The Patriots made the Houston Oilers mad, and the Broncos paid for it.
Houston had two weeks to stew after being upset by lowly New England. Poor Denver."New England had a lot to do with it," said Bubba McDowell, who along with Cris Dishman keyed a turnover-happy defense in Houston's 42-14 romp. "We went up there and got a little lackadaisical. We knew we had to come out from the start and be the defense we know we can be. We made up our minds to come out and do that early."
And often.
Dishman returned a fumble by Steve Sewell 19 yards for a touchdown and set up another score with a 43-yard interception return. McDowell recovered a blocked punt in the end zone and also had a sack and blocked a field goal on the final play of the first half. Houston held Gaston Green, the AFC's leading rusher, to 35 yards and sacked John Elway five times, including the game's first play.
"Just being home brings out our best. Of course, you try to take your game up for a guy like Elway," Dishman said.
The Oilers were at such a high level that they led 35-0 at halftime.
"Their pass rush was really good and the secondary was good behind it," Elway said. "You just can't give a team 28 points, especially in their building. We gave our defense no chance."
Elsewhere, it was Washington 20, Chicago 7; Detroit 24, Minnesota 20; Seattle 13, Cincinnati 7; Tampa Bay 14, Philadelphia 13; the New York Jets 17, Cleveland 14; Dallas 20, Green Bay 17; Miami 20, New England 10; the New York Giants 20, Phoenix 9; and San Diego 21, the Los Angeles Raiders 13. The night game saw Pittsburgh beat Indianapolis 21-3.
On Monday night, unbeaten Buffalo is at Kansas City.
Undefeated New Orleans, Atlanta, San Francisco and the Los Angeles Rams had a bye this week.
Lions 24, Vikings 20
Barry Sanders lifted the host Lions just when it looked as if all was lost.
Sanders scored on a 15-yard run with 36 seconds remaining to cap a furious 21-point comeback in the final 6:50. He rushed for 116 yards, 60 in the final quarter, also caught nine passes for 76 yards and was instrumental in all three late scoring drives.
The Lions' 5-1 start is their best since 1980. They took sole possession of first place in the NFC Central for the first time since the end of the 1983 season. Detroit's only loss, a 45-0 rout at Washington in the opener, came when Sanders was sidelined by an injury.
Herschel Walker sat out the game for Minnesota with a bruised left shoulder.
Steelers 21, Colts 3
At Indianapolis, Bubby Brister's second-half touchdown passes of 21 yards to Eric Green and 24 yards to Barry Foster made the difference. Indianapolis fell to 0-6 in the NFL coaching debut of Rick Venturi.
The Colts, last in the league in rushing and decimated by injuries, fired Ron Meyer as coach last week and elevated Venturi from defensive coordinator. The Colts were held to 42 yards rushing.
Seahawks 13, Bengals 7
At Cincinnati, the Bengals once again fell apart and lost their fifth straight for their worst start since Sam Wyche went 0-5 in 1984.
John Kasay's two second-half field goals provided the difference and Cincinnati's last-minute drive came up inches short. Cincinnati, without any timeouts, had fourth-and-5 at the Seattle 22. Boomer Esiason's short pass to James Brooks just missed a first down with 29 seconds left.
Buccaneers 14, Eagles 13
At Tampa, the Bucs ended a seven-game slide in sloppy style in the rain. Helped by Philadelphia's inept offense that gained just 83 yards, the Bucs stayed close despite committing six turnovers. Then Chris Chandler, replacing an ineffective Vinny Testaverde, threw an 8-yard TD to Robert Wilson after Broderick Thomas tackled punter Jeff Feagles inside the Philadelphia 10.
The Bucs got the ball back with 2:24 to go and marched 54 yards in six plays to go ahead on Bruce Hill's 5-yard reception with 1:09 remaining. Rod Harris fumbled the kickoff and Tampa Bay's Sam Anno recovered to clinch it.
Jets 17, Browns 14
At Cleveland, the Browns held the top-ranked running game in the league to 76 yards. But Ken O'Brien made Cleveland pay for that, completing 19 of 23 passes for 195 yards. Blair Thomas threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Rob Moore on an option play and Pat Leahy won it with a 28-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.
Cleveland's final chance died when Bernie Kosar fumbled at the Jets' 39 after scrambling for a first down.
Cowboys 20, Packers 17
Dallas, off to its best start in five years, used the passing combo of Troy Aikman and Jay Novacek and two first-half interceptions to subdue Green Bay. The Cowboys (4-2) haven't been so successful since going 6-2 in 1986.
Novacek caught 11 passes for 121 yards. Aikman completed 31 of 41 for 287 yards, while Emmitt Smith rushed for 122 yards.
Dophins 20, Patriots 10
Dan Marino, who threw one touchdown pass in his previous three games, got two in 1 minute late in the second quarter. He completed 25 of 38 passes for 321 yards, becoming the third quarterback to throw for more than 300 yards against the Patriots this season.
Giants 20, Cardinals 9
Getting a career best 137-yard rushing effort and a touchdown from Rodney Hampton and another first-rate performance from Jeff Hostetler (14-for-18 for 200 yards) was enough for New York.
Greg Davis kicked field goals of 52, 40 and 29 yards for Phoenix.
Chargers 21, Raiders 13
At Los Angeles, Henry Rolling returned a fumble 53 yards to set up a touchdown early in the fourth quarter and later intercepted a pass as the Chargers snapped an eight-game losing streak dating to last season.
The Raiders lost at home for the first time in four games this season and only the third time in 20 games since Art Shell became coach two years ago.