Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • 41

1 DAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2000 NFL: WEEK 10 DETROIT FREE PRESS 9D NFC CENTRAL NFC ROUNDUP AFC ROUNDUP TENNESSEE 9, PITTSBURGH 7 TAMPA BAY 27, ATLANTA 14 Rues get gives Titans 8 in row fX -v fy. Colon i' 1 Last drive FREE PRESS NEWS SERVICES NASHVILLE, Tenn. Al Del Greco kicked his third field goal, a 29-yarder with four seconds left, as the Titans rallied for their eighth straight victory. They are 8-1 for the first time in franchise history and kept the Steelers (5-4) from pulling within a game of the AFC Central lead. Pittsburgh had won five straight.

"As long as we're getting the wins, we can't complain about how we're winning or by how many points we're winning," said receiver Derrick Mason (Detroit Mumford, Michigan State). It looked as if the Titans would suffer their first loss in two years at Adelphia Coliseum as they committed a season-high 14 penalties for 115 yards. But Steve McNair took control just in time. He connected with Mason on three passes, the biggest a 17-yarder on fourth-and-eight at the Pittsburgh 42 with 2:12 left. Mason made a season-high eight catches for 92 yards: Eddie George, who rushed 34 times for 98 yards, ran up the middle 11 yards.

The Titans ran down the clock and let Del Greco, OAKLAND 49, KANSAS Sr JOHN Prest ta in the third quarter, makes Dewayne Washington flies by. 3 1 Raiders overcome Grbac's 500 yards The Titans failed to get in the end zone despite five straight, trips inside the Steelers' 20, and NcNair made the first halftime speech of his career after the Ti-, tans committed eight penalties. The Steelers' defense has not allowed a touchdown in 20 quarters. Tyrone Wheatley finished with 112 yards on 20 carries. Rison caught '1 two passes in the game both for touchdowns.

The Chiefs (5-4) had won five of their past six going into Sunday's game, with their only loss coming against Oakland. Elvis Grbac completed 39 of 53 for 500 yards. He hit Derrick Al-( exander with a pair of touchdown passes and Tony Richardson ran for another score. Grbac added a three-yard keeper. seconds FREE PRESS NEWS SERVICES OAKLAND, Calif.

Two former Chiefs did in their old mates. Rich Gannon threw four touchdown passes, two to Andre Rison, as the Raiders won their sixth straight and opened a three-game lead in the AFC West. There also was an aura of mystery to the game. Sebastian Janikowski, Oakland's top draft pick, made one practice kick in warm-ups and then left the field surrounded by CHRIS GAR0NERAs8ociatedPr88 Philadelphia's David Akers gets a lift from Jeff Thomason after beating the Cowboys with an overtime field goal. PHILADELPHIA 16, DALLAS 13 (OT) McNabb rallies Eagles, tops liis hero Cunningham SEATTLE 17, SAN DIEGO 15 Al Del Greco, who had missed a a 29-yarder with four seconds left who had missed a 24-yarder in the third quarter, try again.

"Thank God for second chances," he said. Kordell Stewart put the Steelers up, 7-6, on a 30-yard pass to tight end Mark Bruener with 8:27 left. They got the ball back with 4:38 left but went three and out. CITY 31 trainers. His departure was not explained by the Raiders.

Three weeks ago, Janikowski kicked a 43-yard field goal with 25 seconds left to give the Raiders a 20-17 victory in Kansas City, the third straight Chiefs-Raiders game decided by a field goal. But Oakland (8-1) didn't need him for its third straight victory against the Chiefs something Oakland hasn't done since 1982-84. Gannon completed 20 of 31 for 242 yards, hitting tight end Rickey Dudley for the two other scores. again in final San Diego had 398 total yards to Seattle's 128. The Chargers had a big advantage in possession time, 39:51 to 20:09.

Seattle drove from its 34 to the San Diego 30 to position Lindell for his field goal. The Seahawks overcame a holding penalty on Christian Fauria that wiped out a 14-yard touchdown run by Ricky Watters with 1:15 to go. On a third-and-16 from the San Diego 37, Jon Kitna eluded a tackle by Neil Smith and threw an 18- JETS 23 shine; Jets fail Griese was coolly efficient, particularly on third downs, in passing for 327 yards and two touchdowns both to Ed McCaffrey. Davis, returning from foot and ankle injuries that hobbled him since the season opener, rushed for 115 yards his first 100-yard game since Denver won its second straight Super Bowl in January 1999. Griese, the son of Hall of Fame quarterback Bob Griese, was 23-for-35 in exploiting the Jets' leaky secondary.

Griese's biggest plays just block everything off, try to hit the ball solid, and just don't let things bother me." The Bills (5-4) have won four games on Christie's field goals in the last minute of regulation or overtime this year, including last week's 23-20 victory over the Jets on the final play of regulation. He has made 15 of his past 16 tries. "He's an amazing guy under pressure," coach Wade Phillips said. The Patriots (2-7) lost quarterback Drew Bledsoe to an injured as Johnson ball in second straight win FREE PRESS NEWS SERVICES ATLANTA Keyshawn Johnson played a big role in the offense forithe second straight week, catching a pair of touchdown passes from Shaun King as the Buccaneers (5-4) tied the Lions for second in the NFC Central. "I expect to score touchdowns," Johnson said.

"They don't pay me $56 million to stand around and do nothing." Johnson was having a frustrate ing first season with Tampa Bay until he met with King about getting the ball more. Last week, Johnson responded with six catches for a season-high 121 yards and a score in a 41-13 rout of previously unbeaten Minnesota. He followed up against the Falcons with his first two-touchdown game of the season. Johnson hauled in a five-yard scoring pass in the second, quarter and a clinching 29-yarder in the fourth doubling his season TD output. "I'm doing the same things I did the first half of the season except fumble," Johnson said.

Tampa Bay won its second in a row after a four-game losing streak, rekindling memories of last year's strong finish. The Bucs won eight of their final nine and captured the NFC Central title. King threw for only 110 yards but three touchdowns, giving him seven in the past two games. He had six in the first seven weeks. The Falcons (3-7) lost quarterback Chris Chandler to a concussion early in the second quarter.

They play next Sunday at Detroit. "We won't surrender," coach Dan' Reeves said. The Falcons' last hurrah came when they cut the deficit to 14-7 on Danny Kanell's 19-yard pass to Terance Mathis, completing an 87-yard drive to begin the second half. The other TD came in the final minute. The Bucs' Donnie Abraham made two interceptions.

CHICAGO 27, INDIANAPOLIS 24 Beais build 27-0 lead, get turnover at end to win FREE PRESS NEWS SERVICES CHICAGO Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher saw the Indianapolis Colts come down with the onside kick with 90 seconds left and thought, "Not again." seems like a lot of games, we've found a way to lose at the end," he said. "But we held 'em when it counted." Rosevelt Colvin slammed into Peyton Manning as he went back to throw, forcing a fumble, and Phipip Daniels jumped on the ball with 1:05 left, preserving the Bears' victory after they almost blew a 27-0 lead. Jim Miller, making his first start of the season in place of injured Cade McNown, threw for 214 yards and a touchdown. The Bears (2-7) bunt a 20-0 halftime lead. When cornerback Walt Harris returned his first interception of the season 35 yards for a score, it was 27-0 early in the third.

"We haven't met the expectations we had for ourselves," Harris said. "We fejt we had to turn up the heat and prove to ourselves where we are." The Colts ran three plays in the first quarter, and had the ball for only 8:55 in the half. They didn't score until Edgerrin James' one-yard run with six minutes left in the third quarter. James scored on a 21-yard pass from Manning with 6:39 left, making, it 27-17, and Manning found Jerome Pathon for a 19-yard score with 1:36 left, ahead of the onside kick. But Colvin's stop dropped the Colts (6-3) a game out of first in the AFC East.

"We're not the type of team that can afford to just blow off the 1 whole first half and expect to FREE PRESS NEWS SERVICES PHILADELPHIA Donovan McNabb beat Randall Cunningham at his own game. McNabb threw for 228 yards and ran for 58 more, and David Akers kicked a 32-yard field goal with 7:05 left in overtime as the Eagles (6-4) swept Dallas (3-6) for the first time since 1990. Dallas took a 13-10 lead on Tim Seder's. 27-yard field goal with 1:51 left. But McNabb, a second-year quarterback, drove the Eagles 54 yards in 96 seconds, and Akers' 34-yard field goal tied the game with 11 seconds left.

McNabb accounted for all the yards on the drive, including a 19-yard run. He had runs of 17 yards yard pass to rookie Darrell Jackson, putting Seattle in field goal range. The Chargers took a 15-14 lead with 5:40 left on John Carney's 28- yard field goal. Moses Moreno came off the bench to replace injured Jim Har-1 baugh at quarterback and drive the Chargers 73 yards in 14 plays in 9:12 to position Carney for his third field goal of the day. Har- baugh's injury was not disclosed before the game ended.

Chargers lose FREE PRESS NEWS SERVICES 1 SEATTLE Rookie Rian Lin-dell's 48-yard field goal as time expired gave the Seahawks the victory and dropped the Chargers to 0-9. They have lost two straight on field goals in the final seconds and have lost five games by three points or fewer. The Seahawks (3-7) ended a five-game losing streak. Their last previous victory was in San Diego on Sept. 24.

DENVER 30, NEW YORK Griese, Davis FREE PRESS NEWS SERVICES EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -Brian Griese looked like his old man and Terrell Davis looked like his old self. That was enough for the Broncos. The comeback magic the Jets have possessed all season helped them overcome a 17-0 deficit. But they couldn't stop Denver's offense when it mattered most, and they couldn't get in from the 2 in four tries in the final minute.

ARIZONA 16, WASHINGTON 15 103-yard fumble return helps Cards spring upset and 23 yards in a fourth-quarter drive that led to a tying touchdown, and he survived an interception in overtime as the Cowboys fumbled the ball back at the Eagles' 48. McNabb then completed three straight passes, including a 22-yarder to Darnell Autry. "I had double vision watching him in the third and fourth quarter," said Cunningham, 37. "I remember back when I was his age making plays here like that." Cunningham, playing his first game in Philadelphia since his 11-year career with the Eagles ended in 1995, was 14-of-22 for 109 yards. He ran nine times for 22 yards.

"He's a guy I idolized and watched," McNabb said. "I tried to assimilate my game after him." three-game losing streak and gave Dave McGinnis his first victory in his second game as interim head coach. The upset came two days before Maricopa County voters decide on a measure to build Arizona a new stadium. Kris Heppner kicked field goals of 35, 28 and 29 yards, but his 33-yarder that would have given Washington the lead with 5:10 remaining was wide right. Heppner also missed a 51-yarder earlier in the fourth quarter.

Davis rushed for 124 yards on 30 carries. Jeff George, in his first start for Washington in place of injured Brad Johnson, completed 20 of 39 for 276 yards but was intercepted twice. version in three of them. "That shows they have no respect for our defense," safety Lance Schulters said. "And why should they?" "It was shocking," San Francisco coach Steve Mariucci said.

"I couldn't believe my We couldn't get them off the field. We couldn't get them to punt. I think we had 19 snaps in the first half with our offense and had a turnover and a missed field goal." Blake completed 20 of 26 for 275 yards. Joe Horn finished with 167 yards on nine catches, and Ricky Williams gained 81 yards on 27 carries. And San Francisco (2-8), the No.

2 offense in the NFC, was stvmied most of the game by the NFC's No. 1 defense. FREE PRESS NEWS SERVICES TEMPE, Ariz. Aeneas Williams returned a fumble by Stephen Davis 103 yards for a touchdown the second-longest fumble return in NFL history and MarTay Jenkins took the second-half kickoff 72 yards to set up Michael Pittman's seven-yard run for Arizona's other touchdown. The difference turned out to be Washington's botched conversion kick early in the second quarter.

Washington (6-4), coming off a 27-21 home loss to Tennessee on Monday night, had a 27-11 advantage in first downs and 331-178 in total yards, but Arizona's defense tightened when it counted most. The Cardinals (3-6) snapped a BUFFALO 16, NEW ENGLAND 13 (OT) Christie comes through again for Bills at finish came on a 49-yard connection with Rod Smith, setting up Jason Elam's third field goal, a 23-yarder that broke a 20-20 tie. Then Griese found McCaffrey behind Aaron Glenn for 47-yard touchdown on third down for the. winning points. Denver is 5-4.

New York (6-3) threw four times from the 2 on its final drive, including Vinny Testaverde's lob under pressure that fell short of wide-open Richie Anderson in the end zone on fourth down. right hand in the second quarter, but John Friesz did just enough to lead them to Adam Vinatieri's 43-yard field goal for a 13-10 lead with 2:03 left. Bledsoe wouldn't reveal the results of rays, and there was no word on his availability for next Sunday's game at Cleveland. Doug Flutie, starting his third game for injured Rob Johnson, led the Bills on drives of 46 and 52 yards to Christie's last two kicks. A 22-yard interference penalty on Ty Law aided the winning drive.

Return" early in the second quar- ter for Stokley, a second-year receiver who had not played most of 1 the season. "I told Brandon when 4 we practiced that play during the week, 'Watch, this will be the play that Billick said. "As soon as he went in motion, I knew they were in the right coverage," said Dilfer, dressed in a blue long-sleeve shirt with sewn on the cuff. "It was just a matter of going back and hitting the free throw." FREE PRESS NEWS SERVICES FOXBORO, Mass. The clock ticks down, Steve Christie trots on, and the Buffalo Bills celebrate.

The remarkable has become routine for a kicker whose 32-yard field goal at 4:32 of overtime beat the Patriots. He also was surefooted on the rain-soaked field with a 48-yard line drive that tied the game with four seconds left. "It was wet and the balls were getting heavy," Christie said. "I NEW ORLEANS 31, SAN FRANCISCO 15 Saints play perfect half, make believers of 49ers BALTIMORE 27, CINCINNATI 7 Ravens! Drought ends Touchdown, FREE PRESS NEWS SERVICES FREE PRESS NEWS SERVICES NEW ORLEANS Jeff Blake threw three touchdown passes as the Saints (6-3) opened a 28-0 halftime lead and won their fifth in a row, a streak in which they have averaged more than 26 points. The Saints didn't even punt until the fourth quarter.

"I think we're starting to feel comfortable with what's going on with our offense," Blake said. "Guys are trusting each other and believing that, hey, that guy is going to be there and he's going to make a play." New Orleans had four first-half drives and scored on each going 63, 76, 80 and 74 yards. The Saints made a fourth-down con- "That's a beaut!" coach Brian Billick said. "It allows me to actually sleep one night this week. When you go through struggles like this, yeah, it weighs on you." Trent Dilfer threw two more touchdown passes, to tight end Shannon Sharpe.

Since a 37-0 win over the Bengals (2-7) on Sept. 24, the Ravens (6-4) had gone 21 quarters without a TD matching the 1991 Colts for the longest since the 1970 NFL merger. The Ravens called Angle CINCINNATI Brandon Stokley went in motion, caught his first pass of the season, turned upfield, and saw an amazing thing. The end zone, that place the Ravens hadn't reached in six weeks, was only a few strides and one joyous lunge away. Stokley's 14-yard touchdown catch ended one of the longest offensive slumps in modern NFL history and sparked the Ravens.

come back and win," Pathon said. "It's frustrating because it wasn't so much just one aspect of our game, it was all facets." Manning was 26-of-39 for 302 yards. i.