The first quarter of the schedule went perfectly for Denver, Seattle, Kansas City and New England.

Peyton Manning threw four more touchdown passes, giving him 16, the most in the first four games of a season. He also passed for 327 yards in a 52-20 rout of Philadelphia. Denver (4-0) has won a team-record 15 straight regular-season games and scored 179 points.

“We were motivated to be on top of our game offensively, to score points, touchdowns, not field goals,” Manning said Sunday. “I thought we did that today. We certainly enjoyed that.”

Seattle (4-0) rallied from a 17-point hole and won at Houston 23-20 in overtime on Steven Hauschka’s 45-yard field goal.

Alex Smith threw three touchdown passes, Dexter McCluster returned a punt 89 yards for another score and Kansas City kept the New York Giants winless at 0-4 in a 31-7 rout.

New England staged a defensive stand after nearly frittering away a late lead and won at Atlanta 30-23.

Broncos 52, Eagles 20

At Denver, the Broncos set a team record for points — they have been around 54 years — with Manning’s two TD passes each to Demaryius Thomas and Wes Welker. Manning even sat out the fourth quarter.

Manning also joined Milt Plum in 1960 as the only quarterbacks to throw 16 touchdown passes without an interception.

Seahawks 23, Texans 20

At Houston, the Seahawks’ first 4-0 start in franchise history was aided when Doug Baldwin caught a 7-yard pass and Kareem Jackson was penalized for unnecessary roughness for dumping him into the ground. That got Seattle in field goal range and Hauschka’s kick came four plays later.

The Seahawks rallied to tie it at 20-20 on the pick-6 by Sherman in the fourth quarter.

Chiefs 31, Giants 7

Smith had touchdown passes of 4, 2 and 35 yards for the Chiefs, who under Reid have already doubled their victory total of 2012. They are the second team to go from a two-win season to 4-0 the next year, matching the 1980 Lions.

Patriots 30, Falcons 23

At Atlanta, Brady threw for 316 yards and two touchdowns to improve the Patriots to 4-0 for the first time since their perfect regular season of 2007.

Strong defense in the red zone was decisive as Atlanta (1-3) had a chance to tie in the final minute. Matt Ryan’s fourth-down pass went off the hands of Roddy White, tightly covered by Aqib Talib, in the end zone with 36 seconds remaining.

Lions 40, Bears 32

At Detroit, Reggie Bush’s 37-yard touchdown run helped Detroit score 27 points in the second quarter. He accounted for 173 yards of offense as Detroit (3-1) moved into a first-place tie with Chicago (3-1) in the NFC North.

The Lions scored 24 straight points, including three TDs in a span of 3 minutes, 26 seconds, after Matt Forte’s 53-yard TD run gave the Bears a 10-6 lead.

Bills 23, Ravens 20

Joe Flacco threw a career-worst five interceptions, and finished 25 of 50 for 347 yards and two touchdowns for the visiting Super Bowl champion Ravens (2-2).

Rookie linebacker Kiko Alonso’s second interception of the game with 57 seconds remaining moved Buffalo to 2-2.

Redskins 24, Raiders 14

At Oakland, Robert Griffin III threw a go-ahead touchdown pass late in the third quarter to help Washington (1-3) overcome an early 14-point deficit. David Amerson returned an interception for another score.

Chargers 30, Cowboys 21

At San Diego, Philip Rivers threw for 401 yards and three touchdowns, including a 56-yarder to Antonio Gates.

The Chargers (2-2) had blown late leads in their two losses this season. However, they scored the final 20 points against Dallas.

Titans 38, Jets 13

At Nashville, before he left with a right hip injury that landed him in a hospital, Jake Locker threw a career-high three touchdowns. Locker was hurt early in the third quarter when hit first by Muhammad Wilkerson after throwing an incomplete pass, then popped by Quinton Coples. He grabbed at his hip as he went to the ground and was carted off the field before being loaded into an ambulance.

Browns 17, Bengals 6

At Cleveland, Brian Hoyer threw two touchdown passes in his first start at home. Hoyer’s 1-yard pass to Chris Ogbonnaya with 4:54 left gave the Browns (2-2) an 11-point lead that it preserved.

Colts 37, Jaguars 3

At Jacksonville, the Jaguars’ awful season continued as Andrew Luck threw two touchdown passes and Trent Richardson ran for a score.

Indianapolis (3-1) led 20-3 at halftime. Jacksonville (0-4) has been outscored 75-8 in the first half this season.

Cardinals 13, Bucs 10

At Tampa, Carson Palmer threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Larry Fitzgerald, then Jay Feely kicked a 27-yard field goal with 1:29 remaining.