Adam Vinatieri's 43-yard field goal with 1 second remaining gave the New England Patriots a 23-20 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL on Sunday.
"They showed us today why they're the champs," Steelers linebacker Larry Foote said.
Tom Brady completed his last 12 passes and went 31-of-41 for 372 yards, while Corey Dillon scored from the 7 early in the fourth quarter to give the Patriots a 20-13 lead.
PHOTO: AFP
New England was within one play of winning when Chad Scott, cut by Pittsburgh after last season, was called for pass interference against Quincy Morgan on a fourth-and-11 play from the Steelers' 27. One play later, Ben Roethlisberger threw his second scoring pass to Hines Ward from the 4 to tie it at 20 with 1:21 remaining.
"Our coaches always get us in situations where we can make plays," said New England's David Givens, who made nine catches for 130 yards. "There always seems to be time for us to come back."
The Patriots (2-1), coming off a loss at Carolina, held Willie Parker, coming off consecutive 100-yard games, to 55 yards rushing. Roethlisberger now has his first loss in 16 regular-season starts, going 12-of-28 for 216 yards. He threw an 85-yard touchdown pass to Ward, the longest TD pass against the Patriots since an 86-yarder by Kansas City in 1990.
PHOTO: AFP
Eagles 23, Raiders 20
At Philadelphia, David Akers, fighting through a strained right hamstring, kicked a 23-yard field goal with 9 seconds left for Philadelphia.
Donovan McNabb, playing with chest and groin injuries, threw for 365 yards and two touchdowns for the Eagles (2-1), while Brian Westbrook caught a TD pass, ran for a score and had 140 yards receiving. Terrell Owens had nine catches, including his 100th career touchdown.
Kerry Collins threw a 27-yard TD pass to Doug Gabriel to bring the Raiders into a 20-20 tie with 2:17 left. Westbrook caught passes of 13 and 17 yards, Greg Lewis made a 13-yard catch on third-and-9 and Owens had a 14-yard reception to set up Akers' kick.
Akers reinjured his hamstring on the opening kickoff, but came back to make two extra points and the winning field goal in the second half.
Randy Moss had five catches for 86 yards, but didn't score as Oakland fell to 0-3 for the first time since 1992.
Buccaneers 17, Packers 16
At Green Bay, Wisconsin, Tampa Bay's Carnell "Cadillac" Williams broke Alan Ameche's NFL record for most yards in his first three NFL games by rushing 37 times for 158 yards.
Green Bay's Ryan Longwell missed an extra point for the first time in 157 attempts, and that was the difference as the Packers fell to 0-3 for the first time since Brett Favre was a sophomore at Southern Mississippi in 1988.
The Buccaneers, 3-0 for the first time since 2000, got two touchdown receptions from Joey Galloway and two interceptions from Will Allen in snapping a 13-game road losing streak to the Packers. Their last win at Green Bay came on Sept. 10, 1989.
Williams, the first NFL rookie to start his career with three straight 100-yard games, has 434 yards rushing, besting Ameche's mark of 410 set in 1955 for the Baltimore Colts.
Dolphins 27, Panthers 24
At Miami, Lance Schulters intercepted Jake Delhomme with 2 minutes left to set up Olindo Mare's game-winning field goal.
Carolina's Steve Smith had 11 catches for 170 yards and three touchdowns. His 53-yard score midway through the fourth quarter tied the score at 24.
On the next possession, Schulters stepped in front of a pass intended for Keary Colbert and returned the interception 37 yards to the 25. Mare kicked a 32-yard field goal with 4 seconds left.
Under new coach Nick Saban, Miami is 2-1 and halfway to last year's win total. The Panthers, who lost seven of their first eight games last season, are off to another slow start at 1-2.
Colts 13, Browns 6
At Indianapolis, Edgerrin James ran 27 times for 108 yards and scored on a 2-yard run, while Mike Vanderjagt made two short field goals for the Colts (3-0), who won their seventh straight home game -- their longest streak since moving to Indianapolis in 1984. The Colts have allowed 16 points in three games, their lowest total in the first three games in franchise history. The previous best was 17 points in 1971.
Peyton Manning was 19-of-23 for 228 yards and topped the 30,000-yard mark in his 115th game, becoming the second fastest to that plateau. Miami's Dan Marino did it in 114 games.
Jaguars 26, Jets 20, OT
At East Rutherford, New Jersey, Byron Leftwich threw a 36-yard touchdown to Jimmy Smith in overtime for Jacksonville. Leftwich went 16-of-23 for 177 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Jets quarterback Chad Pennington left in the third quarter after straining his shoulder, the same one in which he had a torn rotator cuff repaired in the offseason, but returned in the fourth when backup Jay Fiedler hurt his shoulder. He directed the drive to Mike Nugent's 25-yard field goal that tied it at 20.
Pennington finished 9-of-19 for 76 yards and two interceptions.
Fred Taylor had a career-high 37 carries for 98 yards and a touchdown for the Jaguars.
Bengals 24, Bears 7
At Chicago, Cincinnati, which entered the game with a league-leading 10 takeaways, picked off Chicago quarterback Kyle Orton five times and became the first NFL team in 34 years to intercept five passes in consecutive games.
Madieu Williams, Keiwan Ratliff, Tory James, Deltha O'Neal and Brian Simmons each intercepted Orton. The Bengals (3-0) intercepted Minnesota's Daunte Culpepper five times in last week.
Carson Palmer of the Bengals was 16-of-23 for 169 yards and three touchdowns, two to Chad Johnson.
Thomas Jones rushed for 106 yards and scored the Bears' lone touchdown, a 2-yard run early in the fourth quarter.
Chargers 45, Giants 23
At San Diego, home fans mercilessly booed New York's second-year quarterback Eli Manning with fervor and exhorted LaDainian Tomlinson and San Diego to a 45-23 win.
Tomlinson ran for 192 yards and three touchdowns, and threw for another score to lead the Chargers on a night that left thousands of ear drums ringing, especially Manning's. Drew Brees threw two touchdowns for the Chargers (1-2).
Manning threw for a career-high 352 yards and two touchdowns for the Giants (2-1).
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB