The Kansas City Chiefs were left the only undefeated team in the NFL after the Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers both suffered their first losses of the season on Sunday.
The Bears were left battered and bruised after their 17-3 thumping by a greatly improved New York Giants team, while the Pittsburgh Steelers gave up a last-minute touchdown in their 17-14 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in a fourth round full of surprises and tight finishes.
The Indianapolis Colts, last season’s AFC champions, were handed a shock 31-28 loss by Jacksonville after Josh Scobee booted a 59-yard field goal in the final second, while Atlanta’s Matt Bryant kicked a game-winning field goal two seconds from the end against San Francisco.
Photo: AFP
Super Bowl champions New Orleans rebounded from last week’s surprise loss with a hard-fought victory over the winless Carolina Panthers, while the New Yorks Jets showed why they are regarded as one of the early favorites this season when they thrashed the Buffalo Bills for their third straight win.
Donovan McNabb provided the week’s most stirring moment when he led Washington to a 17-12 victory over the Eagles in his first game back in Philadelphia since being traded to the Redskins.
McNabb had played 11 seasons in Philadelphia and received a standing ovation by Eagles supporters when he ran on to the field at the start of the game.
Photo: AFP
The Giants, heavily criticized after their mistake-riddled loss to the Tennessee Titans last week, responded with a brutal defensive display that left Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler concussed after he was sacked nine times in the first half before being replaced.
The Steelers, playing without suspended quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, were 32 seconds away from a 4-0 start when Joe Flacco hooked up with T.J. Houshmandzadeh for an 18-yard touchdown pass that gave the Ravens a 17-14 win.
New Orleans clawed out a 16-14 win over the Panthers on the back of three field goals from John Carney, who was signed this week after regular kicker Garrett Hartley missed a 29-yard attempt in the Saints’ overtime loss to Atlanta last week.
LaDainian Tomlinson and Dustin Keller had two touchdowns each as the Jets destroyed the winless Bills 38-14 in Buffalo.
The Jets, led superbly by quarterback Mark Sanchez, dominated from the outset, racing to a 17-0 lead then piling on 21 unanswered points in less than five minutes in the third quarter.
The Colts scored on a one-yard touchdown pass from Peyton Manning to tie their game with the Jaguars at 28-28 with less than a minute remaining.
However, the Jaguars had just enough time to drive upfield and give Scobee the chance to steal the victory with a field goal that was four yards shy of matching the NFL record.
“I have never been that excited after a kick in my life,” Scobee said.
The San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions slumped to 0-4 after narrow losses, while the Cleveland Browns snapped their drought with a surprise win over Cincinnati.
For the second straight week, the Bryant nailed a game-winning field goal, this time against the 49ers. Bryant sealed the 16-14 win for the Falcons with a 43-yard kick with two seconds left to follow up his overtime winner against the Saints last week.
The Lions hung tough, but lost a close game the Packers 28-26, as Aaron Rodgers continued to impress, throwing for three touchdowns.
Cleveland held on to beat the Bengals 23-20 to claim their first win of the NFL season.
The victory overshadowed a milestone afternoon for Bengals wide receiver Terrell Owens, who moved into second place on the NFL list of career receiving yards.
Owens had 10 catches for 222 yards, including a 78-yard touchdown, to move past Isaac Bruce and into second place on the all-time yardage list with 15,324. Only Hall of Famer Jerry Rice caught passes for more yards with 22,895.
In other action on Sunday, the Denver Broncos beat the Tennessee Titans 26-20; the Seattle Seahawks lost on the road to the St Louis Rams 20-3; the Oakland Raiders lost at home to the Houston Texans 31-24; and the San Diego Chargers handled the Arizona Cardinals 41-10.
Nine teams already have three wins this season and a 10th was to join them yesterday night when the New England Patriots were to play the Miami Dolphins. Of those teams, only the Chiefs, who had a bye this week, remain undefeated.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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