New king ruling NFC?
Indianapolis and Baltimore needed last-minute scores to keep their unbeaten seasons going. Chicago had a much easier time staying undefeated.
Peyton Manning scored from a yard out with 50 seconds left in leading the Colts to a wild 31-28 victory over the New York Jets on Sunday, boosting Indianapolis to 4-0 and putting it two games ahead in the AFC South.
Steve McNair threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Todd Heap with 34 seconds remaining to give the Ravens a 16-13 home win over the San Diego Chargers and a 4-0 record for the first time.
Rex Grossman threw for 232 yards and Ricky Manning Jr. intercepted two of Matt Hasselbeck's passes to lead the Bears to a 37-6 victory over the Seattle Seahawks.
Seven teams entered the weekend without a loss, and just the Colts, Ravens and Bears remain unbeaten.
Four teams are winless going into Week 5 — the Tennessee Titans, the Oakland Raiders, Detroit Lions and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who had a bye week.
Green Bay (1-2) was at Philadelphia (2-1) on Monday night.
The Colts-Jets game produced a sensational finish at Giants Stadium.
Peyton Manning, though, said his team never panicked after Justin Miller returned a kickoff 103 yards for a score to put New York ahead 28-24 with 2:20 left.
"When they ran the kickoff back, we were just getting back on the bench," Manning said. "We didn't have time to get mad or to panic."
Manning was 6-of-8 for 60 yards on the winning drive, including a 19-yard pass to Marvin Harrison and a 15-yarder to Reggie Wayne that put the ball at the 1. Manning took it in from there.
"I was pumped," he said.
The Jets (2-2) tried a circus play — a never-ending lateral-fest — to try and win it.
With 8 seconds left, Chad Pennington threw a short pass to Leon Washington, who ran for an 8-yard gain and lateraled to Brad Smith. A series of four laterals — including one back to Pennington, who then threw a cross-field pass to Justin McCareins to keep the chaos rolling — and two fumbles recovered by the Jets followed. Finally, center Nick Mangold lost the ball at the Colts 35 and Jason Davis recovered to end the game.
It was a little simpler for the Ravens, but no less exciting.
McNair brought the Ravens back for the second week in a row as they handed the Chargers (2-1) their first loss.
He went 4-for-5 for 43 yards and ran once for 12 yards during the final drive, which began after San Diego intentionally took a safety with 3:12 to go.
In Chicago, Bernard Berrian had three receptions for a career-high 108 yards and a touchdown, and the Bears also got their running game going after three sluggish performances, with Thomas Jones rushing for 98 yards and two scores.
Chicago improved to 4-0 for the first time since 1991.
The league's fourth-ranked defense also shut down a Seahawks team that was missing injured running back Shaun Alexander.
Cowboys 45, Titans 14
At Nashville, Tenn., Drew Bledsoe and Terry Glenn hooked up on two 13-yard scoring passes, and Terrell Owens — playing five days after going to the hospital for an accidental overdose — caught five passes for 88 yards with his broken right hand protected by a plate and a glove.
Dallas (2-1) had a strong running game, led by Julius Jones, who had 122 yards and TD.
Rookie Vince Young made his first start for Tennessee (0-4), and was 14-of-29 for 155 yards with two interceptions — one returned 15 yards for a TD by Bradie James.
Redskins 36, Jaguars 30, OT
At Landover, Md., Santana Moss leaped between two defenders and caught a 68-yard TD pass from Mark Brunell just 1:49 into overtime to boost Washington (2-2).
After blowing two fourth-quarter leads — Josh Scobee's 41-yard field goal with 6 seconds left in regulation tied it for Jacksonville (2-2) — the Redskins scored three plays into OT.
Patriots 38, Bengals 13
At Cincinnati, Laurence Maroney ran for 125 yards and a pair of touchdowns as New England (3-1) handed Cincinnati (3-1) its first defeat.
Maroney stiff-armed his way for scoring runs of 11 and 25 yards and Tom Brady was 15-of-26 for 188 yards and a pair of TDs.
Rams 41, Lions 34
At St. Louis, Marc Bulger threw a 5-yard scoring pass to Isaac Bruce with 1:56 to lift the Rams (3-1) and leave the Lions (0-4) winless.
Trailing 34-33 with 4:42 to play, Bulger led his team 56 yards for the score, then connected with Bruce on a 2-point conversion. Bulger finished 26-of-42 for 328 yards and three TDs; Bruce caught seven passes for 100 yards.
Jon Kitna was 29-of-43 for 280 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions for Detroit.
Chiefs 41, 49ers 0
At Kansas City, Mo., Damon Huard led the Chiefs to their first win, hitting 18-of-23 for 208 yards and two TDs in the team's first shutout in almost four years.
Texans 17, Dolphins 15
At Houston, Texans' No. 1 draft pick Mario Williams came up with his first sack and tipped a 2-point conversion attempt that would have tied the score.
David Carr scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 1-yard run and the Texans (1-3) survived a late rally by Miami.
Falcons 32, Cardinals 10
At Atlanta, DeAngelo Hall returned an interception 36 yards for a touchdown, Jerious Norwood ran 78 yards for a score and 46-year-old Morten Andersen kicked five field goals.
Bills 17, Vikings 12
At Orchard Park, N.Y., J.P. Losman passed hit 23-of-32 passes for 222 yards and a touchdown and set up another score with a 15-yard scramble for Buffalo (2-2).
Panthers 21, Saints 18
At Charlotte, N.C., Jake Delhomme threw a 4-yard TD pass to Drew Carter midway through the fourth quarter and DeShaun Foster ran 43 yards for a score with 3:09 left as Carolina (2-2) handed New Orleans (3-1) its first loss.
Browns 24, Raiders 21
At Oakland, Calif., Charlie Frye threw three touchdown passes and Cleveland (1-3) rallied from an 18-point deficits for its first win of the game.
Frye threw scoring passes of 3-, 2- and 5 yards to Darnell Dinkins, Kellen Winslow and Joe Jurevicius.
