Atlanta, Houston continue winning streaks in NFL
Associated Press
ATLANTA — Matt Bryant kicked a 40-yard field goal with five seconds remaining Sunday as Atlanta rallied to beat the Carolina Panthers, while Arizona edged Miami with a field goal in overtime to maintain their unbeaten runs in the National Football League.
Houston set a club record with its fourth straight win to start the season after a 38-14 win over Tennessee.
The Atlanta Falcons have four consecutive wins and are off to their best start since 2004, when they reached the NFC championship game. Despite taking a career-high seven sacks, Matt Ryan threw three touchdown passes for Atlanta. Bryant added three field goals.
The Panthers nearly clinched it on Cam Newton’s run with just over a minute remaining, but he fumbled the ball while trying to dive for the necessary yardage. Carolina recovered and wound up punting, downing the ball at the Atlanta 1. But Ryan immediately got the Falcons out of the hole, throwing a 59-yard pass to Roddy White.
Four plays later, Bryant won it.
At Glendale, Jay Feely kicked a 46-yard field goal 6:31 into overtime to keep Arizona unbeaten. The Cardinals forced overtime when Kevin Kolb threw a 15-yard touchdown pass on fourth down to Andre Roberts with 22 seconds to play in regulation.
Two big defensive plays set up the final two Arizona scores. First, Daryl Washington sacked rookie Ryan Tannehill, whose fumble was recovered by Vonnie Holliday at the Arizona 49 and the Cardinals moved downfield to score.
The winning field goal came after Tannehill was hit by Paris Lenon as he threw and Kerry Rhodes came up with an interception.
Tannehill threw for 431 yards. Brian Hartline set a Dolphins record with 253 yards receiving on 12 catches.
Danieal Manning and Kareem Jackson returned interceptions for touchdowns and Matt Schaub threw two touchdown passes as the Houston Texans made it four wins from four starts.
The Broncos beat the Raiders 37-6 at Denver with Peyton Manning finishing with 338 yards and three touchdown passes.
Manning opened the game by leading the Broncos on an 80-yard touchdown drive — their first opening-quarter touchdown of the season — and Denver never trailed.
At Philadelphia, Lawrence Tynes missed two field-goal attempts from 54 yards with 15 seconds left as the Eagles held on to beat the New York Giants 19-17.
Tynes missed wide left, but the Eagles had called a timeout to ice him. He was short on his second attempt.
With LeSean McCoy leading the way on the ground, Michael Vick guided the Eagles to another comeback.
Alex Henery kicked a 26-yard field goal with 1:49 left and the Eagles overcame two pass-interference penalties on New York’s final drive. The defending Super Bowl champion Giants have struggled against Philadelphia, losing eight of the last nine meetings.
The Vikings scored a 20-13 away win over the Lions at Detroit, with Percy Harvin returning the opening kickoff 105 yards for a touchdown and Marcus Sherels scoring on a punt return early in the third for Minnesota.
Minnesota, in first place in the NFC North with three wins and a loss, matched the number of wins it had last season. The Vikings also ended an 11-game losing streak in the division.
The Lions have lost three straight after an opening win. They are the first team since at least 1940 to give up a kickoff and a punt return for TDs in consecutive games, according to STATS LLC. They gave up scores on a kickoff and punt in last week’s 44-41 loss in overtime at Tennessee.
In other weekend results it was: Baltimore 23, Cleveland 16; San Diego 37, Kansas City 20; St. Louis 19, Seattle 13; New England 52, Buffalo 28; San Francisco 34, N.Y. Jets 0; Cincinnati 27, Jacksonville 10; Green Bay 28, New Orleans 27; and Washington 24, Tampa Bay 22.
Chicago was playing at Dallas on Monday night.
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Tags: Carolina Panthers , Minnesota , National Football League , NFL
