JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Fred Taylor ran the ball Sunday as well as he ran his mouth all week.
The result for Jacksonville was a surprising 28-23 victory over the Indianapolis Colts, highlighted by Taylor's game-winning, 32-yard touchdown run with 1:08 left.
Taylor finished with a season-high 152 yards and delivered on his promise to "punish" Colts safety Mike Doss, whose rough play in the season's first meeting prompted Taylor to send out this midweek warning: "I'm going to punish him. If he hits me, fine, but if I catch him, believe me, I'm going to get the better shot."
As it turned out, Taylor's trash talk was the perfect motivation for the Jaguars (2-7), a struggling team in desperate need of a spark.
"He spoke out this week, which doesn't happen too often," coach Jack Del Rio said. "What we talked about as a team is, when one of our guys puts himself out there, we have to back him up."
They did, and the Jaguars earned the first victory in franchise history over the Colts (7-2), who fell into a first-place tie with Tennessee in the AFC South.
After Taylor's score, Peyton Manning needed to move 66 yards with one timeout to engineer his 19th career game-winning drive. But he threw an interception to Deke Cooper with 11 seconds left.
Indy walked away with a loss and some prickly issues to go with it:
The Colts played the final three quarters without receiver Marvin Harrison, who strained his hamstring, and who's status for next week wasn't immediately known.
Also, some players were snippy in the locker room, upset with play-calling that was heavy on screen passes and light on handoffs. Edgerrin James finished with 15 carries for 44 yards and six catches for 26 yards.
"Maybe I'm not good enough, but I don't make those decisions," said James, who shared significant time with Ricky Williams. "I don't know why we had so many screens called. That's not my call. I just do my job."
Manning threw for 347 yards, with two TDs and two interceptions.
While Taylor was Jacksonville's star, the victory also marked a big step forward for rookie Byron Leftwich. He finished 12-for-22 for 179 yards and was turnover-free after committing 15 in his first five starts.
Leftwich hit Jimmy Smith for a pretty 43-yard touchdown to give the Jaguars a 21-20 lead early in the fourth period after they trailed by 13. The touchdown came four plays after a wacky 28-yard completion to George Wrighster that bounced off three or four Colts before settling in the tight end's hands.
"I finally got the play I see all those other quarterbacks get every week," Leftwich said. "Once I got that play, I said, 'Dang, something finally went your way."'
Manning responded with a 70-yard completion to Marcus Pollard to set up a go-ahead field goal. A few minutes later, David Allen returned a short Indy punt 27 yards to the Colts 31. Taylor then took a handoff and broke three tackles — including an attempt by Doss — for his second touchdown of the game.
"I guess you'd have to say he got the final word today," Doss said.
Taylor cracked the 100-yard mark for only the second time this season, both against the Colts. Taylor said his anger stemmed from Doss pushing his head to the ground after recovering a fumble during Indy's 23-13 victory over Jacksonville in Week 3.
"I felt he really disrespected me," Taylor said. "I probably should have just taken the silent approach, but sometimes things happen, so I just put it out there, and my teammates backed me up."
Along with worrying about Harrison's health and the play-calling, Indianapolis has to shore up a leaky run defense. The Colts gave up 174 yards rushing. Their 21st-ranked run defense has allowed 130 yards rushing in six of the last seven games.
FALCONS 27, GIANTS 7: At East Rutherford, N.J., Dan Reeves finally got his 200th coaching win, with lots of help from a former team. Warrick Dunn ran for 178 yards, including a 45-yard touchdown, and Atlanta snapped a seven-game losing streak by defeating the mistake-prone New York Giants. Reeves, who coached the Giants before taking over in Atlanta in 1997, became the seventh NFL coach to reach 200 victories (200-171-2). The Giants (4-5) turned the ball over four times, giving Atlanta (2-7) its first win since the season opener. It was a performance that got so ugly Giants fans chanted "Fire Fassel." Coach Jim Fassel termed it a "trap game" early in the week.
TITANS 31, DOLPHINS 7: At Nashville, Tenn., Steve McNair threw for 201 yards and two touchdowns, and Tennessee won its fourth straight game and sixth in the past seven. Miami (5-4) came in allowing just 13.8 points per game, best in the NFL, and the Dolphins had been unbeaten on the road this season. None of that mattered against the Titans, who snapped a five-game skid against Miami. Tennessee set a franchise record of scoring 30 or more points for the sixth straight game. The defense sacked Brian Griese four times and forced him into two fumbles and three interceptions that the Titans turned into 17 points.
REDSKINS 27, SEAHAWKS 20: At Landover, Md., receiver Rod Gardner won the game for the Washington Redskins with a touchdown toss. Laveranues Coles rescued the Redskins when he forced a fumble that Randy Thomas recovered in their end zone for a touchback. Gardner took a lateral and threw a 10-yard pass to a wide-open Trung Canidate with 1:57 to play. The trick play wasn't the only audacious call coach Steve Spurrier made on the winning drive. The coach went for a fourth-and-inches at Washington's 25, and fullback Rock Cartwright barely made it after a huge hit by linebacker Anthony Simmons.
Coles caught five passes for 125 yards and a touchdown for the Redskins (4-5), who broke a four-game losing streak.
Seattle (6-3) drove for a chance to tie after Gardner's touchdown pass, but Fred Smoot intercepted with 39 seconds remaining.
Washington's Bruce Smith had one sack to move within a half-sack of Reggie White's career record.
BENGALS 34, TEXANS 27: At Cincinnati, Rudi Johnson, Corey Dillon's unheralded backup, set a Bengal record by running 43 times, gaining 182 yards and scoring a pair of second-half touchdowns. Johnson kept the Bengals (4-5) in contention in the AFC North by exploiting big holes in one of the league's worst defenses. The crowd of 50,437, the smallest for a Bengals home game this season, chanted "Rudi! Rudi!" as he matched Jon Kitna's passing total. Houston (3-6) had one last chance after Shayne Graham's 40-yard field goal made it 34-27 with 2:32 to go, but David Carr's first pass was tipped and intercepted.
STEELERS 28, CARDINALS 15: At Pittsburgh, Tommy Maddox threw three touchdown passes, two to Hines Ward barely a minute apart in a 21-point third quarter, and the Steelers ended their five-game losing streak. The Steelers (3-6) merged an efficient offense and a dominating-at-times defense for the first time since beating Baltimore 34-15 in their opener. Antwaan Randle El's 52-yard punt return for a touchdown was his second punt runback for a score in three games. The Cardinals (3-6) are winless in nine road games dating to last season.
LIONS 12, BEARS 10: At Detroit, Jason Hanson's right foot gave Detroit consecutive wins for the first time in three years. Hanson made a 48-yard field goal, his fourth of the game, with 39 seconds left. The Lions have won two straight for the first time since taking three in a row under Gary Moeller, who now coaches Chicago's linebackers. The Bears (3-6) had a chance to win three straight for the first time in two years and end a road losing streak that now stands at 12 games.
CHARGERS 42, VIKINGS 28: At San Diego, Doug Flutie, 41, juked his way to two touchdowns and threw for two more in his first start in nearly two years. The big performance from the pint-sized Flutie and two touchdown runs by LaDainian Tomlinson — including a 73-yarder, his longest career TD — injected some excitement into an otherwise dismal season for the Chargers (2-7).
On Flutie's second rushing TD, from the Minnesota 13, he fumbled the snap, picked it up and ran straight up the middle before sidestepping safety Brian Russell and diving into the end zone.
The 42 points were the most for the Chargers since they beat Miami 45-20 on Dec. 27, 1993, a span of 153 games. Minnesota (6-3) lost its third straight.
COWBOYS 10, BILLS 6: At Irving, Texas, despite moving only 51 yards on their two scoring drives and going more than 15 minutes between first downs in the second half, the Cowboys (7-2) eked out the victory. Dan Campbell caught an early 2-yard touchdown pass, and Billy Cundiff made a 51-yard field goal on the opening drive of the second half. The league's stingiest defense made it hold up against Buffalo (4-5), which failed to score a touchdown for the third straight road game. The Bills have lost four in a row away from home, getting outscored 95-21 in those games.
JETS 27, RAIDERS 24: At Oakland, Calif., Chad Pennington threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Jerald Sowell with 1:09 left and completed the 2-point conversion pass to Anthony Becht to force overtime. Then Doug Brien kicked a 38-yard field goal in the extra period for the Jets (3-6).
Brien made up for his botched field goal in a 31-28 overtime loss to the Giants last Sunday. He wasn't ready for the snap and had a 51-yard field goal blocked. The Jets sent Oakland (2-7) to its fifth straight loss despite an overpowering running attack that staked the Raiders to a 21-10 lead. The Raiders are off to their worst start since beginning 1-6-1 in 1964.
RAMS 33, RAVENS 22: At St. Louis, the St. Louis Rams' defense bailed out an inept offense Sunday night. The Rams forced seven turnovers and knocked rookie quarterback Kyle Boller out of the game in a victory over Baltimore. That performance covered up for a suddenly incompetent offense that had been ranked No. 1 in the NFL.
St. Louis also had the drops with four turnovers, two by punt returner DeJuan Groce, and went almost two quarters without a first down at one point. Marc Bulger was so off-target he heard some boos and calls for backup Kurt Warner in the second half.
Bulger was 13-for-26 for 110 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns, easily his worst game in 15 career starts.
The 11 total turnovers were a high for an NFL game this season.