Ah, the wild West. As in the NFC West.

Considered the league’s best division heading into the season, the NFC West is not disappointing. The top three contenders from the sector, Arizona, Seattle and San Francisco, all were winners Sunday. The Cardinals also were losers as starting quarterback Carson Palmer injured his left knee.

Palmer was taken to the locker room on a cart after being helped off the field in the fourth quarter with Arizona down by four points. But the Cardinals (8-1) made several big plays down the stretch to beat St. Louis 31-14 and have the NFL’s best mark through nine games. They haven’t had such a strong record since going 11-1 as the Chicago Cardinals in 1948.

Palmer hurt the same knee he injured Jan. 8, 2006, in a playoff game against Pittsburgh, when he tore his ACL and MCL on his first pass of the game.

Palmer was playing some of the best football of his career and, on Friday, signed a three-year contract extension worth a reported $50 million with $20.5 million guaranteed.

Cardinals 31, Rams 14

Stanton and the Arizona defense rallied the host Cardinals with three touchdowns over a span of 3 minutes, 48 seconds.

Brown’s diving grab of Stanton’s 48-yard touchdown pass put the Cardinals (8-1) up 17-14 with 7:40 to play.

49ers 27, Saints 24

At New Orleans, Colin Kaepernick completed a 51-yard pass on fourth down to Michael Crabtree to sustain a tying drive. Ahmad Brooks sacked and stripped Drew Brees in overtime, and Phil Dawson kicked a 35-yard field goal to win it.

“God smiled down on me today,” Brooks said. “I was rushing and turning the corner thinking, `Dang, is he going to throw the ball yet?’ But he didn’t, and I was able to make the play.”

It marked the first home loss for the Saints (4-5) in more than a season. The Saints had won their past 11 at home overall.

Seahawks 38, Giants 17

At Seattle, Marshawn Lynch rushed for a season-high 140 yards and career-best four touchdowns.

Russell Wilson threw two interceptions, the Seahawks committed three total turnovers, and Eli Manning picked apart Seattle’s secondary for the first half. It all didn’t matter because of Lynch leading Seattle’s unstoppable run game.

The 350 total yards rushing by Seattle (6-3) were a franchise record and the most by any NFL team since Kansas City had 352 in 2012.

Broncos 41, Raiders 17

At Oakland, Peyton Manning threw five touchdown passes in less than 17 minutes and the Broncos handed the Raiders their 15th straight loss.

Manning threw a pair of early interceptions that put Denver (7-2) in a hole against the NFL’s only winless team. That all changed with a short pass that C.J. Anderson turned into a spectacular 51-yard catch and run. The touchdowns didn’t stop until Manning’s day was done after three quarters.

Packers 55, Bears 14

Aaron Rodgers threw six touchdown passes to tie the team record for a game and match the NFL record for a half. Rodgers was 18 of 27 for 315 yards, throwing scoring passes of 73 and 40 yards to Jordy Nelson. The Packers (6-3) led by four touchdowns early in the second quarter of the 190th meeting of the NFL’s oldest rivalry.

The 55 points tied a Packers record at Lambeau Field.

Lions 20, Dolphins 16

At Detroit, Matthew Stafford threw an 11-yard side-armed touchdown pass to Theo Riddick with 29 seconds remaining.

Calvin Johnson had seven catches for 113 yards and a touchdown in his first game back from an ankle injury, and the Lions (7-2) won their fourth straight. Their past three victories have been by a combined six points, all with fourth-quarter comebacks.

Chiefs 17, Bills 13

Anthony Sherman recovered a fumble to set up Alex Smith’s 8-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Jamaal Charles also scored on a 39-yard run as the visiting Chiefs (6-3) scored twice in span of 4:31 to overcome a 13-3 deficit. The Chiefs’ defense then made a stand at its 15 by forcing Kyle Orton to throw four consecutive incompletions and turn the ball over on downs.

Cowboys 31, Jaguars 17

At London, in the third and final game of this year’s International Series, Tony Romo returned after missing last week because of a back injury and helped the Cowboys snap a two-game losing streak by throwing three touchdown passes.

Romo started for Dallas (7-3) and completed 20 of 27 passes for 246 yards against the Jaguars (1-9) at Wembley Stadium.

Ravens 21, Titans 7

At Baltimore, Justin Forsett ran for 112 yards and two touchdowns to back a strong performance by the Baltimore defense.

The Ravens (6-4) bottled up rookie quarterback Zach Mettenberger in his first road start. He was sacked five times.

The Titans (2-7) have lost seven of eight. It was 7-7 at halftime, but Tennessee had three three-and-outs in the third quarter while the Ravens took control.

Falcons 27, Bucs 17

At Tampa, Matt Ryan threw for 219 yards and one touchdown, helping the Falcons stop a five-game losing streak that left the Bucs with a five-game skid of their own.

The Falcons (3-6) won for the first time since embarrassing their NFC South rivals 56-14 on Sept. 18, a game in which the Bucs (1-8) lost quarterback Josh McCown to a thumb injury.

McCown returned to Tampa Bay’s lineup.