Even without Tony Romo, the Dallas Cowboys were expected to beat the St. Louis Rams.
Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts were supposed to have an easy time with a Green Bay Packers defense missing two starters in the secondary.
It didn’t work out that way for either team, both losing 34-14 on the road Sunday.
With Romo watching from the sidelines due to a broken right pinkie, 40-year-old backup Brad Johnson couldn’t keep up with the Rams’ suddenly potent and opportunistic offense.
Steven Jackson ran for 160 yards with three touchdowns, and the Rams (2-4) won their second straight game under new coach Jim Haslett. Their defense did its part, too, forcing four turnovers for the second straight game.
“It’s just the will of the players, more than anything,” Haslett said. “I thought they played extremely well today, in all three phases.”
At Lambeau Field, safeties Nick Collins and Aaron Rouse both ran interceptions back for long touchdowns to help the Packers (4-3) win their second straight after a three-game skid.
who finished 21-of-42 for 229 yards. “We just need to play better. I need to play better and find a way to get into the end zone. Our offense needs to try to get the lead to help our defense out a little bit. We didn’t do our job.”
In Sunday’s other games, it was Baltimore 27, Miami 13; Chicago 48, Minnesota 41; Buffalo 23, San Diego 14; Tennessee 34, Kansas City 10; the New York Giants 29, San Francisco 17; Pittsburgh 38, Cincinnati 10; Carolina 30, New Orleans 7; Houston 28, Detroit 21; Oakland 16, the New York Jets 13 in overtime; Washington 14, Cleveland 11; and Tampa Bay 20, Seattle 10.
Romo, who broke his finger in last week’s loss at Arizona, looked fine throwing in pregame warmups with his hand wrapped. The Cowboys originally believed the injury would sideline him a month, but held out hope Romo could play until game day.
After warmups, he told the coaching staff he wasn’t up to it.
“He ended up making that decision for us, actually, and that’s the way it should have been,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. “He just felt like he couldn’t help us.”
Marion Barber had 100 yards on 18 carries and the game’s opening touchdown for Dallas (4-3), which lost for the third time in four games.
week, and then cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones to a suspension.
“It was a tough day for all of us,” said Johnson, who finished 17-of-34 for 234 yards with one touchdown pass and three interceptions. “We had miscues across the board.”
Indianapolis (3-3) is off to its worst start since 2001 – the last time the Colts didn’t make the playoffs. Coach Tony Dungy said he couldn’t remember a sloppier performance during his time with the team.
“It’s a very, very disappointing game, obviously,” Dungy said. “It’s the way we’ve been all year. We’ve been up and down, not consistent, and we showed more of that today. They played smarter and sharper than we did.”
The Packers, missing injured cornerback Al Harris and safety Atari Bigby, got another strong game from quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Gutting out his third straight game with a sprained right shoulder, Rodgers was 21-for-28 for 186 yards and a touchdown despite 30-mph wind gusts.
Running back Ryan Grant added his first 100-yard game of the season, carrying 31 times for 105 yards and a touchdown.
Heading into their bye week now, the Packers are looking forward to some rest and rehabilitation.
“Guys have stepped up in the absence of guys that have been injured, and guys that have been injured have been playing well through the pain,” Rodgers said. “This is going to be a great week for us to just relax and get healthy.”
48, Vikings 41
At Chicago, Kyle Orton threw two touchdown passes and the special teams chipped in with two more in a rout of Minnesota.
The Bears (4-3) intercepted Gus Frerotte four times even though its injury-riddled secondary was missing starting cornerbacks Nathan Vasher and Charles Tillman and nickel back Danieal Manning. Chicago put up its most points since beating Tampa Bay 48-14 at home on Dec. 7, 1986, and set a franchise record for the most points allowed in a win.
Adrian Peterson ran for 121 yards and two touchdowns for Minnesota (3-4).
Raiders 16, Jets 13,OT
Sebastian Janikowski bailed out Oakland coach Tom Cable in his home debut as head coach, hitting a team-record 57-yard field goal with 2:30 left in overtime.
The game only went to the extra period because Cable called a late timeout that negated Jay Feely’s missed 52-yard field goal in the final seconds. Feely made good on his second attempt.
In OT, the teams traded punts on the first five possessions before JaMarcus Russell hit Javon Walker for 16 yards and Zach Miller for 27 to move the Raiders (2-4) into range.
Thomas Jones ran for 159 yards for the Jets (3-3), and Brett Favre had his worst game with his new team. Only one of Favre’s first 17 completions went for more than 15 yards, and he finished 21-of-38 for 197 yards with two interceptions.
Bills 23, Chargers 14
., Trent Edwards went 25-of-30 for 261 yards and a touchdown, and Kawika Mitchell intercepted a pass from Philip Rivers at the goal line to thwart a go-ahead score.
Mitchell’s interception allowed Edwards to engineer a seven-play, 43-yard drive that set up Rian Lindell’s 44-yard field goal with 3:17 remaining. Then Mitchell came through again when he forced Rivers to fumble on the next possession for San Diego (3-4).
Edwards hit Lee Evans on a 2-yard touchdown pass and Marshawn Lynch also scored for the AFC East-leading Bills, off to their first 5-1 start since 1995.
Buccaneers 20, Seahawks 10
Jeff Garcia completed 26 of 37 passes for 310 yards, including a 47-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Bryant on Tampa Bay’s opening drive. Making his second straight start in place of Brian Griese, Garcia helped the NFC South-leading Bucs (5-2) improve to 4-0 at home.
Seneca Wallace was 12-of-23 for 73 yards, with a 2-yard touchdown pass to John Carlson with 1:55 left. Seattle (1-5) has lost three straight.
Redskins 14, Browns 11
Clinton Portis broke a scoreless tie with a 3-yard run in the third quarter and finished with 175 yards on 27 carries, and Santana Moss spun his way to an 18-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter as the Redskins (5-2) won for the fifth time in six games.
lon Edwards’ 2-point conversion reception with 2:44 to play. Cleveland (2-4) then forced Washington to punt and drove to the Redskins 36 in the final minute, but Phil Dawson missed what would have been a career-long 54-yard field goal with 25 seconds left.
Titans 34, Chiefs 10
LenDale White rushed for three touchdowns and 149 yards, including an 80-yard sprint, and Chris Johnson unfurled a 66-yard gallop while rushing for 168 yards to lead visiting Tennessee.
The Titans (6-0), who had never even been 5-0, scored 10 points on their first two possessions and were never threatened by the Chiefs (1-5), who seem headed for an even worse season than last year’s 4-12.
It was the first time since 1977 that two runners topped 100 yards against the Chiefs.
Texans 28, Lions 21
Owen Daniels scored two touchdowns and rookie Steve Slaton and Ahman Green added a touchdown each for host Houston. Andre Johnson had 11 receptions for 141 yards for his third straight 100-yard game, and the Texans (2-4) scored touchdowns on their first three possessions for the first time in team history.
Calvin Johnson had a career-high 154 yards receiving, including a 96-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter for the Lions (0-6). His TD was the fourth-longest passing in Lions history and the longest since 1998.
Steelers 38, Bengals 10
three times, and visiting Pittsburgh’s defense got to the quarterback seven times in an easy win.
Thousands of Steelers fans in the crowd of 65,860 twirled yellow Terrible Towels while the Steelers (5-1) solidified their hold on first place in the AFC North.
The Bengals fell to 0-7 for the fifth time since 1991.
Giants 29, 49ers 17
Brandon Jacobs ran for two touchdowns, Eli Manning threw for another, and Michael Johnson had two interceptions as the Giants (5-1) won their fourth straight at home.
San Francisco (2-5) turned over the ball three times, allowed six sacks and had 13 penalties for 134 yards en route to its fourth straight loss.
Panthers 30, Saints 7
Jake Delhomme threw for 195 yards and two touchdowns, Jonathan Stewart rushed for another score and Carolina’s defense shut down visiting New Orleans.
Drew Brees, who came in leading the NFL in completions and yards passing, was hounded all day and struggled with his accuracy. The Saints couldn’t overcome the loss of running back Reggie Bush to a left knee injury and were smothered by the Panthers’ improved defense.
Carolina (5-2) twice stopped New Orleans (3-4) on fourth down in the second half.
Ravens 27, Dolphins 13
Former Miami coach Cam Cameron, now Baltimore’s offensive coordinator, orchestrated four scoring drives against the team he coached to only one win last year.
threw for 232 yards and a touchdown as the Ravens (3-3) mustered scoring drives of 42, 67, 67 and 68 yards, with each lasting at least nine plays.
Terrell Suggs scored on a 44-yard interception return, and Baltimore held Ronnie Brown to 27 yards rushing for Miami (2-4).
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