NFL career scoring leader Gary Anderson kicked a 46-yard field goal with 29 seconds left after a courageous effort by a limping Steve McNair, giving the Tennessee Titans a 20-17 victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday in a first-round playoff game.
McNair, the league's co-MVP, engineered an eight-play, 35-yard drive to set up the winning kick, and Eddie George finished with 88 yards on 25 carries despite playing with a dislocated shoulder.
In the process, Tennessee snapped a five-game losing streak against the Ravens.
PHOTO: AP
"A lot of people said, `They beat you five times, you cannot beat them,'" Titans receiver Derrick Mason said. "Well, we did."
The Titans (13-4) received an outstanding performance from their defense, which held 2003 NFL rushing champion Jamal Lewis to a season-low 35 yards on 14 carries.
Lewis ran for 2,066 yards during the regular season, the second-best total in league history. But he was rendered ineffective against the determined Titans.
PHOTO: AP
The Titans will next play either Kansas City or New England for a spot in the AFC championship game. Tennessee has not been to the Super Bowl since after the 1999 season, when it lost to St. Louis.
McNair missed two of the Titans' last three games with injuries to both legs, and he was limping noticeably with ankle and calf problems. He refused to come out, however, perhaps because of all the frustration he's endured at the hands of Baltimore (10-7).
McNair threw three interceptions -- his most in a game since November 2002 against the Ravens -- but came up huge when it counted.
Tennessee drove 67 yards in 10 plays on its first possession to go up 7-0. After McNair ran 9 yards on a third-and-3 from the Baltimore 11, backup running back Chris Brown scored his first NFL touchdown on a 6-yard run.
Then, after the Ravens went three-and-out, Baltimore's defense came to the rescue. Reed tipped a pass to teammate Will Demps, who weaved 56 yards with the interception for his first score as a pro.
Panthers 29, Cowboys 10
In Charlotte, North Carolina, Jake Delhomme threw for 273 yards and a touchdown, and Stephen Davis ran for 104 yards and a score as the Carolina Panthers downed the Dallas Cowboys 29-10 in the first round of the NFL playoffs.
The Panthers celebrated by leaping into the stands after big plays, embracing the white-towel-waving fans, then taking their slow lap around the stadium to mark their own turnaround. Remember, this team was 1-15 just two years ago.
"I don't have any idea whose idea that lap was," said quarterback Delhomme. "I just know you have to enjoy these times, because you don't know when they'll happen again."
Although the Cowboys came into the game with the league's top-ranked defense, the Panthers made them look ordinary while handing quarterback Bill Parcells one of the worst playoff losses of his career. Parcells, who came out of retirement and returned Dallas to the playoffs for the first time in five seasons, lost 21-0 to Chicago while with the New York Giants in the playoffs after the 1985 season.
"I'm disappointed, but I've got to be realistic," Parcells said. "I've got to improve the team by every vehicle at our disposal."
The game was a complete reversal of the regular-season meeting, when the Cowboys stifled Davis and held him to 59 yards rushing. That forced the game into Delhomme's hands, and he failed to deliver in Dallas' 24-20 victory.
Not this time, when the two combined to make Dallas' defense look shoddy while handing the Cowboys one of their worst playoff losses.
Steve Smith had five catches for 135 yards and a 32-yard touchdown and Muhsin Muhammad had four catches for 103 yards. Coupled with Davis' yards on the ground, it marked the first time all season three individual players passed the 100-yard mark against Dallas.
John Kasay, the last original Panther and the only one who played a role in Carolina's lone previous playoff victory -- a 26-17 win over Dallas in 1997 -- tied an NFL postseason record with five field goals.
Meanwhile, Carolina's defense dominated the rematch.
With Parcells watching in frustration from the sideline, the Cowboys could do little. Dallas had zero yards offense in the third quarter, when Delhomme threw his 32-yard touchdown pass to Smith for a 23-3 lead.
Against a Dallas team that was 0-5 this season when trailing by seven or more points, Parcells knew his team was in trouble.
"I didn't want this to end," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said somberly. "The sick feeling in my stomach is not being able to go out and watch this team practice and work and get another game."
The Panthers are the second team to win a playoff game with no penalties and no turnovers; Pittsburgh did so in the 1976 Super Bowl.
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