Philadelphia won a fourth consecutive NFC East title as Brian Westbrook scored two touchdowns Sunday and the Eagles' defense made life miserable for Eli Manning in a 27-6 victory over New York.
The Eagles clinched the NFC East title and a playoff berth for the fifth consecutive year. The Eagles are the third team since the 16-game schedule began in 1978 to win a division title by the 11th game, joining the Bears in 1985 and the 49ers in 1997. Chicago won the Super Bowl after the 1985 season.
The Eagles have reached the conference final the past three years, but they lost the title game each time.
David Akers kicked field goals of 47 and 42 yards early in the second half to give Philadelphia a 13-7 lead, then Westbrook iced the game with a 1-yard touchdown run and a 34-yard touchdown on a screen pass.
Manning, starting only his second game, finished 6-of-21 for 148 yards and two critical interceptions. He also was sacked five times and had trouble figuring where the Eagles were coming from.
Bengals 58, Browns 48
In Cincinnati, Kelly Holcomb threw for 400 yards and five touchdowns -- and lost -- as Cincinnati and Cleveland played the most remarkable game in their intrastate rivalry, the second-highest scoring game in NFL history.
The 106 combined points were the most in an NFL game since the Redskins beat the Giants 72-41 on Nov. 27, 1966, for the league record. The most since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970 was 99 -- Seattle beat Kansas City 51-48 in overtime on Nov. 27, 1983.
Chargers 34, Chiefs 31
In Kansas City, Missuori, Nate Kaeding converted a tiebreaking 43-yard field goal with 2:24 left. Kaeding's kick gave the Chargers (8-3) their first win in Kansas City in their last eight tries and followed Donnie Edwards' interception of Trent Green's pass on the Chiefs 32.
Kansas City (3-8) seems headed for its worst season since 1988.
Raiders 25, Broncos 24
In Denver, Kerry Collins threw for 339 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Raiders to an upset in the snow. Collins hit Jerry Porter for three of the scores, including the winner on fourth-and-goal from the 5 with 1:49 remaining.
After Oakland took the lead, Jake Plummer drove the Broncos (7-4) 49 yards to the Raiders 25 to set up Jason Elam's field goal attempt. But the snap was high, Elam kicked the lace-side of the ball and Langston Walker blocked the kick to preserve the win for Oakland (4-7), which will surely count this as a major highlight of a difficult year.
The Broncos lost at home for the second time in three games. The loss puts them one game behind the Chargers in the AFC West with a game at San Diego coming next week.
Steelers 16, Redskins 7
In Pittsburgh, Antwaan Randle El and Jerome Bettis gave the Steelers just enough offense to keep their longest winning streak in 28 years going. The Steelers' nine-game winning streak is their longest since they won their final nine in 1976. They are 10-1 for the first time since 1975, the second of their four Super Bowl championship seasons.
The Redskins (3-8), headed for one of the lowest-scoring seasons in NFL history, were held to 156 yards.
Vikings 27, Jaguars 16
In Minneapolis, Randy Moss made a noticeable impact in his return for the Vikings (7-4). He caught a go-ahead touchdown pass in the third quarter, then Kevin Williams returned Byron Leftwich's fumble 77 yards for the clinching score after rookie Kenechi Udeze sacked Leftwich from behind.
His hamstring finally healed, Moss had four receptions -- his first in six weeks -- for 40 yards. Daunte Culpepper completed 19 of 27 passes for 235 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He scored on a 1-yard run in the first half.
Leftwich, who hadn't played since he got hurt at Houston on Oct. 31, wasn't bad for Jacksonville (6-5). He went 8-for-12 on third downs and completed a pretty 26-yard pass up the seam to tight end Brian Jones for a second-quarter score. Fred Taylor rushed for 147 yards.
Panthers 21, Buccaneers 14
In Charlotte, North Carolina, Julius Peppers and Keary Colbert had their best games and Martin Gramatica had his worst.
Colbert caught a 40-yard touchdown pass, his second of the game, with 20 seconds to play to lift Carolina to it third straight win. The Panthers (4-7) reacted as if they had just won the Super Bowl, wildly celebrating in the end zone.
The Bucs dropped to 4-7 and fell to the fringe of the NFC wild-card chase.
Colbert, a rookie receiver, had 72 yards on three catches, two for touchdowns. Peppers, who ran an interception 46 yards for a score, blocked a field goal and had a sack.
Gramatica missed all three of his field goal attempts, including a 37-yarder with 1:48 to play that would have broken a 14-14 tie.
Patriots 24, Ravens 3
In Foxboro, Massachusetts, the Patriots shut down Baltimore, scoring on a fumble recovery and holding the Ravens to 124 yards. Adam Vinatieri kicked three field goals, stretching his streak to 21 straight successful kicks.
Corey Dillon rushed for 123 yards and a touchdown.
The Patriots set an NFL record by scoring first in their 16th straight regular-season game, breaking a tie for the mark set by Miami in 1978. But the Ravens managed to stop another streak in the first quarter -- 16 consecutive quarters in which the Patriots scored.
Falcons 24, Saints 21
In Atlanta, Michael Vick threw a 20-yard scoring pass to Alge Crumpler with 1:22 remaining.
Vick accounted for all three Atlanta touchdowns. He passed for two, going 16-of-29 for 212 yards. He also ran for a touchdown, leading the Falcons (9-2) with 69 yards on 10 carries. Crumpler had four catches for 103 yards.
Bills 38, Seahawks 9
In Seattle, Willis McGahee had 116 yards rushing and four touchdowns, leading Buffalo to a rare road win in the worst loss for coach Mike Holmgren in his six seasons with the Seahawks.
Drew Bledsoe offset his three interceptions by completing two-thirds of his passes for 275 yards and a touchdown, and the Bills (5-6) snapped a six-game road slide dating to last season. It was Buffalo's first road win in five tries this season and the team's second victory in the last 12 trips.
Jets 13, Cardinals 3
In Tempe, Arizona, Quincy Carter left with a head injury after the third play of the game, but returned to throw a 69-yard touchdown pass to Santana Moss. Curtis Martin carried 24 times for 99 yards and Doug Brien kicked field goals of 28 and 46 yards for the Jets (8-3).
Dolphins 24, 49ers 17
In San Francisco, although the Dolphins doubled their victory total, there were no real winners. The NFL's two worst teams played a game every bit as wretched as their records.
Randy McMichael caught a 15-yard touchdown pass with 10:35 to play, and the 49ers fumbled five times in the fourth quarter, leaving San Francisco (1-10) as the league's only one-win team.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
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