San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson became the first player since 2001 to run, catch and throw for a touchdown as the San Diego Chargers won their fourth straight NFL match against the Oakland Raiders 27-14 on Sunday.
Tomlinson also tied an NFL record by scoring a touchdown in his 18th straight game.
Tomlinson's feat was only the seventh in NFL history.
PHOTO: AFP
The Chargers (3-3) hadn't won four straight in a rivalry dominated by the Raiders (1-4) since taking the first six meetings from 1960-62, when Raiders owner Al Davis was their defensive ends coach.
Tomlinson showed off his all-around skills as never before in his career, with his three first-half touchdowns, 140 yards rushing and 39 yards receiving.
Oakland's Kerry Collins was just 24-for-48 for 292 yards and threw his first interception of the season, and the Raiders had only 39 yards rushing.
PHOTO: AP
Tomlinson came out of the backfield to catch a pass from Drew Brees on the Chargers' second drive of the game against the Oakland Raiders. Tomlinson, who was not covered by any defenders, caught the ball around the 20 and jogged into the end zone, tying the record set by Baltimore's Lenny Moore from 1963-1965.
Tomlinson added a rushing touchdown later in the first quarter, extending his record for consecutive games with a running touchdown to 18, five more than the mark previously held by John Riggins and George Rogers.
Late in the second quarter, Tomlinson took a handoff from Brees, ran to his right, stopped and threw to Justin Peelle for a 4-yard score and his second TD pass of the season.
Tomlinson joined David Patten (October 2001) as the only players to pull off that trifecta since Walter Payton did it in October 1979. The only other players to do it are John Henry Johnson for Pittsburgh in 1960, Keith Lincoln for San Diego in 1965, Dan Reeves for Dallas in 1967, and Harmon Wages for Atlanta in 1969.
Cowboys 16, Giants 13, OT
At Irving, Texas, a 45-yard field goal by Jose Cortez on the opening drive of overtime helped Dallas beat New York despite four turnovers and two missed field goals.
Eli Manning, who struggled all game, led the Giants on two long fourth-quarter drives. The first was killed when rookie Brandon Jacobs fumbled at the Dallas 1. But New York (3-2) got the ball back and drove 52 yards to a tying TD on a 24-yard pass to Jeremy Shockey with 19 seconds left in regulation.
The Cowboys (4-2) gave the ball away on three of their first four drives, while the Giants got only two long field goals and also blocked a field goal right before halftime to go into the break trailing 7-6.
Broncos 28, Patriots 20
At Denver, Jake Plummer hit on throws of 72 and 55 yards to give the Denver passing game big-play power for the first time this season in a victory over the two-time defending champions.
Tatum Bell had a 68-yard run and finished with 114 yards to surpass 100 yards for the second straight week, as the Broncos (5-1) won their fifth straight.
New England (3-3) fell behind by 25 early in the third quarter. With Tom Brady picking on the young Denver secondary, the Patriots pulled within eight and had the ball late. But Brady threw three straight incompletions.
Brady went 24-for-46 for 299 yards and a touchdown in a comeback effort befitting the two-time Super Bowl MVP. Plummer finished with 262 yards and two touchdowns.
Jaguars 23, Steelers 17, OT
At Pittsburgh, Rashean Mathis scored on a 41-yard return of a Tommy Maddox interception in overtime and Jacksonville took advantage of four Maddox turnovers against injury-thinned Pittsburgh.
The Steelers (3-2) lost their second straight at home. They looked to be in position to win following Quincy Morgan's 71-yard kickoff return to start the overtime. But Maddox fumbled the ball away at the 27 with Jeff Reed readying to attempt a game-winning field goal on the next play.
After the Jaguars (4-2) punted, Maddox looked to his left, then went back to his right to try to find Morgan on a second-and-10 play from the Steelers' 35, but Mathis cut in front and scored without being touched.
Chiefs 28, Redskins 21
At Kansas City, Missouri, Priest Holmes ran for a touchdown and caught five passes for 100 yards, including a 60-yard catch-and-run for the go-ahead score nine days after 32nd birthday.
Santana Moss caught 10 passes for 173 yards and two touchdowns for the Redskins, who lost their second in a row after a 3-0 start.
Safety Sammy Knight, who had an 80-yard fumble return for a touchdown, got a fingertip on a potential game-tying pass from Mark Brunell to Santana Moss to clinch it for Kansas City (3-2).
Falcons 34, Saints 31
At San Antonio, Todd Peterson's 36-yard field goal won it for Atlanta in the final seconds. But only after a miss from 41 yards was negated by a holding penalty on New Orleans defensive end Tony Bryant, a play that had no effect on the miss.
New Orleans (2-4), embarrassed at Green Bay 52-3 a week earlier, had tied it at 31-31 when Aaron Brooks hit Devery Henderson in the back of the end zone for a 15-yard TD with under a minute left.
Then the Falcons' Michael Vick, bottled up most of the afternoon in his first game back from a sprained knee, completed four passes and ran for a first down that quickly moved the ball down the field. That eventually led to the penalty and the winning kick.
Buccaneers 27, Dolphins 13
At Tampa, Florida, Michael Pittman ran for 127 yards and a touchdown, leading Tampa Bay (5-1) to a victory which ruined Ricky Williams' return from a one-year retirement and four-game suspension for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy.
Williams ran just five times for 8 yards as Tampa Bay's defense limited Miami (2-3) to 64 yards rushing. It sacked Gus Frerotte four times and forced him to fumble twice.
Bills 27, Jets 17
At Orchard Park, New York, Kelly Holcomb threw two touchdown passes in winning his second straight start.
Willis McGahee had a career-high 143 yards rushing and a score, while receivers Eric Moulds and Jonathan Smith also scored touchdowns for Buffalo (3-3). The Bills defense had five sacks and forced three turnovers, including Terrence McGee's interception in the end zone with 3 minutes remaining.
Holcomb finished 18-of-26 for 172 yards. He replaced J.P. Losman, who struggled in starting the first four games this season. Curtis Martin led the Jets with a season-high 148 yards rushing and became the seventh player to gain 17,000 yards from scrimmage.
Bengals 31, Titans 23
At Nashville, Tennessee, Carson Palmer tossed a 15-yard touchdown pass to Chad Johnson with 4:19 left that gave Cincinnati the lead for good, and the Bengals bounced back from their first loss of the season.
Tennessee (2-4) had won nine of the last 10 in this series between old AFC Central rivals, but Cincinnati (5-1) won for the first time since the 2001 season finale. It now leads the AFC North by 1 games following Pittsburgh's loss. The Bengals host the Steelers next week.
Ravens 16, Browns 3
At Baltimore, the Ravens forced three turnovers and sacked former teammate Trent Dilfer four times.
Todd Heap scored the only touchdown for Baltimore (2-3), which bounced back from its worst start in franchise history after being penalized 21 times last week in a defeat at Detroit.
Bears 28, Vikings 3
At Chicago, Brian Urlacher had two sacks to lead the Bears over a Minnesota team reeling after allegations of drunkenness and sexual misbehavior on a charter cruise last week. It was the fourth loss in five games for Minnesota.
Thomas Jones rushed for 89 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries for Chicago (2-3).
Panthers 21, Lions 20
At Detroit, Chris Weinke threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Proehl with 32 seconds left for the victory in his first game since 2002.
Weinke relieved Jake Delhomme, who was knocked out of the game on the game-winning drive when he was hit hard by safety Kenoy Kennedy. Weinke took over at midfield with 2:56 left and calmly led the Panthers (4-2) down the field. He completed 5 of 7 passes for 47 yards.
The Lions (2-3) got the ball back at midfield with 24 seconds left, but couldn't complete a pass.
Seahawks 42, Texans 10
At Seattle, Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander's four touchdown runs buried Houston, dropping the NFL's only winless team to 0-5.
The NFC West-leading Seahawks (4-2) set a franchise record with 320 yards rushing. Alexander ran for 141, and his backup, Maurice Morris, added 104.
Alexander, the NFL's leading runner, extended his franchise-record to 26 career games with at least 100. He has 718 rushing yards through six games, after finishing one yard shy of the New York Jets' Curtis Martin for the league rushing title at the end of 2004.
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