, fielded the ball at the 1. He evaded and bounced off tacklers over the next 30 yards or so, then outran everyone, striding the last few yards in celebration of his third punt return TD of the season as Arizona (2-6) won for the first time since the opening week of the season. “I was like ‘This team needs a play,’” Peterson said. “I decided to catch the ball and just run for my life.” Asked what Whisenhunt told him afterward, Peterson said, “he loved me.” “I said ‘Coach, I love you, too.’” Arizona’s Calais Campbell blocked Josh Brown’s 42-yard field goal attempt as regulation ended to force the overtime. “It is probably the toughest loss I have had since I have been in the league,” said Rams quarterback Sam Bradford, back after missing two games with a high ankle sprain. “I felt that for the most part we controlled this game. At the end with the opportunities we had in their territory and to possibly go ahead and not convert, it is tough.” John Skelton, starting in place of Arizona’s Kevin Kolb, gave up safeties on consecutive [...]
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OAKLAND, Calif. (AP & Staff) —Quarterback Tim Tebow threw two touchdown and rushed for 117 yards and the Denver Broncos run past the Oakland Raiders Sunday at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Tim Tebow took the snap, put the ball in Willis McGahee’s belly and decided whether to hand it off or keep it for his own run. Those plays looked a lot like what he did so often in college — especially the results. Tebow threw two TD passes and ran for 117 yards, McGahee added 163 yards rushing and two more scores and the Denver Broncos beat the Oakland Raiders 38-24 Sunday. Even though he looked far from a prototypical NFL quarterback relying on his legs much more than his arm, Tebow still managed to win for the second time in three starts this season and put the Broncos (3-5) one game out of first place in the AFC West. “Honestly it doesn’t necessarily matter too much how you drew it up as long as you get this feeling at the end, because it was pretty special,” he said. It’s quite a turnaround from a week ago, when Denver was dismantled 45-10 by Detroit and some of the Lions were questioning Tebow’s ability to succeed in the NFL. Broncos coach John Fox was only willing to commit to Tebow for this week’s game. But after the coaches made a few tweaks to the offense, Tebow earned himself another start. He threw touchdown passes to Eric Decker and Eddie Royal early in the game and then expertly ran the option game that helped the Broncos gain 298 yards on the ground, their highest total since a 300-yard game against Seattle in 2000, and most ever against the Raiders (4-4). “As long as it worked, that’s all I care about,” McGahee said. “He did a great job as far as reading the ends on what he had to do as far as keeping it or giving it. When I got the ball it was my job just to get some yards.” McGahee had a 60-yard touchdown run that tied the game on the first play after Carson Palmer threw his second interception for the Raiders, then added a 24-yarder to ice it in the closing minutes. Denver took the lead in between those big runs when Royal returned his first punt of the season 85 yards for a touchdown. Tebow finished 10 [...]
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP & Staff) — Quarterback Matt Moore threw three touchdowns and the Miami Dolphins captured their first victory of the season with a 31-3 domination of the previously red-hot Kansas Cit Chiefs Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium. It didn’t matter how big of a lead the Miami Dolphins built on the Kansas City Chiefs. It still wasn’t enough to keep them from feeling jittery. One of two winless teams left in the NFL, the Dolphins came into Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday with the cloud of two second-half collapses still hovering. They were also facing a Chiefs team that had mastered the art of the comeback: 0-3 to 4-3 in four games. So it made sense that nobody on the Dolphins sideline was celebrating until the final seconds ticked away, and coach Tony Sparano’s beleaguered team could finally enjoy a 31-3 victory. “I’m just happy for the guys in our locker room,” Sparano said. “All I’ve wanted to do for seven weeks is see these guys smile.” There was plenty to smile about. Matt Moore threw for 244 yards and three touchdowns, the first three-TD performance by a Miami quarterback since Chad Pennington in 2008. Reggie Bush ran for 92 yards and another score, and tight end Anthony Fasano hauled in two touchdown passes in the first half. Brandon Marshall finished with eight catches for 106 yards and another score, once again making for a miserable afternoon for the Chiefs. The former Broncos wide receiver has 52 catches for 689 yards and seven touchdowns in eight games against Kansas City in his career. “We had a couple of big plays, which kind of lit the fire,” Moore said. “You make a couple of big plays early and there’s no telling what can happen.” The virtuoso performance by the Miami offense helped brush away the spectre of an 0-7 start, which included a pair of disheartening losses the past two weeks: The Dolphins blew a 15-point lead in an overtime loss to Denver and a seven-point lead last week against the New York Giants. “This is all about the players,” Sparano said. “These guys did a super job all week long of putting all the garbage behind them.” Kansas City, meanwhile, looked more like the team that lost its first two games by a combined 89-10 than the one that rattled off four straight wins to climb into a tie [...]
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ARLINGTON, Texas (AP & Staff) — Quarterback Tony Romo threw two touchdowns in the second half, helping the Dallas Cowboys blow past the Seattle Seahawks, 23-13, Saturday at Cowboys Stadium. There was a drive that fizzled 2 yards from the end zone, followed immediately by a drive that fizzled inside the 1. Both drew loud boos, yet at least the Dallas Cowboys got field goals each time. All they got on the next series was a lost fumble inside the 1. As inefficient as the start was, Tony Romo and the Cowboys managed to keep frustration from bogging them down. Romo threw for a pair of touchdowns in the second half and the defense was solid throughout, lifting Dallas to a 23-13 victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. “You just keep attacking,” Romo said. The Cowboys (4-4) bounced back from a flop in Philadelphia and ended a skid of three losses in four games. Now they’re hoping this victory can start a midseason surge. Three of their next four foes have losing records, and they’ll come out of that potentially momentum-building run with two games still to play against the division-leading Giants. “You can’t just hover around .500,” tight end Jason Witten said. “You need to make a run and make a push to stay in the hunt.” The biggest building block is the chance for a balanced offense. While Romo was 19 of 31 for 279 yards, rookie DeMarco Murray turned 22 carries into 139 yards. He also caught four passes for 47 yards. Murray has proven that his 253-yard performance in his first extended action was no fluke. Whenever Felix Jones returns from a high ankle sprain, he could find himself backing up the third-round pick from Oklahoma. “I think he’s shown us the last three weeks what kind of football player he is,” coach Jason Garrett said. “He’s breaking tackles. That’s hard to do in the NFL.” The Seahawks were within 13-6 and driving when Tarvaris Jackson threw interceptions on consecutive passes. The Cowboys turned those into 10 points and the game was never close again. “I feel very sick about how I played today,” said Jackson, who was 17 of 30 for 221 yards, with three interceptions a week after throwing for the most yards in his career. He also was facing a Dallas defense that had been picked away by Philadelphia and that was [...]
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INDIANAPOLIS (AP & Staff) — Peyton Manning and Jim Irsay agree on one thing: The Manning Era isn’t over in Indianapolis. Manning said Thursday he hopes to return to practice this year and still holds out hope of playing if doctors say he is finally healed from his Sept. 8 neck surgery. Irsay, the team owner, said he expects the four-time NFL MVP still has some good years in that right arm. There are some big questions looming in Indy. The Colts (0-8) must decide whether to opt out of Manning’s five-year contract or pay a $28 million bonus to keep him on the roster. And if they have a high draft pick next year, Indy also will have to decide whether to take Manning’s heir apparent, someone like Andrew Luck or Landry Jones. “It’s something you talk about and scenarios, who could be behind Peyton and how long you want him to sit and how much money you have committed to quarterbacks,” Irsay said. “I think theoretically, you could have Peyton for two or three more good years and then have someone behind him, but that’s theoretical.” Manning hasn’t played since having surgery to repair a damaged nerve that caused weakness in his throwing arm. It was his third neck procedure in 19 months, a series of operations that has forced Colts fans to debate when — or if — Manning will return. “I think it’s too early to bury this era,” Irsay said during a 40-minute interview. “I think to say that Peyton is done and the era is over is, to me, way, way too premature. I’ve always sort of known that era would be decided when Peyton is here. But I don’t feel like that era is done.” A few hours earlier, Manning made his second impromptu locker room appearance of the season, telling reporters that he’s spending every day in rehab and that he hopes to practice with his teammates in December and play in a game later this season. But he hasn’t been cleared for football activity by the doctors. Irsay said there was less than a 50 percent chance Manning would appear in a game this season. “We’re still waiting for the fusion to take place, it’s still going slow with that and we still have some issues with the nerve and the regeneration of the nerve,” Manning said. “There’s really not a [...]
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ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP & Staff) — As far as Ndamukong Suh can tell, there’s a fine line between a good, aggressive play and a penalty. After a season-and-a-half of flags and fines, Detroit’s star defensive tackle met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Tuesday. Suh requested the session in New York at NFL headquarters, and both he and Goodell said the visit was productive. On Wednesday, Suh spoke with reporters at Detroit’s practice facility and said he doesn’t expect to alter his style. “I’m not going to change the way I play,” Suh said. “I feel that the way I’m playing and the way I have played in the past is continuing to play within the rules.” The 6-foot-4, 307-pound Suh was drafted No. 2 overall out of Nebraska before last season. Since then, his rough play has led to $42,500 in fines. Suh wonders if his power — which looks effortless at times — might work against him. “I’m just a different breed. I hate to say that, but it’s kind of like, no athlete in the NFL is like any other person,” Suh said. “You can’t treat everybody the same exact way. That would be unfair, but there’s guidelines that everybody needs to follow behind, so that’s more or less the understanding that I needed to see.” According to STATS, LLC, Suh was penalized 10 times as a rookie, including twice for unnecessary roughness, once for a facemask, once for roughing the passer and once for a horse-collar tackle. Through the first half of this season, he’s been penalized four times, including once for a facemask, once for roughing the passer and once for unsportsmanlike conduct. “You look at Tom Brady. When he gets hit, you always wonder if there’s going to be a flag. There’s certain things that may be called for him that may not be called for other quarterbacks just because of his stature or whatever, how he is in the league,” Suh said. “That’s the same thing with defensive players. I think my hits may look a little bit different because of the type of strength and athleticism that I have, compared to some other defensive linemen. It’s just the way the world works.” The Lions are off to a 6-2 start and have an open date this weekend. Goodell said after the meeting that there was video evidence showing that Suh has [...]
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP & Staff) — The Kansas City Chiefs look to extend their winning streak after catching lucky breaks in their four-game run. A couple of wins over division doormats. A shutout of a Raiders team playing without its starting quarterback. An inexplicable fumble that eventually led to an overtime victory. The Kansas City Chiefs realize everything has been going their way during a four-game winning streak, one that has taken them from NFL laughingstock to a tie atop the AFC West. That’s why coach Todd Haley warned everyone after a 23-20 overtime win over San Diego on Monday night to keep an even keel. Hard as that might be right now. “We’ve got some fighters,” Haley said. “They don’t care much what anybody says, they just believe in what they’re doing, and what they’re going to be, and what they’re going to accomplish.” What they’re going to accomplish is anyone’s guess. How could anyone have any clue after the dramatic turnaround they’ve already experienced? Left for dead after losing their first two games by a combined 89-10, the Chiefs (4-3) showed some resolve during a road loss to San Diego. They came back home and squeaked out a win over Minnesota, rallied from a big deficit to beat Indianapolis, and then beat the Jason Campbell-less Raiders last weekend to give them tons of momentum heading into a showdown with San Diego. Under the bright lights on Monday night, with a frenzied Halloween crowd on hand at Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs led the whole way against the division-leading Chargers. Still, San Diego had a chance to win the game in regulation with the ball at the 15-yard line and 48 seconds on the clock. Philip Rivers dropped under center, called for the snap — and never got the ball. It squirted under a pile, a fumble at the most inopportune time, and the Chiefs’ Andy Studebaker came away with it to keep San Diego from kicking a potential winning field goal. That allowed the game to reach overtime, and Ryan Succop ended it with a 30-yard field goal. “That was a lot of fun,” said Succop, who had three field goals in the game. “Everybody on our team fought as hard as they could. We put everything into it, and to come out on top is great.” The Chiefs are the first team in NFL history to lose [...]
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP & Staff) — Up and down the sideline, the Kansas City Chiefs were telling each other the game wasn’t over. Didn’t matter that Philip Rivers was under center with less than a minute left, and that Nick Novak was poised to kick the winning field goal for San Diego. The Chiefs have had their backs against the wall enough this season. They certainly weren’t going to just quit. With first down at the Kansas City 15, Rivers called for the snap — and the ball never got into his hands. It squirted loose on the field, bounced under a scrum, and finally emerged in the hands of Chiefs linebacker Andy Studebaker, who was running to the sideline in joy. The game headed for overtime, and Ryan Succop eventually knocked through a 30-yard field goal to give the Chiefs a dramatic 23-20 victory over the Chargers on Monday night. “Our guys were saying, ‘It ain’t over ’till it’s over. Keep playing, and digging,’” Chiefs coach Todd Haley said. “You never know what will happen.” Kansas City (4-3) became the first team in NFL history to lose its first three games and share at least part of a division lead after four more. The Chiefs are also the first team since the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2000 to win four straight games after losing their first three. Rivers could have prevented all of it from happening. “I haven’t had one in years,” Rivers said of the fumbled snap. “It’s unfortunate. I dropped it. This one is rough. You blow it on a play that never should have happened.” Kansas City had its own chance to win in regulation, but Matt Cassel overthrew his wide receiver in Chargers territory and Eric Weddle’s second interception sent the game to overtime. San Diego won the toss but failed to pick up a first down, and Cassel calmly led Kansas City down field. Succop’s field goal with 5:16 remaining gave the Chiefs their fourth straight win and moved them into a tie with San Diego (4-3) and the idle Oakland Raiders (4-3) in the division. “We were saying, ‘Don’t quit,’” Studebaker said. “You never quit, even if it looks ugly. If you quit every time something looks ugly, you miss an opportunity to do something special.” Boy, was this one ever ugly. Rivers wound up throwing for 369 yards, but he also had [...]
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INDIANAPOLIS (AP & Staff) — Bill Polian plans to keep Peyton Manning on the active roster all season — even if it means he’ll only be back to practice. While the Colts’ vice chairman isn’t completely ruling out a late cameo appearance by the four-time MVP this season, he’s hoping Manning will be able to throw at the team’s complex before the season ends. “I think it’s important for him to feel like, ‘Hey I’m back, I can do the things that are necessary to say I can play like I want to,’” Polian said Monday night on his weekly radio show. “The bottom line is he needs to feel good about being back and doing the things he wants to do.” Manning has not practiced with his teammates much since January’s playoff loss to the New York Jets. He worked out with some Colts players during the lockout before scaling things back after having May neck surgery to repair a damaged nerve that caused weakness in his throwing arm. Just about everyone, including Manning, thought he’d be ready by training camp. When the recovery didn’t go as planned, Manning opened the season on the physically unable to perform list, missed all four preseason games and wound up having another procedure, an anterior spinal fusion to clear up the problem just three days before the season opener at Houston. The fusion normally involves making an incision in the front of the neck, removing soft disk tissue between the vertebrae and fusing the bones together with a graft. It was Manning’s third neck surgery in 19 months, and doctors who were not involved in the procedure said Manning wouldn’t be cleared to practice for at least two months. Since then, Manning has been seen walking briskly around the team’s practice fields, teammates have said he attends meetings and provides advice and Polian has told listeners that Manning has gradually “ramped up” his activity. On Oct. 6, Manning told reporters he’d finally been cleared to stand on the sideline, a major sign of progress because he could take an inadvertent hit. But at 0-8 and with the playoffs seemingly out of reach, there’s one big reason to push Manning to practice — finding out how close Indy’s franchise quarterback is to 100 percent. “That is much more important to us because we know he’s not going to play six or seven more [...]
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP & Staff) — Frank Gore received regular calls and encouragement from Roger Craig all offseason as he recovered from a fractured hip. Craig shared training tips, too. When Gore charged up the middle with his signature burst for a 2-yard gain Sunday, he took another step forward in franchise history by moving past Craig into second place on the 49ers career rushing list. Gore ran for both 125-plus yards and a touchdown in a fourth straight game, Michael Crabtree made his first TD reception of the season, and San Francisco beat the Cleveland Browns 20-10 for its fifth straight victory. “It’s a blessing to have my name mentioned next to his,” Gore said. “This last year, we got to be close. When I got hurt, he called me every day. He was telling me I was going to be all right, to keep working.” Now, San Francisco’s star running back is determined to chase another of Craig’s accomplishments: those three Super Bowl rings. And this is Gore’s best chance yet to get there. He is making his case for a third Pro Bowl while pushing his team toward its first playoff berth in nine years. “It’s fun. We’re right here in the middle of it almost at the halfway point,” defensive end Justin Smith said. “We’ve got a decent thing going on. We’ve got to continue to go. We’ve got a long grind ahead of us.” Alex Smith completed 15 of 24 passes for 177 yards for the first-place 49ers (6-1), who haven’t lost since falling in overtime to the Cowboys on Sept. 18. “Not perfect, but beautiful,” coach Jim Harbaugh said. No handshake flap this time for Harbaugh, either. And no post-bye letdown for his 49ers — even if it was far from flashy. This marked Harbaugh’s first game since his seconds-long greeting and firm backslap of Lions coach Jim Schwartz following San Francisco’s 25-19 comeback win at Detroit two weeks ago. Harbaugh says he practiced during the bye week by high-fiving with his toddler daughter, Addison, whom he carried out of the stadium Sunday night. Harbaugh was polite to fellow first-year coach Pat Shurmur when they met at midfield. “It went well,” Harbaugh said. The 49ers — who were made aware by Harbaugh during the week that teams were 3-9 after their byes coming into Sunday — are off to their first 6-1 start since [...]
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PITTSBURGH (AP & Staff) — The Pittsburgh Steelers no longer have a Tom Brady problem. And that may be a problem for the rest of the NFL. Old, slow and over? Not quite yet. Ben Roethlisberger picked apart the NFL’s worst defense and the Steelers rattled the nearly unflappable Brady in a 25-17 victory on Sunday, putting an end to the two-time MVP’s decade of dominance over the defending AFC champions. Brady came in 6-1 all-time against the Steelers, putting up eye-popping numbers in the process. He never got the chance on a chilly day at Heinz Field. Pittsburgh (6-2) controlled the ball for nearly 39 minutes and never let Brady get into a sustained rhythm. “It’s been all Tom Brady versus the Pittsburgh Steelers and looking back on the past, how he’s owned the Pittsburgh Steelers, and I think everybody forgot about our offense a little bit and the things they’ve been doing out there,” Pittsburgh linebacker LaMarr Woodley said. “I think they took that a little personal.” Playing efficiently and working almost exclusively on short, safe, underneath routes, Roethlisberger completed 36 of 50 passes for 365 yards and two touchdowns as the Steelers won their fourth straight following a 2-2 start. “We can be as good as we want to be,” Roethlisberger said. “When we don’t kill ourselves and stop ourselves, we can be pretty dangerous.” Brady passed for two touchdowns but threw for a season-low 198 yards. His attempt to lead the Patriots to an unlikely comeback ended when Pittsburgh’s Brett Keisel sacked him, forcing a fumble that Troy Polamalu slapped through the end zone with 8 seconds left to provide the final margin. “We all have to individually look in the mirror and figure out what we need to get better at,” Brady said. There was no sense of panic among the Patriots, who fell into a tie with Buffalo atop the AFC East. Yet the Steelers did something no team has been able to do this year: keep Brady under wraps. Pittsburgh sacked him three times, held wide receiver Wes Welker — on pace for an NFL record for yards receiving in a season — to 39 yards on six receptions while limiting the Patriots to their fewest points since a 34-14 loss to Cleveland last year. The Patriots punted four times, missed a field goal in the third quarter that would have drawn them [...]
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PHILADELPHIA (AP & Staff) — LeSean McCoy spotted Howard Mudd standing on crutches on the sideline and slowed up to give the 69-year-old assistant coach a pregame chest bump. No one else could stop McCoy. Michael Vick threw two touchdown passes, McCoy had a career-best 185 yards rushing and two scores and the Philadelphia Eagles routed the Dallas Cowboys 34-7 Sunday night. “I feel like every game is a chance for me to prove myself,” McCoy said. “At any given time, any one of our guys could go off.” Mudd, the team’s offensive-line coach, was on crutches because he had hip surgery during the bye week. The time off helped him and the Eagles (3-4). They dominated right from the start, improved to 13-0 after a bye under coach Andy Reid and snapped a five-game losing streak at Lincoln Financial Field that dated to last season. “We started fast,” Vick said. “That was our mindset. We wanted to set the tempo. We didn’t want to let up.” Dallas defensive coordinator Rob Ryan fired up the Eagles with some trash-talking during the summer after they added several big-name players. Ryan, the son of beloved former Philadelphia coach Buddy Ryan, called the Eagles the “all-hype” team and predicted the Cowboys would “beat their (butt).” He was way off. The Eagles racked up 495 total yards and held the ball for 42:09. They thoroughly outplayed a defense that came in ranked seventh in the NFL. The long-haired Ryan paced the sideline and desperately tried to figure out how to stop Vick and Co. It didn’t happen until the fourth quarter when the game was out of reach. “I got outcoached by Reid and their staff,” Ryan said. “It’s ridiculous. I never gave our guys a chance. The whole thing was on me.” DeMarcus Ware was one of the few players who played well for Dallas (3-4). He had four sacks, and has 12 this season. Coming off a 253-yard rushing performance in a win over St. Louis, Cowboys rookie DeMarco Murray was held to 74 yards on only eight carries. “We weren’t up to the task tonight,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. “This game is not coming back. We can learn from it and move on to the next challenge. We didn’t execute in any phase of the football game.” The defending NFC East champion Eagles entered the season with a Super Bowl-or-bust [...]
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP & Staff) — Christian Ponder took only two starts to get his first career win, outdueling the more-heralded Cam Newton in the process. The rookie showed tremendous poise in the pocket, particularly on third downs, and got a huge assist from Adrian Peterson on Sunday as the Minnesota Vikings held on to beat the Carolina Panthers 24-21. Peterson had 162 yards from scrimmage and scored two touchdowns, and Ryan Longwell kicked a 31-yard field goal with 2:43 left as the Vikings (2-6) snapped a two-game losing streak. The Panthers had a chance to tie the game with 26 seconds left, but Olindo Mare missed wide left from 31 yards. Ponder, the 12th overall pick in the draft, completed 18 of 28 passes for 236 yards to beat Newton, the first choice in the draft. Ponder moved the chains with key completions on third downs in the second half to keep scoring drives alive. “It’s satisfying to get a win no matter what,” Ponder said. “Cam played extremely well. He had three touchdown passes, and a big drive there at the end. Fortunately, the ball bounced our way with the missed field goal.” Peterson, the NFL’s leading rusher, bounced back from a slow start and scored on a 9-yard run to tie the game at 21 late in the third quarter. He ran for 86 yards and had five catches for 76 yards, including a 19-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter. “They kept dropping deep and leaving him open,” Ponder said. “I kept taking it. … I’ll take that all day.” Newton threw for 290 yards and a career-high three touchdowns, but once again the Panthers (2-6) failed to finish in the fourth quarter. It was their fifth loss by a touchdown or less this season. The Panthers had their chances. Carolina went three-and-out on three straight possessions in the second half and watched their lead slip away. But after Longwell’s field goal gave the Vikings the 24-21 lead, Newton seemed poised to lead a memorable comeback. He completed a 44-yard pass to Brandon LaFell on fourth-and-15 to reach Vikings territory. The Panthers appeared to reach the 7 on a first-down run by Newton, but the play was called back because of a holding penalty on Steve Smith. “I got a few texts saying already in the HD it didn’t look too bad,” Smith said of the [...]
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TORONTO (AP & Staff) — Turns out Canadians can warm to a winner. Ryan Fitzpatrick quickly made his expensive new contract pay off, and the Buffalo Bills finally gave their adopted — and sometimes indifferent — fans north of the border something big to cheer about. Fitzpatrick hit tight end Scott Chandler for two touchdowns, and the Bills once porous defense had nine sacks and two interceptions to batter the already injury-riddled Washington Redskins 23-0 on Sunday. It marked Buffalo’s first win in four trips to Toronto, since the cross-border series was established in 2008. They handed Redskins coach Mike Shanahan his first shutout loss in 24 seasons as an NFL coach or offensive coordinator, according to STATS LLC. And surprise, surprise, the Bills were the ones drawing much of the applause days after safety George Wilson questioned Toronto fans’ passion and loyalty toward Buffalo. “That was one of the things coming in, give them something to cheer about. And I thought we did that today,” said Fitzpatrick, who signed a six-year, $59 million contract two days earlier. “I think there was more excitement out there than there has been in years past.” Fitzpatrick did his part in helping the Bills (5-2) open a season with four consecutive “home” wins for the first time since 1995. And the defense proved dominating, coming out of its bye week off in limiting the Redskins to 178 yards and 10 first downs. “It was a great overall performance,” said defensive end Spencer Johnson, who had a sack and blocked Graham Gano’s 49-yard field-goal attempt in the second quarter. “To shut anybody out in the NFL, that’s a big feat, a big accomplishment and a big step in the right direction.” The Redskins (3-4) have lost three straight and look nothing like the team that entered its bye week at 3-1. “It’s pretty humbling to take that,” Shanahan said. “That’s as bad as I’ve ever been involved with from the offensive side.” Washington continues to unravel as a result of such a growing list of injuries that would put a dent into Canada’s universal health care system. Without running back Tim Hightower (knee), receiver Santana Moss (hand) and tight end Chris Cooley (knee), the John Beck-led attack managed 61 yards of offense and three first downs on six first-half possessions. It didn’t get much better in the second half. Their second drive of the [...]
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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP & Staff) — All the warnings coach Tom Coughlin gave the New York Giants before their game with the winless Miami Dolphins seemingly went in one ear and out the other. The Giants’ running game was non existent. The defense showed up for a half. And as the minutes ticked by, it seemed the Dolphins were sensing victory — that’s is until Eli Manning stole it from them, like so many others before him. Manning threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Victor Cruz with 5:58 to play and the Giants barely avoided a post-bye letdown, keeping Miami (0-7) winless with a 20-17 victory Sunday. “The pressure was there just to get the win,” Giants guard Chris Snee said. “No one was concerned about ‘Oh, we’re going to lose to a winless team, or we were going to lose.’ We thought we were still going to win the game and that’s just the confidence we have, and that stems from Eli.” Despite some pressure, Manning was outstanding in handing the Dolphins another late loss that has to increase the pressure on embattled coach Tony Sparano. He hit 31 of 45 passes for 345 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in rallying the Giants from an 11-point first-half deficit. He would have had a lot more yards if tight end Jake Ballard and receiver Hakeem Nicks held on to a couple of perfect long tosses. Mario Manningham caught the other touchdown, a 7-yard play that got New York (5-2) back into the game late in the first half. “We knew we were going to get pressure,” Coughlin said. “We probably got pressure 40-50 percent of the time. It caused some issues with the running game (58 yards). But Eli made some big plays. Obviously he threw the ball a lot today. No turnovers, no interceptions, and he made plays when we had to have them. Once again, he did a very good job.” Manning said the Giants had chances to put up a lot more points, but they hurt themselves with the drops, penalties and negative plays down close. “We knew coming in it would be a tough battle,” Manning said. “A lot of games have come to the fourth quarter, and we knew it would be a tough road. They did a lot of good things defensively, ran a lot of different blitzes. We didn’t run the [...]
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BALTIMORE (AP & Staff) — Before launching the biggest comeback victory in the history of the Baltimore Ravens, Joe Flacco first had to withstand the indignity of being booed by his usually supportive hometown fans. Flacco didn’t care for the treatment, although he could appreciate the sentiment. And it didn’t prevent him from carrying the Ravens past the Arizona Cardinals 30-27 Sunday. Billy Cundiff kicked a 25-yard field goal as time expired, Ray Rice scored a career-high three touchdowns, and Flacco fueled the comeback with a gritty display of leadership and precise passing. “You can take a few boos every now and then,” Flacco said, “especially when you come back and win the game.” Using a fumble by Flacco and an 82-yard punt return by Patrick Peterson, Arizona scored three touchdowns during a five-minute span of the second quarter to take a 24-3 lead. That’s when many in the sellout crowd of 71,022 voiced their displeasure. “I don’t go to a lot of football games, but I probably would have wanted to boo if I was in the stands, too,” Flacco said. “We weren’t looking too good. We weren’t playing too well.” Baltimore (5-2) answered with a 24-point run and moved in front 27-24 when Rice scored his third touchdown on the opening play of the fourth quarter. Arizona (1-6) pulled even with a 45-yard field goal by Jay Feely with 8:55 left, but the Ravens won it with a 37-yard, beat-the-clock drive in the final minute. After the Cardinals were forced to punt from deep in their own territory, Baltimore took over at the Arizona 44 with 52 seconds left. A 36-yard completion from Flacco to rookie Torrey Smith moved the ball to the 5, setting the stage for Cundiff’s game-winner. The Ravens’ previous biggest comeback was from 19 points down against Tennessee in 2006. “We woke up, plain and simple,” said former Arizona star Anquan Boldin, who caught seven passes for 145 yards and was a key contributor in the rally. Flacco went 31 for 51 for 336 yards, and Rice ran for 63 yards on 18 carries. In a 12-7 loss to Jacksonville on Monday night, the 5-foot-8 running back was limited to 28 yards on eight carries. Arizona has lost six straight. Four of those defeats have been by four points or fewer. “It’s hard right now. Our guys are very disappointed after today’s game because [...]
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP & Staff) — After almost a year of suspensions, rumors and NCAA trouble in the headlines, Ohio State finally made some news on the field. Braxton Miller threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Devin Smith with 20 seconds left and the Buckeyes beat No. 12 Wisconsin 33-29 on Saturday night, handing the Badgers their second consecutive stunning defeat. It was seven days earlier that Wisconsin was beaten 37-31 at Michigan State on a desperation pass on the final play of the game. The latest heartbreak, just like the one that ended the Badgers’ run at an undefeated season, wasn’t confirmed until a video review. “The replay booth has definitely not been our friend the last two weeks,” frustrated Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema said. The Buckeyes (5-3, 2-2 Big Ten) earned their biggest win yet in a season shadowed by NCAA problems. “This is what Ohio State’s about,” interim coach Luke Fickell said. “We don’t ever look at ourselves as underdogs. This is a huge win, a signature win. This is for this team, this is for this program. This is what we expect.” The Badgers (7-2, 3-2) drove to the Ohio State 45 — and got an extra play after time elapsed due to a defensive facemask call — but linebacker Andrew Sweat hit quarterback Russell Wilson as he was throwing to end the game and touch off a wild celebration. It was an incredible finish, with four touchdowns scored in the final 4:39. But the Buckeyes were the last team standing after a series of knockdown punches by both sides. Miller, a freshman, ran for 99 yards on 19 carries and scored twice, in addition to completing 7 of 12 passes for 89 yards and a score. Fickell said that before Miller went onto the field for the last possession, the quarterback turned to the coach and winked. “I felt good about it. That’s what you need,” Fickell said. “You’ve got to have confidence in what you’re doing. You have to have belief in what you’re doing.” Dan Herron, in his second game back from two separate suspensions for accepting improper benefits, rushed for 160 yards on 33 carries. “It was a great feeling,” Herron said. “We definitely wanted this win very bad. The team kept on fighting and guys never gave up and we went out there and got it done.” Miller scored on runs [...]
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP & Staff) — Fitzgerald Toussaint ran for a career-high 170 yards and two touchdowns to lead No. 17 Michigan to a 36-14 win over Purdue on Saturday. The Wolverines (7-1, 3-1 Big Ten) gave up a TD on the opening drive of the game, then scored 36 straight points to bounce back from their first loss of the season, two weeks ago at Michigan State. The Boilermakers (4-4, 2-2) haven’t won or lost consecutive games this year. Toussaint had 155 yards rushing through three quarters, helping Michigan find a rusher to take some of the load from quarterback Denard Robinson. Backup Michael Shaw ran for a 37-yard TD on his first carry early in the fourth for a 36-7 lead. Purdue was effectively shut down after Caleb TerBush threw a 48-yard TD pass to Gary Bush 1:24 into the game. The Boilermakers wasted their first good chance to end the drought early in the fourth when TerBush was stopped inside the Michigan 1 on a fourth-down run. Purdue finally scored with 15 seconds left on Robert Marve’s 19-yard pass to O.J. Ross. Michigan bounced back well from its 28-14 setback in East Lansing with a performance that might help college football’s winningest program prevent another late-season slide. The Spartans handed the Wolverines their first loss in each of the previous two years, touching off six- and seven-loss finishes that eventually brought about the firing of Rich Rodriguez and hiring of Brady Hoke. Michigan has tried to re-establish a traditional power running game this season and gotten mixed results — until pounding Purdue with a heavy dose of Toussaint left, right and up the middle. Robinson completed five of his first six passes, before locking in on a target and throwing an interception in Purdue territory. He finished 9 of 14 for 170 yards. Robinson ran 15 times, his third-lowest total this year, for 63 yards and a score on Michigan’s first drive that made it 7-all midway through the first quarter. Devin Gardner threw an interception on his first attempt, an ill-advised throw into coverage that sailed high and fell short of the receiver near the end zone. Gardner completed a 26-yard throw on his only other pass and gained experience while giving Robinson a break in the fourth quarter. Mike Martin brought down TerBush in the end zone to put Michigan ahead for the first [...]
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WASHINGTON (AP & Staff) — Three Democratic congressmen are urging the House Energy and Commerce Committee to hold hearings on the impasse between the NFL and players union on testing for human growth hormone. California Rep. Henry Waxman, the top Democrat on the committee, and two others made the request in a letter Tuesday to chairman Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican. The NFL and the players agreed to begin blood testing for HGH as part of their new collective bargaining agreement reached in late July — but only if the union agreed to the methods. The union has delayed implementing the test, asking for more scientific data to prove it is reliable. “This delay is a cause for concern,” wrote Waxman, along with G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina and Bobby Rush of Illinois, both of whom chair subcommittees on the panel. The lawmakers cited a recent letter to the union and NFL from nearly two dozen scientists and lab directors from around the world stating the current test is scientifically reliable; and noted that the test has been used in the Olympics. “There appear to be few questions about the validity of the HGH test,” the Democrats wrote. They also noted that CBS football analyst Boomer Esiason, a former NFL quarterback, said that the union is “backing off because they have players guilty of using this substance,” and said that many believe at least 20 percent of players are using it. “We hope that this is not the case,” the congressmen wrote. “Committee hearings will allow us to learn about these issues, hearing from top scientists about the validity of HGH testing and from the NFL and the NFLPA about the extent of HGH use in the league and their plans for testing to eliminate such use.” In an email to The Associated Press, union head DeMaurice Smith said that players’ health and the safety and integrity of the game go hand-in-hand. “I applaud the members in their request for a hearing and look forward to fully discussing all of these issues as soon as possible,” he said. “We are sending letters to the teams immediately in order to assist Congress in its fact finding mission.” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league appreciated the lawmakers’ commitment to the issue, “but there should be no need for this hearing if the union would simply live up to its agreements.” A [...]
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ASHBURN, Va. (AP & Staff) — From healthy, first-place surprise to battered and struggling, the Washington Redskins had their fortunes take another dive Monday when running back Tim Hightower was declared out for the season with a torn knee ligament and receiver Santana Moss underwent hand surgery that is expected to sideline him for 5-7 weeks. That makes five starters lost to significant injuries over the last two weeks, coinciding with a two-game losing streak and a quarterback switch. The Redskins (3-3), sitting so pretty after winning three of their first four, are on their heels. Little seems to be going right, and some of the misfortune is truly out of the norm. London Fletcher — who has never missed a game in his 14-year NFL career — has a hamstring injury that might finally get him off the field, and demoted quarterback Rex Grossman is in the hospital with pneumonia. “We’ve got a lot of young players,” coach Mike Shanahan said. “We’re going to get a chance to see how much talent they do (have), and how quickly they can improve. “And, hopefully, it’s quick.” Hightower is the team’s leading rusher. Moss is the top wideout. With the injury-induced shuffling along the offensive line, there are now only four offensive starters — tight end Fred Davis, receiver Jabar Gaffney, right guard Chris Chester and right tackle Jammal Brown — still manning their same positions from the beginning of the season. “I felt like coming into the season we had a chance to be a good football team; I still feel like that,” cornerback DeAngelo Hall said. “We’re a little banged up, though, there’s no doubt about that. … (But) this is a different group. This isn’t a group that’s going to hang their heads and feel sorry for themselves. We’re going to bounce back.” Hightower and Moss were hurt in Sunday’s 33-20 loss to the Carolina Panthers. Hightower’s left knee buckled when he tried to make a cut during a 4-yard carry in the third quarter, ending his season with 321 yards on 84 carries. Ryan Torain and rookie fourth-round draft pick Roy Helu will try to take up the slack, although neither has Hightower’s locker room leadership or ability to pick up a blitz. Torain had a 135-yard game in relief three weeks ago, but since then he has 12 carries for 17 yards. Helu’s last 16 attempts [...]
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NEW YORK (AP & Staff) — Run, baby, run. All those runners who seemed to be ignored while passing numbers flew off the charts earlier this season are resurfacing — in a big way. Joining the always reliable Adrian Peterson and the resurgent Arian Foster this weekend were the likes of DeMarco Murray, Matt Forte, and Shonn Greene. With injuries hitting a bunch of starters, some new names could join them as the ground game has even more impact in the NFL. The emergence of Murray was the most notable and spectacular development. His first touch was for a 91-yard touchdown, and he built on it through the Cowboys’ rout of the Rams, finishing with a team record 253 yards rushing. Yes, Murray outdid even the best production for one game by Emmitt Smith and Tony Dorsett. “I never thought in a million years that I’d ever have a day like this,” Murray said. “This is what I’ve been working hard for since my Pop Warner days.” Pop Warner-style offenses, where teams run, run and then run some more, never will resurface in the NFL. Pro football is a passing game, and the record-setting stats early in the 2011 schedule prove that. But running backs are undergoing a revival and Sunday underscored it. We’ve come to expect big showings from Peterson, who despite playing behind a rookie quarterback making his first start, Christian Ponder, and facing the defending Super Bowl champs, had 175 yards and a touchdown in a 33-27 loss to Green Bay. Foster led the league in rushing in his breakout 2010 season and, after battling injuries this year had a huge game in a 41-7 romp past Houston: 115 yards rushing and two scores, 119 receiving and another TD. Supporting Foster was Ben Tate with 104 yards on the ground. Like Foster the previous year, Tate is making up for a lost season. A second-round draft pick in 2010, he broke his right ankle in the preseason and didn’t play again. Foster wasn’t used much in his rookie season of 2009, appearing in only six games and gaining 257 yards rushing. With the re-emphasis on running, three players who surpassed 100 yards on the ground Sunday will take on added importance for their teams: Atlanta’s Michael Turner, Chicago’s Forte and the Jets’ Greene. Turner has rushed down this road before and is an established star. Forte, in [...]
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NEW ORLEANS (AP & Staff) — Fans sitting in the upper deck of the Superdome turned their backs to the field, where the New Orleans Saints were setting franchise records, and saluted head coach Sean Payton, who was sitting high above in a booth with his broken leg propped up. He might as well have had both feet up by the middle of the third quarter. Drew Brees completed 31 of 35 passes for 325 yards and five touchdowns, and the Saints set a franchise record for points and victory margin in a 62-7 demolition of the hapless Indianapolis Colts on Sunday night. “I was real proud of how we played tonight, how we handled the week of practice,” said Payton, standing on crutches after the game. “We spent a lot of time during the week just talking about us beginning to play our best football, because we really felt while we were 4-2, we hadn’t done that.” Payton had called offensive plays from the sidelines since he took his first head coaching job with New Orleans in 2006, but that changed after he was caught up in a tackle along the sideline during a loss at Tampa Bay last week and was injured. Payton had surgery on Monday and didn’t attend a practice until Thursday. Sitting high up in the Superdome for the game against the Colts, he had to like what he saw down below, where offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael Jr. called plays for the first time. Brees had two touchdown passes to Marques Colston and one to Darren Sproles in the first quarter. His fourth and fifth touchdown tosses went to second-year tight end Jimmy Graham in the third quarter. It seemed the Saints (5-2) could do whatever they wanted, also rushing for 236 yards. “We had a great game plan. We played with a lot of confidence. Pete did a phenomenal job,” Brees said. “It was just our night, one of those games that doesn’t come along too often. … We needed a win like this, especially after the past week and everything we’ve gone through.” The Saints’ point total tied the most in a game by any team since the AFL merged with the NFL in 1970. The Saints previous franchise high for points in a game was 51 on three occasions and their largest previous victory margin was 42 over Denver in 1988. When [...]
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP & Staff) — Despite the disparate records, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers found plenty of competition from Christian Ponder in the fearless rookie’s first start for the Vikings. Rodgers was up for the challenge again, and the defending Super Bowl champions still didn’t flinch. Rodgers kept Green Bay unbeaten with three touchdowns and 335 yards passing, holding off Minnesota 33-27 on Sunday. “There’s not a lot of panic in this team. We’ve been down a couple times at halftime. Just a lot of focus,” said Rodgers, who completed his first 13 passes and finished 24 for 30 on another near-unstoppable afternoon against a depleted secondary. “We expect nothing less,” said Greg Jennings, who had seven catches for 147 yards. He jogged in for a 79-yard score on the second play of the second half after an egregiously blown coverage, giving the Packers their first lead at 20-17. Ponder was picked off twice in the third quarter by Charles Woodson, who almost grabbed a couple more interceptions, but he kept the Vikings in it from start to finish after completing a 71-yard pass play on his first snap. Adrian Peterson helped him out by rushing 24 times for 175 yards and a touchdown for the Vikings (1-6), but James Starks put the game away with two big gains for first downs before the 2-minute warning and another one right after. He had 75 yards on 13 carries for the Packers (7-0). “It’s frustrating to come out against the defending champs and be that close and not to come up with the win,” Peterson said. “Give credit to those guys. They made plays when they needed to, and we ended up on the wrong side of it.” Mason Crosby had four field goals for the Packers, including a franchise record 58-yarder, one of many delights among some anxious moments for the thousands of Packers fans in attendance who made the trip across the border. “We’re not going to swing from a rope around here as far as extremes, one way or another,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “We’re very happy being 7-0, stating the obvious, but to a man we know we can play better. That’s what’s exciting.” This rivalry is still fierce, as evidenced by a couple of early skirmishes. Vikings defensive end Brian Robison, frustrated by some unwelcome contact from Packers guard T.J. Lang during one second-quarter play, gave [...]
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MIAMI (AP & Staff) — Fans chanted Tim Tebow’s name in derision. They hooted as he missed open receivers, got buried under blitzes and kept falling short on third down. Then he led an improbable comeback that became the latest chapter in the legend of Tebow. In his first start this year, Tebow rallied the Denver Broncos with two touchdown passes in the final 2:44 of the fourth quarter to force overtime, and Matt Prater’s 52-yard field goal gave them an 18-15 win Sunday over the stunned Miami Dolphins. “It’s tough to say, but man, Timmy did a great job,” said Dolphins center Mike Pouncey, who played with Tebow at Florida. “Hopefully the critics will get off him about what he can’t do and talk about the things that he can do, and that’s figure out a way to win the game, no matter what.” The Broncos appeared beaten when they trailed 15-0 with 5:23 left and took over at their 20. At that point Tebow was 4 for 14 for 40 yards, and Denver was 0 for 10 on third-down conversions. “It was my fault we were in that position,” Tebow said. “Silly things kept happening. On the sidelines, we were still believing. We wanted it, and they believed in me for more than 60 minutes.” In the frantic final minutes of the fourth quarter, Tebow led TD drives of 80 and 56 yards sandwiched around a successful onside kick. He scored a 2-point conversion standing up with 17 seconds left to tie the game. In overtime, Denver’s D.J. Williams sacked Matt Moore to force a fumble and recovered it at the Miami 36. Three plays later Prater hit the game-winner. “It was never in doubt,” coach John Fox jokingly said. His team became the first to rally from a deficit of at least 15 points in the final three minutes since at least 1983, according to STATS LLC. The Broncos (2-4) won for the first time in the eight games they’ve played on the Dolphins’ field. Miami (0-6) extended the NFL’s longest losing streak to nine games, leaving the status of embattled coach Tony Sparano even more tenuous. “Of course he’s the head coach and he’s going to take a lot of heat,” receiver Brandon Marshall said. “But trust me, it’s not him. Not just him. It’s all of us.” The Dolphins lost for the 12th time in [...]
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