Niners get back on track by routing Rams
ST. LOUIS -- Colin Kaepernick threw two touchdown passes, Frank Gore had his first 100-yard game of the season and the San Francisco 49ers' defense stepped up without some of their stars in a 35-11 rout over the St. Louis Rams on Thursday night.
Anquan Boldin had five catches for 90 yards and a touchdown, and Gore had 153 yards on 20 carries and a 34-yard score for San Francisco (2-2), which was outscored 46-10 the previous two games. Navarro Bowman had two of the 49ers' five sacks with a strip leading to a fourth-quarter scoring run by Anthony Dixon.
The Rams (1-3) had an overtime win and tie against San Francisco last year, and took the early lead Thursday before falling flat. Greg Zuerlein banged in a 40-yard field goal off the right upright to end a nine-game scoring drought in the first quarter, but the 49ers answered with 28 straight points.
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Alonso's two picks spark Bills' upset of Ravens
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Buffalo Bills rookie linebacker Kiko Alonso's second interception of the game with 57 seconds remaining sealed a 23-20 win over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.
Converted safety Aaron Williams also intercepted two Joe Flacco passes, and Fred Jackson had 87 rushing yards and one touchdown for Buffalo (2-2).
Robert Woods scored on a 42-yard touchdown reception. And the Bills totaled 213 rushing yards against a stout Ravens defense that had allowed just 224 in its first three games.
Flacco threw a career-worst five interceptions and finished 25-of-50 passing for 347 yards and two TDs.
Torrey Smith had five catches for 155 yards and a 26-yard touchdown for the Ravens (2-2).
The Ravens' last chance to tie the game ended when Flacco forced a pass over the middle intended for Dallas Clark. Bills safety Da'Norris Searcy got a piece of the ball, which bounced into the air and was intercepted by Alonso.
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Hoyer leads resurgent Browns past Bengals
CLEVELAND -- Brian Hoyer, the local kid who always dreamed of being Cleveland's quarterback, threw two touchdown passes in his first start at home to lead the Browns to a 17-6 win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.
Hoyer's 1-yard touchdown pass to running back Chris Ogbonnaya with 4:54 left gave the Browns (2-2) an 11-point lead, and Cleveland turned it over to its vastly improved defense.
In his second start in place of injured Brandon Weeden, Hoyer completed 25 of 38 passes for 269 yards. He threw a 2-yard touchdown pass in the first half to tight end Jordan Cameron, who had 10 catches for 91 yards.
The Bengals (2-2) couldn't get anything going on offense. Andy Dalton was intercepted by Buster Skrine with 3:43 left, ending any chance of a comeback.
Cleveland limited the Bengals to 63 rushing yards, and cornerback Joe Haden contained wide receiver A.J. Green.
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Bush pushes Lions past Bears in NFC North tussle
DETROIT -- Reggie Bush's 37-yard touchdown run helped Detroit score 27 points in the second quarter and he accounted for 173 yards of offense to help the Lions beat the Chicago Bears 40-32 on Sunday.
Detroit (3-1) moved into a first-place tie with Chicago (3-1) in the NFC North. The Lions scored 24 straight points, including three TDs in a span of 3 minutes, 26 second, after Matt Forte's 53-yard TD run gave the Bears 10-6 lead early in the second quarter.
Jay Cutler, who had four turnovers, threw a pair of touchdown passes and 2-point conversions in the final 4 minutes to pull Chicago within eight points to make the score look respectable.
Lions receiver Kris Durham recovered the onside kick to seal the win.
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Andrew Luck threw two touchdown passes, Trent Richardson ran for one score and the Indianapolis Colts became the latest to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars by double digits with a 37-3 win Sunday.
The Colts (3-1) weren't all that good, especially early in the first half, but they were plenty good against one of the worst teams in the league.
Indianapolis led 20-3 at halftime -- Jacksonville (0-4) has been outscored 75-8 in the first half this season -- and made it a laugher with consecutive touchdown drives in the third quarter.
Luck found Coby Fleener for a 31-yard score, a play in which even Fleener was surprised that he was so wide open, and then connected with Reggie Wayne in the back of the end zone from 5 yards.
That made it 34-3 and sent many of the Jaguars faithful heading to the exits.
The Colts had outgained the Jaguars 363-70 at that point.
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Seahawks get first 4-0 start with win over Texans
HOUSTON -- Steven Hauschka kicked a 45-yard field goal in overtime to give the Seattle Seahawks a 23-20 win Sunday over the Houston Texans and the first 4-0 start in franchise history.
On NFL Network
NFL Replay
will re-air the Seattle Seahawks' 23-20 win over the Houston Texans from Week 4 on Tuesday, Oct. 1 at 3:30 p.m. ET.
» NFL Network schedule
Houston (2-2) failed to score on two possessions in overtime. The Seahawks got the win on their overtime second drive after rallying from a 20-3 deficit.
A key play on the winning drive came when Doug Baldwin caught a 7-yard pass, and Kareem Jackson was penalized for unnecessary roughness for dumping him into the ground. That got Seattle in field goal range, and Hauschka's kick came four plays later.
The Seahawks rallied to tie it at 20-20 on an interception returned for a touchdown by Richard Sherman in the fourth quarter.
The NFL's best defense held Houston scoreless after halftime.
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Giants fall to 0-4 after blowout loss to Chiefs
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Alex Smith threw three touchdown passes, and Dexter McCluster returned a punt 89 yards for another score as the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs plunged the New York Giants to 0-4 with a 31-7 win Sunday.
Smith hit touchdown passes of 4, 2 and 35 yards for the Chiefs (4-0), who under new coach Andy Reid already have doubled their win total of 2012. They are the second team to go from a two-win season to 4-0 the next year.
The Giants, who trailed just 17-7 after three quarters, are 0-4 for the first time since 1987.
Eli Manning connected with Victor Cruz on a 69-yard scoring play for New York's only score. Kansas City's defense sacked Manning three times. Smith threw two interceptions, the first giveaways by the Chiefs, who also lost a fumble.
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Vikings hold on for win over Steelers in London
LONDON -- Greg Jennings made two touchdown catches, Adrian Peterson ran for two scores and the Vikings' defense made a big stop with time running out to preserve a 34-27 win Sunday over the Steelers for Minnesota's first win of the season.
Playing at Wembley Stadium, Everson Griffen stripped Ben Roethlisberger of the football on the 6-yard line with 19 seconds left. Kevin Williams recovered the ball to seal the victory.
Jennings made a 70-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown, and Peterson had a 60-yard score to help offset two touchdowns by Pittsburgh rookie running back Le'Veon Bell -- giving Minnesota (1-3) some hope of turning around its season.
The Steelers fell to 0-4 for the first time since 1968.
Vikings quarterback Matt Cassel, starting in place of injured Christian Ponder, finished 16-of-25 passing for 248 yards and two touchdowns.
Roethlisberger was 36-for-51 passing for 383 yards, with one touchdown and one interception.
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Cardinals outlast Buccaneers in comeback win
TAMPA, Fla. -- Carson Palmer threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Larry Fitzgerald, then Jay Feely kicked a 27-yard field goal with 1:29 remaining as the Arizona Cardinals rallied to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 13-10 on Sunday.
Patrick Peterson had two interceptions, one setting up Arizona's first TD in six quarters, the other to ruin any chance of rookie Mike Glennon pulling off a comeback in his first NFL start for the winless Bucs (0-4).
Feely also kicked a 42-yard field goal for the Cardinals (2-2), who trailed 10-0 at halftime.
Starting in place of the benched Josh Freeman, Glennon was steady - if not spectacular - for most of the game. But it all unraveled after Peterson stepped in front of a pass for Vincent Jackson.
Fitzgerald beat cornerback Darrelle Revis on the next play for his 80th career TD reception.
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Locker injured in Titans' blowout win over Jets
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Jake Locker threw a career-high three touchdowns before being taken to the hospital with an injured right hip, and the Tennessee Titans beat the New York Jets 38-13 for their second straight victory.
Locker was hurt early in the third quarter when hit first by Muhammad Wilkerson after throwing an incomplete pass, then popped by Quinton Coples. He grabbed at his hip as he went to the ground and was carted off the field before being loaded into an ambulance. The Titans had no immediate word on the severity of his injury.
Alterraun Verner intercepted two passes and recovered a fumble, Karl Klug sacked Geno Smith and stripped him of the ball for a TD as the Titans turned Smith's four turnovers into 28 points. Ropati Pitoitua had two of Tennessee's five sacks as the Titans (3-1) continued their surprising start.
The Jets (2-2) couldn't overcome Smith's rookie mistakes.
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Peyton throws four TDs as Broncos blow out Eagles
DENVER -- The Denver Broncos scored more points than they ever had in their 54-year history Sunday, blowing out the Philadelphia Eagles 52-20 behind Peyton Manning's four touchdown throws.
With two TD passes each to Demaryius Thomas and Wes Welker, Manning completed all but a half-dozen of his 34 throws for 327 yards. He didn't even step on the field in the fourth quarter.
Manning's 16 TD passes are the most in the first month of a season, besting the previous mark of 14 set by Don Meredith in 1966 and tied by Kurt Warner in 1999. Manning also joined Milt Plum in 1960 as the only quarterbacks to throw that many touchdown passes without an interception.
Manning got off to a rather slow start but drove the Broncos (4-0) on a trio of long touchdown drives in the third quarter to make this one another laugher against the Eagles (1-3).
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Redskins' defense swarms Raiders for first victory
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Robert Griffin III threw a go-ahead touchdown pass late in the third quarter to help the Washington Redskins overcome an early 14-point deficit to beat the Oakland Raiders 24-14 Sunday for their first win of the season.
David Amerson returned an interception for another score for the Redskins (1-3).
Washington looked ready to extend the worst start for the franchise since 2001 when they fell behind 14-0 after the first quarter thanks to a blocked punt touchdown and a scoring pass from Matt Flynn.
But the much-maligned Washington defense allowed the Raiders (1-3) no more points, taking advantage of an offense that was without starting quarterback Terrelle Pryor the entire game and starting running backs Darren McFadden and Marcel Reece for most of it.
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Rivers' three TD passes leads Bolts past Cowboys
SAN DIEGO -- Philip Rivers threw for 401 yards and three touchdowns, including a 56-yarder to Antonio Gates, and the San Diego Chargers rallied to beat the Dallas Cowboys 30-21 Sunday.
The Chargers (2-2) had blown late leads in their two losses this season. On Sunday, they scored the final 20 points to beat Dallas (2-2).
Rivers short-armed a pass over the middle to Gates, who slid behind linebacker Sean Lee to haul it in and score with 6:54 to go.
Lee had intercepted Rivers on a deflected pass and returned it 52 yards for a touchdown and a 21-10 lead late in the second quarter. Dallas didn't score again.
Tony Romo moved the Cowboys to the San Diego 7 and hit Terrance Williams, who fumbled at the 1. San Diego's Richard Marshall recovered in the end zone with 2:42 left.
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Falcons attempt rally but fall to Brady, Patriots
ATLANTA -- Tom Brady threw for 316 yards and two touchdowns as the New England Patriots held off a furious Atlanta comeback Sunday night, beating the Falcons 30-23 to improve to 4-0 for the first time since their near-perfect season in 2007.
On NFL Network
NFL Replay
will re-air the New England Patriots' 30-23 win over the Atlanta Falcons from Week 4 on Tuesday, Oct. 1 at 2 p.m. ET.
» NFL Network schedule
Atlanta had a chance to tie it in the final minute, but Matt Ryan's fourth-down pass went off the hands of Roddy White in the end zone with 36 seconds remaining.
The Patriots seemed in control when LeGarrette Blount scored on a 47-yard run, and Brady threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to rookie Kenbrell Thompkins.
Thompkins finished with six catches for 127 yards -- nearly as much as the first three games of his career. Julian Edelman chipped in with 118 yards on seven receptions.
Atlanta (1-3) is two games below .500 for the first time since 2007.
Originally Posted by CelestialBlade
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