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Steelers and Falcons Pass Tough Tests in Division

A fierce defensive battle turned when Polamalu hit Joe Flacco’s arm on a safety blitz. The loose ball was returned 19 yards by Lamarr Woodley to the Baltimore 9, setting up Pittsburgh’s only touchdown.

After throwing two incomplete passes, Roethlisberger dumped a short toss over the middle to Redman, who broke two tackles on his way to the end zone.

Baltimore’s ensuing drive ended when Flacco bounced a fourth-down pass to Ed Dickson with 33 seconds remaining.

The victory left Pittsburgh (9-3) a game ahead of the Ravens (8-4) in the division.

¶Eric Weems scored on a 102-yard kickoff return and Matt Ryan threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Michael Jenkins as the visiting Falcons rallied from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat the Buccaneers, 28-24. Ryan led his sixth fourth-quarter comeback of the season for the Falcons, the N.F.C. South leaders at 10-2. The Falcons have won six in a row. Tampa Bay (7-5) dropped to 0-5 against teams with winning records.

Contenders Stumble

Jason Campbell ran for one touchdown and threw for another as the visiting stunned the , 28-13. The loss put a serious crimp in the playoff hopes of the Chargers; instead of keeping up with the first-place in the A.F.C. West, San Diego (6-6) is tied with Oakland, two games back.

¶ had two interceptions returned for touchdowns, then threw a fourth in overtime that set up David Buehler for a 38-yard field goal that gave the a 38-35 victory over the . Reggie Wayne had 14 catches for 200 yards, but the loss dropped the Colts (6-6) out of the A.F.C. South lead.

Fool

rallied the Saints to a 34-30 win over the Bengals by coaxing Cincinnati’s Pat Sims into jumping offside in the final minute. Trailing by 30-27, the Saints (9-3) had a fourth-and-2 at the Cincinnati 7 with 34 seconds left. Instead of attempting a tying field goal, New Orleans called timeout and ran a play called “No-Brainer Freeze.” In it, the Saints line up as if they are going to snap the ball and Brees tries to draw the opponent offside. To the surprise of the 59,963 fans in Cincinnati, that was exactly what happened. Sims’s mistake gave the shocked Saints a first down, and Brees threw the winning 3-yard touchdown pass to Marques Colston on the next play. “What is that guy doing?” Saints defensive lineman Sedrick Ellis said. “You have to be smarter than that.” The Bengals (2-10) have lost nine in a row.

¶Maurice Jones-Drew ran for 186 yards on 31 carries in the Jaguars’ 17-6 victory over the . With their fourth win in five games, the visiting Jaguars (7-5) took over first place in the A.F.C. South, a game ahead of the Colts. Jones-Drew has run for at least 100 yards now in five straight games, but his latest might have been his easiest. Jacksonville ran on 15 of its first 17 plays, picking up 86 yards. “They ran it and we didn’t stop it,” Titans Coach Jeff Fisher said. Tennessee (5-7) has gone 13 quarters without an offensive touchdown.

Revenge for Chiefs

The Chiefs avenged a 20-point loss to Denver three weeks ago with a ragged 10-6 win over the . Jamaal Charles ran for 116 yards and Matt Cassel threw a 3-yard pass to Leonard Pope for the only touchdown as the Chiefs (8-4) improved to 6-0 at home and remained in first place in the A.F.C. West. Denver (3-9) has lost 17 of 22 under Coach Josh McDaniels.

¶The managed to look even more inept than the Browns, who stumbled to a 13-10 win when a last-minute turnover gave them the ball at the 2 and Phil Dawson kicked a 23-yard field goal on the final play. When lineman David Bowens deflected Chad Henne’s final pass with a minute left and the score tied, Mike Adams snatched the ball — Henne’s third interception — and ran 25 yards to set up Dawson’s winning kick.

¶Jay Cutler threw a go-ahead touchdown pass to Brandon Manumaleuna one play after a questionable call midway through the fourth quarter, lifting the Bears to a 24-20 victory over the . The referee Ed Hochuli flagged Ndamukong Suh for unnecessary roughness after he seemed to hit Cutler’s shoulder pads, jolting him to the turf from behind when he was running downfield. The Lions (2-10) were livid, perhaps because Detroit also lost its first meeting this season with Chicago (9-3) when Calvin Johnson appeared to catch a winning touchdown only to have the officials rule that he did not complete the play.

In Other Games

Tarvaris Jackson threw two touchdown passes after replacing an injured on Minnesota’s first series, and the rolled over the visiting , 38-14. The Vikings (5-7) will have to wait to see if Favre will be able to extend his record of 297 consecutive starts. Favre was leveled by linebacker Arthur Moats on his first pass play, spraining his throwing shoulder. “He’s played 15,000 games straight now, so he’ll probably play 15,001 next week,” said Jackson, who threw three interceptions. The Bills (2-10) had five turnovers.

¶Donald Driver left a string of befuddled defenders in his dust on a rambling 61-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown in the third quarter, providing the most critical play in the ’ 34-16 victory over the 49ers. “I don’t know what happened,” Driver said. “All I know is when I caught it, I just started making moves.” As Driver and the team celebrated, the crowd counted out the tackles he broke as the play was replayed on Lambeau Field’s video screens. Greg Jennings caught 6 passes for 122 yards and 2 touchdowns for the Packers (8-4), who kept pace with the Bears in the N.F.C. North.

¶Marshawn Lynch rushed for a career-high 3 touchdowns, Lofa Tatupu returned an interception 26 yards for a score, and the used a 21-point third quarter to rally past the visiting , 31-14. Seattle (6-6) stayed even with St. Louis in the N.F.C. West race. Carolina is 1-11.

¶Steven Jackson rushed for 102 yards, including 27 on the game’s only touchdown, and the ended an eight-game losing streak against Arizona with a 19-6 victory over the Cardinals. Arizona (3-9) failed to score a touchdown for the second game in a row.

Falcons Rally for 28-24 Win Over Buccaneers

TAMPA, Fla.. Down 10 points with just over 10 minutes to go, the streaking Atlanta Falcons didn’t flinch.

With Matt Ryan on their side, it’s easy to understand why.

Eric Weems scored on a 102-yard kickoff return and Ryan finished yet another fourth-quarter comeback with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Michael Jenkins that gave the Falcons a 28-24 victory over the on Sunday.

The third-year pro has led 13 winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime during his career, six this season.

Atlanta (10-2) retained sole possession of first place in the NFC South over second-place New Orleans (9-3).

The Falcons won despite Ryan throwing two interceptions — the team’s first turnovers in five games — and being outgained 325 yards to 290.

Ryan also led a winning field goal drive in the final minute last week in a three-point win over .

He rejects the notion, though, that Atlanta is playing like a team of destiny.

“I don’t think anybody buys into that too much. We know that in this league, there is a lot of talent on each football team and anything can happen any given Sunday,” Ryan said. “We’re a confident team for sure, and we believe in ourselves, but we always know we’re going to face tough opponents, regardless of who we’re playing against, especially when you’re on the road.”

Matty Ice, as Ryan has come to be known, kept the winning march alive with a 25-yard completion to Roddy White on third-and-20. The Falcons also benefited from a third-down pass-interference call and another costly penalty on the Bucs for a horsecollar tackle.

“The mindset was the same. We felt like we could go down the field and score,” Ryan said. “We’re confident in that situation. We’ve been in those situations a number of times this year. … Nobody panicked because we understand that we can make plays when we need to.”

Rookie LeGarrette Blount rushed for 103 yards and fullback Earnest Graham threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to John Gilmore for Tampa Bay (7-5), which is 7-0 against teams with winning records and 0-5 against opponents with winning marks.

“We felt like we really outplayed them for most of the game, but it’s the NFL,” Tampa Bay quarterback Josh Freeman said. “You have to find a way to win in the fourth quarter nearly every week, and today we weren’t able to do that.”

Ryan completed 18 of 36 passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns. The pair of interceptions were his first since a 39-32 win over Cincinnati on Oct. 24.

Atlanta built an early 14-7 lead with Michael Turner scoring on a 5-yard run and Ryan throwing a 17-yard TD pass to Ovie Mughelli.

Tampa Bay turned Sean Jones’ interception into a touchdown to pull even in the closing seconds of the first half. Ryan’s second turnover led to another TD — fullback Earnest Graham’s 2-yard pass to John Gilmore — that put the Bucs up 24-14.

Twenty-one seconds later, the Falcons were back in the game.

Weems took the ensuing kickoff 2 yards deep in his own end zone, slipped past two diving tacklers as he made his way to the sideline at about 25, then somehow stayed in bounds as he headed up the sideline in front of the Atlanta bench and ran into the clear.

“That was huge. An unbelievable change of momentum,” Ryan said.

“We played all four quarters,” Weems added. “It’s never over with us.”

Freeman was 19 of 38 for 181 yards and one touchdown for the third-place Bucs, who fell three games behind Atlanta in the division.

Tampa Bay coach Raheem Morris didn’t take solace in the NFL’s youngest team playing the Falcons tough for the second time in a month.

“I think a good or great team, they go out and finish games,” Morris said. “We’re not going to wait until we become a veteran team to go out and try to finish games. We’ve got to do it the next four weeks.”

NOTES: The Bucs wore orange throwback jerseys from their expansion days in the late 1970’s, and the team’s first coach, John McKay, was inducted into the franchise’s Ring of Honor at halftime. McKay’s son, Rich, is the Falcons president and was Tampa Bay’s general manager when the club won its only title eight years ago. … Atlanta won an earlier meeting this season, 27-21.

Falcons Score in Final Minute to Outlast Ravens

The Falcons were up, 20-7, after Ryan went to White on a 4-yard touchdown pass with 11 minutes 34 seconds remaining. Baltimore rallied behind Joe Flacco’s two touchdown passes, the second a 9-yarder to Todd Heap with 1:05 left.

Back came the Falcons, who improved to 18-1 at home with Ryan as the starter. He needed less than a minute to pull off an 80-yard drive, hooking up with Michael Jenkins on a third-down pass along the sideline before going back to White for the winner.

White appeared to push off on Josh Wilson, but there was no flag, and he cruised into the end zone.

MEETING TO DISCUSS FAVRE Jenn Sterger, the woman to whom is accused of sending lewd photos and inappropriate text messages, met with investigators from the , her manager said.

The manager, Phil Reese, said in an e-mail that Sterger met with league officials and that “we cooperated fully by providing them with substantial materials in our possession. We now await the N.F.L.’s decision.”

The N.F.L. is examining whether Favre, now the quarterback of the , sent Sterger messages and photos while he was with in 2008 and she was a game hostess for the team.

The N.F.L. spokesman Greg Aiello said the league had no comment.

Favre could face disciplinary action under the league’s personal-conduct policy.

The accusations arose last month in a report on the Web site Deadspin.

The site said Sterger would not agree to an interview and acknowledged that it paid a third party for the texts, voicemails and explicit photos, said to be of Favre, that it posted online.

Favre, a three-time most valuable player, is dealing with two ankle fractures and elbow tendinitis, and took 10 stitches in his chin after getting hit against the on Oct. 31.

PLAYER COLLAPSES Cleveland Browns linebacker Marcus Benard collapsed in the locker room and was taken to a hospital, where he is undergoing tests, a team spokesman said.

Benard was sitting in a chair in front of his locker when he fell to the carpeted floor. Some of his teammates, who were getting dressed for practice, thought he may have been joking before linebacker Matt Roth yelled for a trainer.

Benard did not appear to lose consciousness and his eyes were open as three members of Cleveland’s training staff checked on him.

Benard, who leads the Browns with 4.5 sacks this season, was sitting up and appeared alert when he was wheeled out of the team’s facility and placed in an ambulance. He collapsed just as the 45-minute news media interview period was ending.

The Browns host the Jets on Sunday.

MERRIMAN OUT FOR SUNDAY A nagging injury is preventing linebacker Shawne Merriman from getting off on the right foot with his new team, the .

Coach Chan Gailey said that Merriman would not play against the this weekend, and would be out indefinitely after aggravating an injury to his right Achilles’ tendon a day earlier.

The injury, which occurred in Merriman’s first practice with the team and only a week after he was claimed off waivers from San Diego, is to the same tendon that bothered him for much of the past year.

MIGRAINE SIDELINES HARVIN Minnesota’s Percy Harvin missed practice for the second straight day because of a migraine headache.

Coach Brad Childress said Harvin, a wide receiver and kickoff returner, was visiting a doctor again after his absence on Wednesday. Harvin, who has a history of migraines, is also dealing with a sprained left ankle he sustained in the Oct. 31 game at New England.