Points were in abundance for some of the NFL's top teams, even in road games.

The Seahawks and Patriots each scored at least 40 points Sunday in road victories. The Steelers, Chargers and Broncos had the offenses rolling at home.

It's no coincidence that all five of those teams are in first place at the halfway point of the season.

Seattle outscored San Francisco 42-27 to improve to 5-3 in the NFC West. When St. Louis was beaten at home 40-22 by New England, the Seahawks took sole possession of the division lead.

Pittsburgh, which took care of the AFC's last unbeaten team a week ago in beating the Patriots, handled the NFC's final undefeated squad with a 27-3 win over Philadelphia. San Diego and Denver remained tied atop the AFC West with decisive wins: the Chargers 43-17 over New Orleans, the Broncos 31-13 against Houston.

"This team's fun right now," said Seattle running back Shaun Alexander, who ran for 160 yards and two scores. "It's a really simplified offense, but we have enough talent to really make things simple and still make great plays."

Elsewhere, it was: Baltimore 27, Cleveland 13; Buffalo 22, the New York Jets 17; Tampa Bay 34, Kansas City 31; Chicago 28, the New York Giants 21; Arizona 24, Miami 23; Washington 17, Detroit 10; Cincinnati 26, Dallas 3; and Oakland 27, Carolina 24.

On Monday night, Minnesota is at Indianapolis. Jacksonville, Green Bay, Atlanta and Tennessee had the week off.

At San Francisco, Darrell Jackson caught two long touchdown passes from Matt Hasselbeck, and finished with five catches for 114 yards to help the Seahawks (5-3) to their second straight victory following three consecutive losses.Tim Rattay passed for 259 yards and two touchdowns for the Niners (1-7).Jerry Rice caught one 5-yard pass, but wasn't a factor in Seattle's game plan.

At St. Louis, Adam Vinatieri hit a season-best four field goals, then threw his first career touchdown pass, a 4-yarder to Troy Brown on a fake.Corey Dillon returned after a one-week absence with 112 yards rushing on 25 carries and a touchdown for the Patriots (7-1), whose 21-game winning streak ended in a loss to Pittsburgh last week.Marc Bulger was sacked five times and the Rams (4-4) fell behind Seattle.

At San Diego, Drew Brees threw four TD passes, three to tight end Antonio Gates, in San Diego's highest-scoring game since beating Miami 45-20 on Dec. 27, 1993.The Chargers (6-3) won for the fifth time in six games.Brees has thrown nine touchdown passes in two blowout wins, pushing his season total to 18, against just three interceptions.The Saints (3-5) have lost four of five.

At Denver, Rod Smith became the Broncos' career leader in receptions and touchdown catches, and Jake Plummer threw for four touchdowns with no interceptions to help the Broncos (6-3) snap a two-game losing streak.Smith caught his 676th career pass in the first quarter to surpass Shannon Sharpe on the team's receptions list. Later, Smith caught a 13-yard touchdown for his 56th score receiving, also passing Sharpe.Houston dropped to 4-4.

At Baltimore, Ed Reed's NFL-record 106-yard interception return clinched the win for the Ravens (5-3).Jamal Lewis, back from a two-game suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy, scored the decisive touchdown on a 2-yard run with 7:03 left following a 7-yard punt.Richard Alston opened the game for Cleveland (3-5) with a 93-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

At Orchard Park, N.Y., Willis McGahee sparked Buffalo with a career-high 132 yards and a touchdown, his third 100-yard rushing game in his third career start.Buffalo (3-5) won its third game in four outings, and third straight at home.The Jets (6-2) were attempting to match the best start in franchise history. Quarterback Chad Pennington bruised his right shoulder and did not return after he was sacked for a 13-yard loss midway through the fourth quarter.

At Tampa, Fla., Michael Pittman scored one of his three touchdowns on a team-record 78-yard run, giving the Bucs (3-5) consecutive victories for just the second time since they won the Super Bowl two years ago.Brian Griese threw for 296 yards and two touchdowns.The Chiefs (3-5) scored 101 points and gained 1,130 yards in victories over Atlanta and Indianapolis the previous two weeks, and put up another big day statistically. Trent Green threw for 369 yards and three touchdowns, but was intercepted by Dwight Smith in the end zone with under 6 minutes to go.

At East Rutherford, N.J., the Bears (3-5) forced five turnovers, including three on consecutive New York plays in a 20-point flurry late in the first half.Rookie Craig Krenzel threw a 35-yard touchdown pass and Anthony Thomas scored on runs of 4 and 41 yards.New York, which came into the game with an NFC-best plus-12 takeaway differential, fell apart after taking an early 14-0 lead on touchdown runs of 1 and 3 yards by Tiki Barber. The Giants (5-3) also have to worry about a pectoral injury to All-Pro defensive end Michael Strahan, who left in the third quarter.

At Miami, the Cardinals ended a 17-game road losing streak, the league's longest. The road win was the first since Oct. 6, 2002, for Arizona (3-5).The Dolphins (1-8), who have the league's worst record, are one defeat from their first losing season since 1988.Larry Fitzgerald caught the winning score on a 2-yard pass from Josh McCown with 19 seconds left after a holding penalty against Miami negated a sack and gave the Cardinals first and goal.

At Detroit, Clinton Portis ran for 147 yards on 34 carries and threw a tiebreaking 15-yard pass to Laveranues Coles.Taylor Jacobs blocked a punt and Walt Harris scooped up the ball and returned it 13 yards to put the Redskins (3-5) ahead by 14.

At Cincinnati, Matt Schobel scored on a 76-yard touchdown pass play, leading Cincinnati (3-5).Vinny Testaverde had his worst game with the Cowboys (3-5). Throwing to an injury-depleted receiving corps, Testaverde was 18-of-30 for 207 yards with three interceptions and a fumble.

At Charlotte, N.C., Dante Wesley's 38-yard pass-interference penalty gave Oakland (3-6) the ball at the 4 and Sebastian Janikowski kicked a 19-yard field goal with 6 seconds to play. Carolina (1-7) has lost six straight.