NFL Roundup In Broncos' Latest Win, Glimpses of the Good Old Days
On a day that was all about Broncos history, this might ring a bell: a 98-yard, fourth-quarter drive to save the game has Denver thinking about the Super Bowl.
Kyle Orton moved Denver from its 2 to the end zone to tie the score Sunday, and Matt Prater kicked a 41-yard field goal in overtime to give the Broncos a 20-17 victory over the New England Patriots and make the rookie coach Josh McDaniels a winner over his former boss Bill Belichick.
On a day when they wore throwback mustard-yellow jerseys and vertically striped socks to celebrate their 50th anniversary, the Broncos improved to 5-0 for the first time since 1998 — the last time they went to the Super Bowl.
Orton threw for 330 yards and 2 touchdowns and did his best John Elway impression, and the defense held New England scoreless in the second half and looked a lot like the Orange Crush units of the 1970s.
Denver’s fourth-quarter drive certainly wasn’t The Drive — Elway’s classic, 98-yard march that helped beat the Cleveland Browns in the 1987 American Football Conference championship game — but it will go down as one of the best in the team’s history.
Narrow Escapes on Road
Carson Palmer threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Andre Caldwell with 22 seconds left to cap an 80-yard drive fueled by three Baltimore penalties, and the Bengals escaped with a 17-14 victory over the Ravens. An illegal-contact penalty against Chris Carr and an unnecessary-roughness call against Ray Lewis preceded the topper, a pass-interference penalty by Frank Walker on a third-and-16 from the Baltimore 30. On the next play, Palmer found Caldwell over the middle. “If you dominate, the calls don’t matter,” Ravens defensive end Trevor Pryce said. The Bengals are 4-1; the Ravens (3-2) lost their second in a row.
¶With thousands of black-and-gold-clad fans chanting “De-fense!” and twirling Terrible Towels, Pittsburgh had four of its seven sacks on Detroit’s final drive and the Steelers held off the Lions, 28-20. At least half of the crowd of 59,333 at Ford Field appeared to be rooting for the visiting Steelers. “That worked in our favor,” linebacker LaMarr Woodley said. “Those offensive linemen couldn’t hear the snap count.” Pittsburgh (3-2) has sold out 283 straight home games, leading throngs of its fans to make the four-and-a-half-hour drive to Detroit, where plenty of seats were available and where the Steelers won the Super Bowl in 2006. “We had just as many fans as we did that time,” receiver Hines Ward said.
¶Miles Austin’s tackle-breaking 59-yard catch-and-run from Tony Romo gave Dallas a short-lived lead in the fourth quarter, and he later got free on a 60-yard scoring play in overtime to give the Cowboys a 26-20 win over the Chiefs. Kansas City, which had tied the score on Dwayne Bowe’s 16-yard catch with 24 second left, dropped to 0-5. Dallas is 3-2.
McNabb Sharp in Return
It did not take long for Donovan McNabb to show he was recovered from a rib injury in the Eagles’ 33-14 victory over the visiting Buccaneers. McNabb scrambled for 13 yards on his first play and fired a 51-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Maclin on his second. The lopsided score allowed Michael Vick to take extra snaps for the Eagles (3-1) in the fourth quarter; Vick completed his first pass in 33 months and had an 11-yard run. Tampa Bay is 0-5.
¶Matt Hasselbeck returned from broken ribs to throw four touchdown passes, and the Seahawks routed the visiting Jaguars, 41-0. The Seahawks (2-3) were still missing seven starters, including three-fifths of their starting offensive line, but Hasselbeck looked as good as ever. He completed 18 of 30 passes for 241 yards before resting in the fourth quarter.
Falcons and Vikings Coast
Roddy White caught two touchdown passes — including a 90-yard catch-and-run — and Michael Turner ran for three scores as the Falcons flattened the 49ers, 45-10. White had 185 of his career-high 210 yards in the first half, which ended with the home fans booing the 49ers (3-2) off the field. Atlanta is 3-1.
¶A day after turning 40, Brett Favre improved to 5-0 for the first time in his career as the Vikings beat the winless Rams, 38-10. Showing no signs of a letdown six days after an emotional win over Green Bay, Favre passed for 232 yards in his 274th straight regular-season start. “I hope there’s many more to come,” he said.
In Other Games
A disputed call helped the Panthers rally past the visiting Redskins, 20-17. The Panthers (1-3) scored the final 18 points, with Jonathan Stewart’s 8-yard run with 9 minutes 21 seconds left the go-ahead touchdown; it came after a fumbled punt gave the Panthers the ball at the Washington 12. With Washington (2-3) leading by 17-12, Carolina’s Quinton Teal blocked Washington’s Byron Westbrook into returner Antwaan Randle El. The ball bounced off Westbrook’s foot, and Carolina’s Dante Wesley pounced on it.
¶Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie returned an interception 49 yards for a touchdown with 2:20 to go and Arizona stopped Houston three times at the 1 in the final minute as the Cardinals eked out a 28-21 victory. A 60-yard kickoff return by Andre Davis helped set up visiting Houston’s last chance. Schaub quickly moved the team to the 1, but Chris Brown was stopped on second down, Schaub threw an incomplete pass on third and Brown was stopped again on fourth down with 40 seconds left.
¶Cleveland (1-4) ended a 10-game losing streak, one short of matching the franchise’s worst, with an ugly 6-3 win over the Bills. “The way it turned out, I thought it was beautiful,” Browns Coach Eric Mangini said. Buffalo (1-4) has lost 12 of 15, including consecutive games to winless teams after last week’s 38-10 defeat at Miami. The Bills were penalized 13 times for 75 yards — including nine false-start violations.
On a day that was all about Broncos history, this might ring a bell: a 98-yard, fourth-quarter drive to save the game has Denver thinking about the Super Bowl.
Kyle Orton moved Denver from its 2 to the end zone to tie the score Sunday, and Matt Prater kicked a 41-yard field goal in overtime to give the Broncos a 20-17 victory over the New England Patriots and make the rookie coach Josh McDaniels a winner over his former boss Bill Belichick.
On a day when they wore throwback mustard-yellow jerseys and vertically striped socks to celebrate their 50th anniversary, the Broncos improved to 5-0 for the first time since 1998 — the last time they went to the Super Bowl.
Orton threw for 330 yards and 2 touchdowns and did his best John Elway impression, and the defense held New England scoreless in the second half and looked a lot like the Orange Crush units of the 1970s.
Denver’s fourth-quarter drive certainly wasn’t The Drive — Elway’s classic, 98-yard march that helped beat the Cleveland Browns in the 1987 American Football Conference championship game — but it will go down as one of the best in the team’s history.
Narrow Escapes on Road
Carson Palmer threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Andre Caldwell with 22 seconds left to cap an 80-yard drive fueled by three Baltimore penalties, and the Bengals escaped with a 17-14 victory over the Ravens. An illegal-contact penalty against Chris Carr and an unnecessary-roughness call against Ray Lewis preceded the topper, a pass-interference penalty by Frank Walker on a third-and-16 from the Baltimore 30. On the next play, Palmer found Caldwell over the middle. “If you dominate, the calls don’t matter,” Ravens defensive end Trevor Pryce said. The Bengals are 4-1; the Ravens (3-2) lost their second in a row.
¶With thousands of black-and-gold-clad fans chanting “De-fense!” and twirling Terrible Towels, Pittsburgh had four of its seven sacks on Detroit’s final drive and the Steelers held off the Lions, 28-20. At least half of the crowd of 59,333 at Ford Field appeared to be rooting for the visiting Steelers. “That worked in our favor,” linebacker LaMarr Woodley said. “Those offensive linemen couldn’t hear the snap count.” Pittsburgh (3-2) has sold out 283 straight home games, leading throngs of its fans to make the four-and-a-half-hour drive to Detroit, where plenty of seats were available and where the Steelers won the Super Bowl in 2006. “We had just as many fans as we did that time,” receiver Hines Ward said.
¶Miles Austin’s tackle-breaking 59-yard catch-and-run from Tony Romo gave Dallas a short-lived lead in the fourth quarter, and he later got free on a 60-yard scoring play in overtime to give the Cowboys a 26-20 win over the Chiefs. Kansas City, which had tied the score on Dwayne Bowe’s 16-yard catch with 24 second left, dropped to 0-5. Dallas is 3-2.
McNabb Sharp in Return
It did not take long for Donovan McNabb to show he was recovered from a rib injury in the Eagles’ 33-14 victory over the visiting Buccaneers. McNabb scrambled for 13 yards on his first play and fired a 51-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Maclin on his second. The lopsided score allowed Michael Vick to take extra snaps for the Eagles (3-1) in the fourth quarter; Vick completed his first pass in 33 months and had an 11-yard run. Tampa Bay is 0-5.
¶Matt Hasselbeck returned from broken ribs to throw four touchdown passes, and the Seahawks routed the visiting Jaguars, 41-0. The Seahawks (2-3) were still missing seven starters, including three-fifths of their starting offensive line, but Hasselbeck looked as good as ever. He completed 18 of 30 passes for 241 yards before resting in the fourth quarter.
Falcons and Vikings Coast
Roddy White caught two touchdown passes — including a 90-yard catch-and-run — and Michael Turner ran for three scores as the Falcons flattened the 49ers, 45-10. White had 185 of his career-high 210 yards in the first half, which ended with the home fans booing the 49ers (3-2) off the field. Atlanta is 3-1.
¶A day after turning 40, Brett Favre improved to 5-0 for the first time in his career as the Vikings beat the winless Rams, 38-10. Showing no signs of a letdown six days after an emotional win over Green Bay, Favre passed for 232 yards in his 274th straight regular-season start. “I hope there’s many more to come,” he said.
In Other Games
A disputed call helped the Panthers rally past the visiting Redskins, 20-17. The Panthers (1-3) scored the final 18 points, with Jonathan Stewart’s 8-yard run with 9 minutes 21 seconds left the go-ahead touchdown; it came after a fumbled punt gave the Panthers the ball at the Washington 12. With Washington (2-3) leading by 17-12, Carolina’s Quinton Teal blocked Washington’s Byron Westbrook into returner Antwaan Randle El. The ball bounced off Westbrook’s foot, and Carolina’s Dante Wesley pounced on it.
¶Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie returned an interception 49 yards for a touchdown with 2:20 to go and Arizona stopped Houston three times at the 1 in the final minute as the Cardinals eked out a 28-21 victory. A 60-yard kickoff return by Andre Davis helped set up visiting Houston’s last chance. Schaub quickly moved the team to the 1, but Chris Brown was stopped on second down, Schaub threw an incomplete pass on third and Brown was stopped again on fourth down with 40 seconds left.
¶Cleveland (1-4) ended a 10-game losing streak, one short of matching the franchise’s worst, with an ugly 6-3 win over the Bills. “The way it turned out, I thought it was beautiful,” Browns Coach Eric Mangini said. Buffalo (1-4) has lost 12 of 15, including consecutive games to winless teams after last week’s 38-10 defeat at Miami. The Bills were penalized 13 times for 75 yards — including nine false-start violations.
Source: New York Times
