INDIANAPOLIS — Peyton Manning is back to throwing touchdowns and the Indianapolis Colts are again achieving offensive milestones.
The NFL's two-time MVP carved up the Houston Texans for 297 yards and three touchdowns Sunday, leading the Colts to a 31-17 victory and keeping Indianapolis as the NFL's only unbeaten team.
Manning completed 26 of 35 passes, while Marvin Harrison had seven catches for 108 yards and one TD, making Manning and Harrison the only tandem to top 10,000 career yards. The duo has hooked up for 755 completions, 10,034 yards and 90 TDs — all NFL records.
Edgerrin James ran 26 times for 122 yards and one touchdown, his 47th career 100-yard game. James is now tied with Franco Harris for eighth in NFL history and topped the 1,000-yard mark for the fifth time.
James and Harrison each had 100 yards in the same game for the 21st time, breaking the NFL record of 20 set by Dallas' Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin.
Colts coach Tony Dungy worried all week about the Colts response to an emotional victory at New England, and at times, the Colts (9-0) had their problems. Two short punts hit Colts blockers as they ran downfield.The Texans (1-8) recovered both muffs and converted them into 10 points.
David Carr was 16-of-25 for 138 yards and was sacked three times.
BEARS 17, 49ERS 9: At Chicago, Nathan Vasher returned a missed field goal 108 yards for a TD, the longest play in NFL history, and the Chicago Bears won their fifth straight.
When Joe Nedney's 52-yard attempt went wide right in a stiff wind on the final play of the first half, Vasher caught the ball over his shoulder, hesitated momentarily on whether to come out of the end zone, sprinted to the 15, then reversed his field, picking up a convoy of blockers.
The previous longest play was Baltimore's Chris McAlister's 107-yarder with a missed field goal in 2002. The Bears (6-3) have their longest winning streak since 2001, when they won six in a row en route to a division title.
With wind gusts up to 38 mph shaking the goalposts, neither team could muster much offense and stuck mainly with the run. Cody Pickett, at one time a fourth stringer, attempted just two first-half passes for the 49ers (2-7) — both were incomplete — and finished 1-for-13.
PATRIOTS 23, DOLPHINS 16: At Miami, Tom Brady brought New England from behind twice in the second half, throwing a 17-yard TD pass to Benjamin Watson for the winning score with 2:16 left. Gus Frerotte drove the Dolphins 70 yards to the 5 with a minute left, but his fourth-down pass was incomplete with 36 seconds to go.
Two-time defending Super Bowl champion New England (5-4) remained alone atop the AFC East. The Patriots have won 21 of their last 25 division games. Miami (3-6) missed a chance to tie for the division lead, instead losing for the fifth time in six games.
Four offensive starters were inactive for New England, and a fifth — running back Corey Dillon — played briefly because of a leg injury. Brady went 21-for-36 for 275 yards and a pair of touchdown passes to Watson.
BILLS 14, CHIEFS 3: At Orchard Park, J.P. Losman, taking over after Kelly Holcomb hurt his head in the second quarter, led Bills touchdown drives on two of his first four possessions and showed he deserved his starting job back.
Losman finished 9-of-16 for 137 yards, hitting Lee Evans for both touchdowns. Losman was focused and efficient, looking nothing like the hesitant first-year starter who went 1-3 before being replaced by Holcomb following a 19-7 loss to New Orleans on Oct. 2.
The Bills (4-5), coming off their bye week, limited the Chiefs (5-4) to 316 yards while generating three interceptions, a fumble and six sacks. Trent Green was uncharacteristically sloppy, going 23-of-40 for 220 yards and three interceptions — after throwing three in his previous eight games. His first interception ended Green's streak at 159 attempts without an interception.
JAGUARS 30, RAVENS 3: At Jacksonville, Greg Jones ran for a career-high 106 yards and a touchdown, Matt Jones had a career-high 117 yards receiving and a score and the Jaguars reached 30 points for the first time since 2001.
Jacksonville (6-3) snapped its NFL-record 58-game streak of not scoring at least 30 points. The Jaguars tied Cleveland's mark last week.
Mike Peterson's 26-yard interception return for a score put the Jaguars at the 30-point mark for the first time since Dec. 23, 2001, a 33-3 victory over Minnesota. The Ravens (2-7) lost their fourth consecutive game and eighth in a row on the road. The Ravens also extended their streak of not scoring a touchdown to 11 quarters.
LIONS 29, CARDINALS 21: At Detroit, Roy Williams caught a career-high three touchdown passes from Joey Harrington as Detroit (4-5) ended a two-game losing streak and Arizona (2-7) lost its third straight.
The Lions led 19-3 at halftime and by 15 with 8:35 left before Arizona came back.
The Cardinals pulled to 29-21 with 2:24 left on Kurt Warner's 8-yard pass to Larry Fitzgerald. After not recovering the onside kick, Arizona got the ball back at its 18 with 1:01 left. The Cardinals' comeback hopes ended at their 39 with a deflected pass on fourth down.
Williams, playing an entire game for the first time since Oct. 2, had seven receptions for 117 yards and caught TD passes of 7, 21 and 29 yards. The last Lion to catch three TDs in a game was Herman Moore in 1995.
BUCCANEERS 36, REDSKINS 35: At Tampa, somehow, Mike Alstott found a way into the end zone on a gutsy 2-point conversion call by coach Jon Gruden.
Alstott's run with 58 seconds remaining came after the Redskins (5-4) blocked a potential game-tying extra point, only to be penalized for being offside on the previous play. Alstott was hit at the line and appeared stopped before twisting and keeping his legs moving to barely get into the end zone. The conversion stood after the replay official's review.
Chris Simms threw for 279 yards and two touchdowns for the Bucs (6-3), including a 30-yarder to Edell Shepherd that set up the exciting finish. Clinton Portis ran for 144 yards and snapped a 28-28 tie with an 8-yard run.
SEAHAWKS 31, RAMS 16: At Seattle, Shaun Alexander ran for 165 yards on a season-high 33 carries and three touchdowns, and the Seahawks took a three-game division lead on second-place St. Louis.
Seattle (7-2) turned St. Louis' botched fake field goal attempt in the second quarter into a 24-3 scoring run and has won five straight overall for the first time since 1999. The Seahawks swept St. Louis after losing the previous four to the Rams (4-5).
Marc Bulger finished 28-for-40 with 304 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
PACKERS 33, FALCONS 25: At Atlanta, Nigerian-born Samkon Gado ran for 103 yards and scored three touchdowns as the Packers (2-7) won for the second time this season.
Brett Favre threw for 252 yards and came up with a great escape on a drive that led to Ryan Longwell's fourth field goal, a 51-yarder with 4:01 remaining that restored Green Bay's nine-point lead.
Less than a minute later, rookie receiver Roddy White finished off the Falcons (6-3) with their sixth fumble of the day. Nick Barnett scooped up the ball and returned it to the Atlanta 2, where Gado powered into the end zone for his third TD.
Michael Vick threw for 209 yards and a couple of TDs.
PANTHERS 30, JETS 3: At Charlotte, Will Witherspoon returned an interception 35 yards for a touchdown and Ken Lucas grabbed two of Carolina's four interceptions.
Carolina (7-2) forced six turnovers to pull away after an uneventful first half. The Panthers scored 20 points off turnovers.
Carolina led 10-3 before the Jets (2-7) and quarterback Brooks Bollinger unraveled. The strong defensive showing helped Carolina win on a day in which star receiver Steve Smith was a non-factor with three catches for 34 yards. Bollinger finished 11-of-21 for 98 yards.
STEELERS 34, BROWNS 21: At Pittsburgh, Charlie Batch improvised a 1-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter, and his passing led to another score before he left with a broken right hand.
Tommy Maddox replaced Batch to run an efficient and time-consuming offense in the second half, and college QB-turned-wide receiver Antwaan Randle El threw a 51-yard scoring pass to Hines Ward on a reverse early in the third quarter to put the Steelers (7-2) up 24-7.