For Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, engineering fourth-quarter comebacks has become almost routine during his career.
For Jake Delhomme, it’s becoming commonplace this season for the surprising Panthers.
Manning led Indianapolis back from a 15-0, second-half deficit, and the Colts edged the Vikings 18-15 on Adam Vinatieri’s 47-yard field goal with 3 seconds left on Sunday.
Avoiding his first 0-2 start since his rookie season in 1998, Manning zinged a 20-yard pass on third-and-9 to Reggie Wayne up the seam before Vinatieri – who uncharacteristically missed a 30-yarder earlier – kicked the game-winner.
“That’s one of the most satisfying wins I’ve had, definitely, since I’ve been in Indianapolis,” coach Tony Dungy said. “It wasn’t the most artistic, and I told the team we’ve got a lot of glass-half-empty, glass-half-full stuff, but I was very, very proud of our effort.”
d on its first eight possessions.
The prize for that? Five field goals by Ryan Longwell and three punts.
“It’s real frustrating,” said wide receiver Bernard Berrian, who had no catches. “It’s kind of embarrassing, actually, to go out there and just have field goals all day. We’re moving the ball up and down the field, really, at will. … The defense played their hearts out today. They did everything they could. I mean, they really handed us the game and we blew it.”
Manning hasn’t looked his usual sharp self this September following summer knee surgery. He finished 26-for-42 for 311 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
In other games, it was Green Bay 48, Detroit 25; the New York Giants 41, St. Louis 13; Oakland 23, Kansas City 8; Carolina 20, Chicago 17; Washington 29, New Orleans 24; Tennessee 24, Cincinnati 7; Buffalo 20, Jacksonville 16; San Francisco 33, Seattle 30, OT; Tampa Bay 24, Atlanta 9; New England 19, the New York Jets 10; Arizona 31, Miami 10; Denver 39, San Diego 38; and Pittsburgh 10, Cleveland 6.
On Monday night, Philadelphia is at Dallas.
Jonathan Stewart rushed for all but one of his 77 yards in the second half and scored two touchdowns, including the go-ahead TD late in the fourth quarter, and the Panthers stopped the Bears (1-1) on fourth-and-1 with less than 2 minutes left in the 20-17 win.
ering from a mistake-prone first half, behind their improved defense.
After going 7-9 without Delhomme last season, the Panthers stunned San Diego last week with Delhomme’s touchdown pass on the final play.
The Panthers won their first two games without their three-time Pro Bowl receiver. Steve Smith’s suspension for sucker-punching teammate Ken Lucas in training camp ends Monday.
“I’m excited to have our rocket back,” said Delhomme, who threw for 128 yards. “It’s great to be 2-0.”
Jason Campbell, Aaron Rodgers, Trent Edwards and Jay Cutler also led their teams to impressive comeback wins on Sunday.
Redskins 29, Saints 24
Jason Campbell went from uncomfortable to prolific, completing 24 of 36 passes for 321 yards in a victory over visiting New Orleans.
The big play came with 3:29 left and the Redskins trailing 24-22. Campbell avoided the rush, stepped forward and hit Santana Moss in stride, the receiver one step ahead of cornerback Tracy Porter, for a 67-yard touchdown.
The completion was the longest of Campbell’s career. Moss finished with seven catches for 164 yards for the Redskins (1-1).
Reggie Bush returned a punt 55 yards for a touchdown that gave the Saints (1-1) a 24-15 lead at the end of the third quarter. But Clinton Portis’ second touchdown of the game – an 8-yard run – and the strike from Campbell to Moss more than erased the deficit.
8, Lions 25
Aaron Rodgers threw three touchdown passes in the first four drives of his second start, helping Green Bay (2-0) build a big lead in a win over host Detroit.
Green Bay led 21-0 midway through the second quarter, but fell behind by a point with 7:41 left after Calvin Johnson caught his second TD in the fourth quarter. The Packers went back ahead with a field goal on the ensuing drive, then turned the game into the rout it had been for much of the day with three straight interceptions.
Charles Woodson and Nick Collins returned two of the picks for touchdowns. Rodgers was 24-of-38 for 328 yards, helping drop the Lions to 0-2 for the fifth time since 2001.
Bills 20, Jaguars 16
Trent Edwards completed his first 10 attempts and threw a perfect touchdown pass to James Hardy late in the fourth quarter, as the visiting Bills beat beleaguered Jacksonville.
Edwards finished 20-of-25 for 239 yards, Marshawn Lynch ran for 59 yards and a score, and Buffalo’s defense held Jacksonville in check most of the day.
The Jaguars (0-2) are off to their worst start since 2003.
Buffalo (2-0) had just four offensive plays in the third quarter – a commanding 15 minutes for the Jags that gave them the lead and nearly the game.
Broncos 39, Chargers 38
hit rookie Eddie Royal over the middle to give host Denver a win.
The Chargers (0-2) lost in the final seconds for the second straight week.
Trailing 38-31, the Broncos (2-0) reached the 1 but on third-and-goal, Cutler reared back to throw and the ball slipped out of his hands, bounced off the grass and into linebacker Tim Dobbins’ hands.
But referee Ed Hochuli blew his whistle, apparently ruling it an incomplete pass. After a review, Hochuli said that the Broncos would keep the ball because his whistle had blown the play dead. The Broncos got the ball at the 10, where it had hit the grass out of Cutler’s hands.
Two plays later, Cutler hit Royal for the TD to make it 38-37.
Instead of going for the tie, however, Shanahan kept his offense on the field and with 75,000-plus fans at Invesco Field holding their breath, Cutler again found Royal in the end zone for the winner on the exact same route.
49ers 33, Seahawks 30, OT
Joe Nedney shook off a missed field goal as time expired in regulation and kicked a 40-yarder 4:40 into overtime, sending San Francisco past host Seattle.
The loss left the four-time defending division champions 0-2 for the first time since 2002.
San Francisco (1-1) overcame eight sacks of J.T. O’Sullivan to beat the Seahawks for just the third time in 11 games, in the first overtime game of the 19-game series between the teams.
for 321 yards and one TD in the second start of his six-year career.
Patriots 19, Jets 10
Matt Cassel was efficient running the offense in his first NFL start, taking over for the injured quarterback and leading the visiting Patriots over Brett Favre and the Jets.
Cassel, who hadn’t started at any level since his senior year of high school, was 16-of-23 for 165 yards, Sammy Morris ran for a touchdown and Stephen Gostkowski kicked four field goals.
New England (2-0) won its 21st straight regular-season game, and beat the Jets for the eighth straight time at the Meadowlands.
Favre went 18-of-26 for 181 yards and a TD for the Jets (1-1).
Giants 41, Rams 13
Eli Manning threw three touchdown passes and the visiting Giants (2-0) sacked Marc Bulger six times in another poor performance by the Rams offensive line.
Justin Tuck’s 41-yard interception return in the fourth quarter sealed the victory, and he added a pair of sacks. Fred Robbins also had two sacks for the Giants. The Rams (0-2) came up with another dud in their home opener.
Manning was 20-for-29 for 260 yards, also hitting Burriss on a 33-yard strike in the first quarter, Brandon Jacobs had 93 yards on 15 carries and 44-year-old kicker John Carney added field goals of 39 and 33 yards in the first half.
Titans 24, Bengals 7
ack in Cincinnati’s wind-tunnel of a stadium, setting up a victory for the Titans (2-0).
Collins threw his first touchdown pass in two years, rookie Chris Johnson ran for 109 yards, and Rob Bironas guided a low, curving kick between gyrating uprights for a 34-yard field goal. Linebacker Keith Bulluck provided the clincher, blocking Kyle Larson’s punt in the end zone with his right arm, then snatching the ball off the ground for another touchdown.
Collins threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Justin Gage and made no mistakes against the Bengals (0-2), off to their worst start since Marvin Lewis became head coach in 2003.
Raiders 23, Chiefs 8
Rookie Darren McFadden ran for 164 yards and a touchdown and Sebastian Janikowski kicked a team-record 56-yard field goal, leading the visiting Raiders over an inept Chiefs team that tried three quarterbacks.
Lane Kiffin, amid reports that his job is in jeopardy, won for just the fifth time 18 games as coach of the Raiders (1-1).
The Chiefs’ young defense gave up 300 yards rushing, including 90 by Michael Bush, who all by himself beat the Chiefs’ 55 yards on the ground. Kansas City started 0-2 for the third time in three years under Herm Edwards and has lost 11 regular-season games in a row.
Cardinals 31, Dolphins 10
e first time in 17 years after routing Miami.
In all, Boldin had six receptions for 140 yards, a franchise record 22nd time he’s passed the century mark. Larry Fitzgerald, meanwhile, caught six for 153 yards, his 14th 100-yard game. It was the sixth time the pair had topped 100 yards in the same game.
Warner had a perfect 158.3 passer rating for the third time in his career, tying Peyton Manning for the NFL record.
Arizona’s Edgerrin James gained 55 yards on 18 carries to become the 14th player in NFL history to surpass 15,000 career yards from scrimmage. The Dolphins (0-2) lost their 11th straight road game.
Buccaneers 24, Falcons 9
A week after beating Detroit in his pro debut, Matt Ryan threw incompletions on his first nine passes before settling down to keep Atlanta (1-1) in the game with three field goal drives that trimmed a 17-point deficit to eight with five minutes to go.
The Bucs (1-1) ended any hope that the third pick in this year’s draft would finish an improbable comeback when Earnest Graham took a handoff, broke a tackle in the backfield and barreled up the sideline on a 68-yard TD run that put the game out of reach.
Ryan completed 13 of 33 passes for 158 yards.
Steelers 10, Browns 6
r their closest rival, beating the Browns to extend the NFL’s longest current winning streak between two teams.
The Steelers wrecked Cleveland’s return to prime time after a five-year hiatus. Pittsburgh has won eight in a row in Cleveland (0-2), 16 of 17 in the series and 23 of 26.
During the game, it was disclosed on TV that Roethlisberger sustained a separated shoulder last week in a win over Houston. But Big Ben didn’t seem bothered as he completed 12 of 19 for 186 yards and improved to 10-0 in NFL games inside his home state. The Cincinnati Bengals haven’t had any luck in their stadium against him either.
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