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Giants 41 Bucs 34

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Eli Manning came up with a near-record performance in throwing for 510 yards, and Andre Brown scored on a 2-yard run with 31 seconds left to lift the New York Giants to a wild 41-34 victory Sunday over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Manning's yardage total was the second most for a Giants quarterback, and tied for the eighth highest in NFL history.

He threw three first-half interceptions, and came back with a monster 295 yards passing in the second, finishing 3 yards short of Phil Simms' team record.

The Bucs (1-1) led by 11 points before the Super Bowl champions came back and avoided an 0-2 start.

Manning threw touchdowns of 23 yards to Hakeem Nicks, 80 to Victor Cruz and 33 to Martellus Bennett with 3:59 to play to give New York a 34-27 lead.

Cruz finished with 11 catches for 179 yards, both career highs, while Nicks had 10 catches for 199 yards, with the yardage a personal best. Only the 1951 Rams had a 500-yard passer and two 150-yard receivers in the same game.

Josh Freeman tied the game at 34-all with a 41-yard pass to Mike Williams, but Manning drove New York 80 yards in four plays to win it.

Cardinals 20 Patriots 18

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Backup quarterback Kevin Kolb threw for one touchdown and ran for another, Stephen Gostkowski missed a potential winning field goal in the final seconds, and Arizona moved to 2-0.

The Patriots took over when Vince Wilfork recovered a fumble at the Cardinals 30 with 1:01 left. A 30-yard run into the end zone by Danny Woodhead was nullified by a holding penalty against Rob Gronkowski. New England then moved to the 24 before Tom Brady spiked the ball to stop the clock with 6 seconds left, but Gostkowski sent a 42-yard try wide to the left after hitting four earlier field goals.

Panthers 35 Saints 27

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Cam Newton threw for 253 yards and ran for a career-high 71 yards to hand New Orleans its first 0-2 start since 2007.

One week after tying a franchise low with 10 yards rushing in a loss to Tampa Bay, the Panthers ran for 219 yards and Newton, DeAngelo Williams and Mike Tolbert all scored on short touchdown runs. Steve Smith overcame a sore knee to finish with 104 yards receiving -- the 39th 100-yard receiving game of his career -- and Jonathan Stewart hauled in a 17-yard touchdown reception for the Panthers (1-1).

Drew Brees threw for 325 yards but was intercepted twice.

Eagles 24 Ravens 23

PHILADELPHIA -- Michael Vick scored on a 1-yard TD run with 1:55 left, helping Philadelphia overcome a slew of turnovers.

Rookie kicker Justin Tucker made field goals of 56, 51 and 48 yards for the Ravens, but Joe Flacco couldn't get Baltimore (1-1) in his range in the final minute.

Flacco overthrew Ray Rice on fourth-and-1 from the Ravens 46, and the Eagles ran out the clock.

Colts 23 Vikings 20

INDIANAPOLIS -- Adam Vinatieri made a 53-yard field goal with 8 seconds left to give Andrew Luck his first NFL victory.

Minnesota (1-1) rallied from a two-touchdown deficit in the final 5 1/2 minutes and tied the score on a 6-yard TD pass from Christian Ponder to Kyle Rudolph with 31 seconds left.

But that was too much time for Luck, who had thrown for two touchdowns. He started with back-to-back 20-yard completions, then drew the Vikings offside before spiking the ball with 12 seconds to go. Vinatieri, the best clutch kicker in NFL history, knocked the 53-yarder through the uprights to win it.

Luck finished 20 of 31 for 224 yards.

Bills 35 Chiefs 17

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- C.J. Spiller scored twice and had 123 yards rushing in sparking Buffalo.

Ryan Fitzpatrick threw two touchdown passes, including a 49-yarder to Stevie Johnson, and Leodis McKelvin scored on an 88-yard punt return -- the second longest in team history -- in the Bills' home opener.

Buffalo's high-priced defence had five sacks and forced three turnovers as the Bills bounced back from a season-opening 48-28 loss to the Jets last week.

Dwayne Bowe scored both touchdowns for Kansas City -- both in the final seven minutes -- to make the score respectable. The Chiefs are 0-2 for the sixth time in seven years.

Bengals 34 Browns 27

CINCINNATI -- Adam "Pacman" Jones returned Cleveland's first punt 81 yards for a touchdown, and Andy Dalton matched his career high with three touchdown passes.

The Bengals (1-1) have won 13 of the last 16 against the Browns (0-2), who got impressive games from their rookie quarterback and running back but still couldn't get a win.

Jones put the Bengals ahead to stay with his fifth career punt return for a touchdown. Dalton threw three TD passes for the second time in his career, including a short reception that Andrew Hawkins turned into a 50-yard score in the fourth quarter.

Texans 27 Jaguars 7

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Arian Foster ran for 110 yards and a touchdown, Ben Tate added 74 yards and two scores and Houston dominated from the start.

The Texans improved to 2-0 for the third consecutive season by winning their fourth in a row against the AFC South rival Jaguars, who started 0-2 for the third time in the last five years.

Jacksonville, which has never had a winning record after dropping its first two games, was far from competitive in the latest meeting.

The Texans gained 242 yards in the first half while building a 17-0 lead. Foster ran for 69 yards and a score. Tate added 49 and a touchdown. Matt Schaub, using mostly short throws, picked apart Jacksonville's defence.

Steelers 27 Jets 10

PITTSBURGH -- Ben Roethlisberger passed for 275 yards and two touchdowns and Pittsburgh smothered the Jets in the second half.

Roethlisberger completed 24 of 31 passes. He hit Heath Miller for a 1-yard score to give the Steelers (1-1) the lead late in the first half, then found Mike Wallace for a 37-yard strike early in the third quarter to break the game open.

Isaac Redman added a late 2-yard touchdown run for Pittsburgh, which had little trouble avoiding its first 0-2 start in a decade.

The Jets (1-1) did little offensively after a pair of early scoring drives.

Rams 31 Redskins 28

ST. LOUIS -- Sam Bradford threw for 310 yards and three touchdowns and Danny Amendola caught 15 passes for 160 yards in rallying St. Louis

The Rams made their comeback after running back Steven Jackson left the game after drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the second quarter. Later, coach Jeff Fisher said Jackson left because of a groin injury.

Robert Griffin led the Redskins (1-1) to a 21-6 lead, but the Rams (1-1) came back thanks to the pass-catching of Amendola. The receiver tied an NFL record 12 first-half receptions, and caught a 1-yard TD pass to cut the lead to 21-13 at the half.

Griffin ran for two touchdowns and passed for a third for Washington (1-1).

Chargers 38 Titans 10

SAN DIEGO -- Tight end Dante Rosario had three touchdown catches for the first time in his NFL career and San Diego's defence harassed Jake Locker all day.

Before the game, the Chargers (2-0) retired Junior Seau's No. 55. Seau, the hard-hitting, first-pumping leader of the Chargers for 13 seasons, committed suicide May 2.

49ers 27 Lions 19

SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco's stingy defence denied Matthew Stafford another milestone, Vernon Davis caught touchdown passes of 21 and 23 yards from Alex Smith, and the 49ers beat the Detroit Lions 27-19 on Sunday night in a September showdown of NFC powers.

Smith completed 20 of 31 throws for 226 yards and extended his franchise-record streak of passes without an interception to 216, leading the NFC West favourite Niners (2-0) to their ninth straight win in the series. Smith took a hard hand to the helmet from John Wendling late and bloodied his nose.

-- The Associated Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 17, 2012 C4