NFL Sidelines - Week 2

UNDATED—We have capsules from every game of the second week of NFL action played on Sunday, September 20, 2009.

New York Giants 33, Dallas Cowboys 31

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones staged a huge party at the first NFL regular-season game at the new eye-popping $1.1 billion Cowboys Stadium.

Unfortunately, the NFL also invited the New York Giants, who proved to be rude guests at the big party. Before an NFL record regular-season crowd of 105,121 that included up to 30,000 in standing-room areas, Eli Manning drove the Giants 56 yards in seven plays on the winning drive in their 33-31 win over the Cowboys. Lawrence Tynes kicked a 37-yard field goal at the final gun to give the first-place Giants a 2-and-0 record in the NFC East.

Manning completed 25-of-38 for 330 yards and two TDs. The Giants defense was opportunistic, picking off three Tony Romo passes, including one returned 34 yards for a touchdown by Bruce Johnson.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Frank Gore had the biggest day of any NFL running back in Week 2 in leading San Francisco to a 23-10 win over Seattle and a 2-and-0 start atop the NCA West. Gore ripped off touchdown runs of 79 and a career-best 80 yards and finished with 207 yards on 16 carries. Gore nearly reached his franchise mark of 212 yards set in 2006 before leaving the game in the fourth quarter with a sprained right ankle that didn’t appear serious.

Gore became only the second player in NFL history to have two TD runs of 79 or more yards in the same game, joining Barry Sanders. Sanders had
runs of 80 and 82 for Detroit in 1997. Gore had just 30 yards on 22 carries last week.

Seahawks QB Matt Hasselbeck suffered bruised ribs, and his status for next week is unclear.

Denver Broncos 27, Cleveland Browns 6

DENVER (AP) - The Denver Broncos are a surprising 2-and-0. But unlike last week’s last-minute victory on a tipped TD pass in Cincinnati, the Broncos didn’t need a miracle finish to beat the Cleveland Browns - just a strong defense that has gone from deplorable to dominant.

Pass-rusher Elvis Dumervil tied a franchise record with four sacks and linebacker Andra Davis had 10 tackles against his old team in leading Denver to a 27-6 victory over the winless Browns.

Chicago Bears 17, Pittsburgh Steelers 14

CHICAGO (AP) - Jay Cutler has recorded his first victory as Chicago Bears quarterback. The ex-Denver signalcaller came through with a big pass to Devin Hester on third down and Robbie Gould booted a 44-yard field goal with 15 seconds left to lift the Bears to a 17-14 upset of the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers.

Cutler hit rookie Johnny Knox with the tying touchdown midway through the fourth quarter. Cutler finished with 236 yards and two touchdowns without an interceptions, after being picked off a career-high four times in a season-opening loss at Green Bay.

Baltimore Ravens 31, San Diego Chargers 26

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Baltimore is 2-and-0 and alone atop the AFC North after winning on the road at San Diego 31-26.

Ray Lewis met Darren Sproles head-on on fourth-and-2 in the closing seconds to preserve the win. Lewis finished with 12 tackles and forced a
fumble.

Chargers QB Philip Rivers threw for a career-high 436 yards and two touchdowns, completing 25 of 45 passes. Baltimore’s Joe Flacco threw two touchdown passes and Willis McGahee ran for two more.

Buffalo Bills 33, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) - Terrell Owens - after being used as a decoy most of the game - scored on a 43-yard TD catch in his home debut to cap Buffalo’s 33-20 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Donte Whitner returned an interception 76 yards for a touchdown for the 1-and-1 Bills. Whitner also made a key stop on fourth down less than a week after he was left crying in frustration after the Bills squandered an 11-point lead in a 25-24 season-opening loss at New England.

Buffalo ended a five-game home losing streak. The 0-and-2 Buccaneers have lost six straight and continue to struggle on defense after allowing 438 yards.

Minnesota Vikings 27, Detroit Lions 13

DETROIT (AP) - Brett Favre set an NFL record with his 271st straight start in the regular season. Then the veteran quarterback threw two touchdown passes to help the Minnesota Vikings beat the Detroit Lions 27-13 for their second win in as many outings this season.

Adrian Peterson’s 27-yard TD run midway through the third quarter gave Minnesota its first lead. He finished with 92 yards rushing.

The Lions looked like they might win for the first time since 2007 when they had a 10-0 lead midway through the second quarter, but lost their 19th straight game to tie the second-longest skid in NFL history.

New Orleans Saints 48, Philadelphia Eagles 22

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Drew Brees threw three more touchdown passes in the Saints’ 48-22 rout of Philadelphia. He tossed six in last week’s season-opening rout of Detroit.

Eagles quarterback Kevin Kolb had a decent performance while subbing for an injured Donovan McNabb. He threw for 391 yards and two touchdowns, including a 71-yard scoring pass to DeSean Jackson, in his first NFL start. But he also threw three interceptions, including one returned 97 yards for a TD by Darren Sharper in the final minute.

Philadelphia falls to 1-1.

New York Jets 16, New England Patriots 9

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) - The Jets backed up their big talk by picking up their first win over the Patriots at home in nine games.

Rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez completed 14 of 22 passes for 163 yards and a touchdown, and Jay Feely booted three field goals in New York’s 16-9 come-from-behind victory over New England. The Pats led 9-3 at the intermission.

Tom Brady finished 23 of 47 for 216 yards and an interception as the Patriots drop to 1-1.

The Jets are 2-0 under first-year head coach Rex Ryan.

The victory comes after a week in which Jets safety Kerry Rhodes said New York wanted to embarrass New England and Ryan reiterated his comments that he didn’t come to the Jets to “kiss Bill Belichick’s rings.“ The Patriots coach has won three Super Bowl titles.

Arizona Cardinals 31, Jacksonville Jaguars 17

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Arizona’s Kurt Warner completed his first 15 passes and went on to break the NFL’s single-game record for completion percentage in a 31-17 victory over the Jaguars in Jacksonville.

Warner was 24 of 26 for 243 yards, with two touchdowns before heading to the bench.

The defending NFC champs improve to 1-1.

The only good news for the 0-2 Jaguars is that hardly anyone in Jacksonville saw it. The game was blacked out on local television, and the stands were about half full.

Oakland Raiders 13, Kansas City Chiefs 10

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Matt Cassel made his long-awaited Kansas City debut. But the Raiders finally found some offense late in the game and beat the Chiefs 13-10 to even their record at 1-1.

After getting barely 100 yards on offense, Oakland drove 69 yards to pay dirt, capped by Darren McFadden’s 5-yard TD run with 1:07 left. Cassel had put the mistake-prone Chiefs on top 10-6 with a 29-yard scoring strike to Dwayne Bowe with just over 2 minutes to play.

Cassel finished 24 of 39 for 241 yards with two interceptions after missing the Chiefs’ opening-game loss with a left knee injury.

Houston Texans 34, Tennessee Titans 31

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Matt Schaub threw for 357 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Houston Texans past Tennessee 34-31, ruining the Titans’ home opener.

The game was a shootout with the score tied four different times.

Kris Brown’s 23-yard field goal with 2:55 left in regulation proved to be the difference.

The defending AFC South champion Titans had one last chance, but quarterback Kerry Collins lost a fumble with 1:32 to play.

It ruined a career day from the Tennessee’s Chris Johnson, who scored three touchdowns and ran for 197 yards. He also had 87 yards receiving.

Atlanta Falcons 28, Carolina Panthers 20

ATLANTA (AP) - Matt Ryan threw three touchdown passes in the first half and Chris Houston intercepted a Jake Delhomme pass at the Falcons 4 yard line with 2 1-2 minutes left in the game to preserve Atlanta’s 28-20 win over the Panthers.

Delhomme had accounted for 11 turnovers in his two previous games but was much better against the now 2-0 Falcons, completing 25 of 41 for 308 yards and a touchdown.

But the result was the same for the 0-2 Panthers.

Ryan completed 13 straight passes at one point and finished 21 of 27 for 220 yards, though he did have his first interception of the season.

Cincinnati Bengals 31, Green Bay Packers 24

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) - After a last-minute loss to Denver in their season opener, the Bengals nearly blew a 10-point lead in the final minute before hanging on to defeat Green Bay 31-24.

Down by 10, the Packers kicked a late field goal and recovered an onside kick. Aaron Rodgers marched them to the Cincinnati 10-yard line, but Green Bay was called for a false start to end the game and drops to 1-1.

Defensive end Antwan Odom tied a team high with five sacks and Cedric Benson rushed for 141 yards for the 1-1 Bengals.

Washington Redskins 9, St. Louis Rams 7

LANDOVER, Md. (AP) - The Redskins narrowly avoided a home upset at the hands of the Rams for the second straight year, holding off St. Louis 9-7.

Washington had four drives of more than 60 yards that faltered inside the 10. Shaun Suisham kicked field goals of 21, 28 and 23 yards to bail them out. The Redskins put the game away - more or less - with a 78-yard drive that ended with a failed fourth-and-1 attempt from the 2 with less than 2 minutes to play, leaving the Rams too far to go.

The Monday night game is in south Florida. The winless Miami Dolphins are hosting Indianapolis, which managed just 14 points in its opening week victory over Tennessee.