Santa Maria Times from Santa Maria, California • 13

Monday, September 10, 2007 TIMES B3 National Football League Games of Week One IMOVA I ll-ln-inr in Miami (OT) 13 Washington 16 Kansas City 3 Houston 20 Carolina 27 St. Louis 13 New England 38 NY Jets 14 Philadelphia 13 Green Bay 16 Pittsburgh 34 Cleveland 7 Tennessee 13 Jacksonville 10 Detroit 36 Oakland 21 Chicago 3 San Diego 14 Tampa Bay 6 Seattle 20 Baltimore ancinnatif4p.m. Arizona San Francisco, 7 p.m. Indianapolis 41 Atlanta 3 Minnesota 24 Denver Buffalo 15 14 NY Giants Dallas 35 45 A Men nivicn NATIO NAL ICAN FOOT BALL CONFERENCE PLAYER wt5T rariar OF THE DAY CHARGERS Kansas City Airrnr 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 WL 10 0 0 llNRTI mi IK I 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 IT 1 0 0 1 0 0 10 0 0 10 WLT rt' Pittsburah UQ III 1 1UI wt -1 1 iiii ii inn Pet PF 1.000 15 1.000 14 .000 3 .000 21 Pet PF 1.000 34 .000 0 .000 0 .000 7 Pet PF 1.000 20 1.000 41 1.000 13 .000 10 Pet PF 1.000 38 .000 14 .000 13 .000 14 PA Home Away AFC NFC Div 14 0-0-0 1-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 3 1-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 20 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 36 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 PA Home Away AFC NFC Div 7 0-0-0 1-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 0 0-0-0 0-0-0 O-O-O 0-0-0 0-0-0 0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 34 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0 PA Home Away AFC NFC Div 3 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 10 1-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 10 0-0-0 1-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 13 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0 PA Home Away AFC NFC Div 14 0-0-0 1-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 15 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 16 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 38 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0 FOOTBALL CONFERENCE Pet PF PA Home Away NFC AFC Div 1.000 20 6 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 .000 0 0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 .000 0 0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 .000 13 27 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 Pet PF PA Home Away NFC AFC Div 1.000 36 21 0-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 1.000 16 13 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 1 .000 24 3 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 .000 3 14 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 Pet PF PA Home Away NFC AFC Div. 1.000 27 13 0-0-0 1-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 .000 3 24 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 .000 10 41 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 .000 6 20 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 Pet PF PA Home Away NFC AFC Div 1.000 45 35 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 1.000 16 13 1-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 0-0-0 .000 35 45 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0 .000 13 16 0-0-0 0-1-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0 0 0 1 WEST Seattle Arizona 49ERS St.

Louis NORTH Detroit Green Bay Minnesota Chicago SOUTH Carolina Atlanta New Orleans Tampa Bay EAST Dallas Washington N.Y. Giants Philadelphia i.ni itu ii in 0 1 0 0 i InHiananrilk 1 0 0 1 0 Tennessee Jacksonville 0 1 0 EAST 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 Randy Moss nine receptions, 183 receiving 1 TD WLT 10 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 I IV VI 1.1 IIUI IU Buffalo Miami N.Y. Jets Chargers nm past sloppy Bears "When we're playing at our best, those mistakes don't happen and tonight definitely wasn't our night," said Grossman, who was a pedestrian 12-for-23 for 145 yards and an interception. "We had all the opportunities in the world. Our defense gave us a chance to win this game." Bears 3 Chargers 14 The Chargers, an NFL-best 14-2 in 2006 before their playoff pratfall against New England, had two turnovers and allowed three sacks.

Still, Norv Turner his seven-year career. His longest gain of the day was 10 yards on the final play of the first half, when the Chargers ran out the clock and went into the locker room trailing 34). Tomlinson did catch seven passes for 51 yards, but the guy who saved the Chargers was Gates, who had 107 yards on nine catches. The Bears got away with a big one in the third quarter, when the Chargers were poised to punch it in from the 1. Defensive tackle Tommie Harris appeared to be offside as he anticipated the snap and plowed into Rivers, forcing him to fumble.

Mike Brown recovered and, despite the Chargers' protests, the Bears kept the ball. They ended up punting, though. "The line judge and head linesman just didn't rule on the play as the defender being offsides," referee Pete Morelli said. "That is it, basically." San Diego got an even bigger break as it was forced to punt Mike Scifres' kick was high but well in front of Devin Hester, and the ball bounced off the shoulder of Chicago's Brandon McGowan while he was blocking Michael Turner. San Diego's Matt Wilhelm recovered.

Four plays later, Tomlinson took a toss from Rivers, rolled right and hit Gates in the front right corner of the end zone for a 7-3 lead. It was Tomlinson's seventh career TD pass. "When I got this job, he said to me, "You know, I throw the said Turner, who replaced the fired Marty Schottenheimer in February. I Tomlinsori rushes for one TD, throws for second in victory over Chicago By Bernie Wilson ASSOCIATED PRESS SAN DLEGO The San Diego Chargers didn't look like world-beaters. Against Rex Grossman and the bumbling Chicago Bears, they didn't have to.

LaDainian Tomlinson and the Chargers finally took control of a sloppy season opener, with the ireigning NFL MVP throwing for one touchdown and rushing for another in a 14-3 win over the defending NFC champion Bears. With expectations high for both teams, it was far from the marquee matchup that hyped-up fans expected. And if it was a Super Bowl preview, well, imagine how bad the rat- ings would be. "I told the guys that they were going to make a mistake somewhere and when they did it was our job to capitalize on it," son said. The Bears, who topped the NFC last year at 13-3 before losing in the Super Bowl to Indianapolis, were nothing short of brutal with four turnovers and their fewest points since a 22-3 loss at Jacksonville on Dec.

12, 2004, during Lovie Smith's first season as head coach. Two of the turnovers set up the game's only touchdowns. "rr i Me came away a winner in his debut as Chargers head coach, raising his overall head coaching record with three teams to 59-82-1. "This was a championship-type game," San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers said. "This was a game we didn't win last year.

L.T.'s not going to rush for 170 yards every game. It's about winning." Tomlinson threw a 17-yard TD pass to All-Pro tight end Antonio Gates with 45 seconds left in the third quarter, then scored on a 7-yard run with 9:09 left to play. While Tomlinson tore through Chicago's defense in a shoe commercial that's been airing recently, he didn't fare nearly as well against the real Bears. He was held to 25 yards on 17 carries, the second-lowest total of Associated Press Chargers tailback LaDainian Tomlinson gets into the end zone for the insurance score in San Diego's 14-3 victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday. Tomlinson threw a pass to Antonio Gates for the other TD.

Elam kicks the Broncos past Bills Patriots ride Moss to big win over Jets 1 1 rrrx ASSOCIATED PRESS ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -Leave it to Jason Elam to produce in the clutch. Elam, who has scored more for one team By Dennis Waszak Jr. ASSOCIATED PRESS EAST RUTHERFORD, N. J.

Randy Moss caught a long pass and stepped into the end than anyone else in NFL history, hit a 42-yard field goal just before time ran out to lift the Denver Bron NFL Roundup zone, flashing the dominant play-making ability that made him one of NFL's most Patriots 38 NY Jets 14 wide re- -TXd The Redskins won the coin toss to start overtime and drove 58 yards in 10 plays, all but two runs by Clinton Portis and Ladell Betts. Portis, who missed the entire preseason with knee tendinitis, ran 9 yards to Miami's 22 to set up Suisham's kick, which came on first down. Seahawks 20, Buccaneers 6 SEATTLE Shaun Alexander, playing pain-free for the first time since he broke his foot 12 months ago, ran for 105 yards and one touchdown in a victory over Tampa Bay. Matt Hasselbeck was sharp in his first game following a mediocre season that included two broken fingers. He went 17-for-24 for 222 yards and threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Maurice Morris to clinch the win.

Titans 13, Jaguars 10 JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Chris Brown ran for 175 yards, ince Young and LenDale White combined for another 88 on the ground and Tennessee ran roughshod over Jacksonville. Brown found big holes in Jacksonville's vaunted defense. Most of his big runs came up the middle as Tennessee's offensive line manhandled Pro Bowl tackles Marcus Stroud and John Henderson. Steelers 34, Browns 7 CLEVELAND Ben Roeth-lisberger threw a career-high four touchdown passes and Pittsburgh cruised in Mike Tomlin's NFL coaching debut Willie Parker rushed for 109 yards as the Steelers started the Tomlin Era with the kind of bruising victory that typified former coach Bill Cowher's tenure in the Steel City.

Vikings 24, Falcons 3 MINNEAPOLIS -Somewhere, Michael Vick must have been shaking his head. The Minnesota defense overwhelmed Atlanta's Joey Harrington with six sacks and two interception returns for touchdowns, and rookie running back Adrian Peterson finished off the Falcons. Kevin Williams returned an interception 54 yards for a first-quarter score, and Antoine Win-field ran one back 14 yards in the fourth quarter for Minneso-, ta. Peterson made an amazing catch out of the backfield that he turned into a 60-yard touchdown and finished with 103 yards rushing on 19 carries after starter Chester Taylor hurt his hip. Texans 20, Chiefs 3 HOUSTON -Mario Williams, last year's No.

1 draft pick, returned a fumble for a touchdown, had five tackles including two sacks to help Houston over Kansas City. Matt Schaub had a successful, if a bit inconsistent debut in Houston, going lfof-22 for 225 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Panthers 27, Rams 13 ST. LOUIS Steve Smith out-sprinted Tye Hill on a 68-yard catch for the go-ahead play in Carolina's win. As Smith eased into the end zone, Hill stumbled and then slid on his stomach for several yards.

Smith had seven catches for 118 yards. ceivers. Looks likeifs cos to a 15-14 victory over the Buffalo Bills in their opener Sunday. Elam, who had missed two field goals earlier, almost didn't have a chance to make up for his misses. The Broncos were out of timeouts when Jay Cutler hit Javon Walker for an 11-yard catch with 14 seconds left.

Rather than spiking the ball, the Broncos' field-goal unit rushed out on the field and got the snap off just in time, spoiling what had been a remarkably poised effort for a young Bills defense that lost three starters during the game. Cowboys 45, Giants 35 IRVING, Texas Wade Phillips threw a soft uppercut and smiled widely. He did it early, when his first gamble as coach of Dallas worked out then again in the closing minutes, following a touchdown that also made him let out a big sigh of relief. Marion Barber got things rolling with an 18-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-1, Terrell Owens added two highlight-reel touchdown catches and Tony Romo made up for an interception with a 51-yard touchdown pass to Sam Hurd for a 45-35 victory over injury-depleted New York. Romo threw for a career-high Associated Press Broncos kicker Jason Elam and holder Todd Sauerbrun celebrate after Elam kicked a 42-yard field goal as time expired to beat the Bills 15-14 on Sunday.

345 yards and four touchdowns, plus ran for another, helping the Cowboys match the most points they ever scored in four years under Bill Parcells. Packers 16, Eagles 13 GREEN BAY, Wis. Rookie kicker Mason Crosby's 42-yard field goal with 2 seconds left gave the Green Bay Packers a 16-13 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. The Packers benefited from a second major mistake by the Eagles' special teams, when J.R. Reed bobbled a punt with 59 seconds remaining.

Green Bay's Jarrett Bush recovered at the Philadelphia 31. Reed had replaced returner Greg Lewis, whose muffed punt led to a Packers touchdown in the first quarter. Redskins 16, Dolphins 13 LANDOVER, Md. Shaun Suisham kicked a 39-yard field goal 5:36 into overtime to spoil the NFL head coaching debut of Miami's Cam Cameron. showing no ill effects from the missed time in camp.

"He was a great player before he got to the Patriots," Brady said. "Obviously, he's still a great player." Brady, who faced little pressure from the Jets, was 22-of-28 for 297 yards and three touchdowns, including a 5-yarder to Benjamin Watson that was set up by catches of 22 and 33 yards by Moss. Brady continued his mastery of the Jets, improving to 7-0 against them at Giants Stadium, and 11-2 overall Brady has thrown 17 touchdown passes and only five interceptions in his 14 appearances against the Jets. With many fans still returning to their seats from the half-time break, Hobbs caught Mike Nugent's kickoff deep in the end zone and surprisingly ran it out "It was one of those deals that when he started to run, you yell: 'No! No! No! Yeah! Yeah! Welker said. Hobbs made a few cuts to the left sideline and took off untouched into the end zone to give New England a 21-7 lead 14 seconds into the third quarter.

"When you start going, you can feel it opening up more and more," Hobbs said. "You just want to head for that end zone. I always try to find that sixth or seventh gear, the gear they don't even make" The previous record for longest kickoff return was 106 yards by three players, most recently by Roy Green of the St Louis Cardinals in 1979. The play also tied the record for longest in NFL history, matching the 108-yard missed field goal returns by Chicago's Devin Hester last season against the Giants, and the Bears' Nathan Vasher the previous season against San Francisco. That was tough to swallow," Jets linebacker Jonathan Vilma said.

"It was tough for us to give up that" Laveranues Coles had two touchdown catches for the Jets, who had a scare in the third quarter hen quarterback Chad Pennington hobbled to the sideline with a lower right leg injury. time for opposing defenses to get scared again. Moss caught nine passes from Tom Brady for 183 yards and a touchdown in his New England debut, leading the Patriots to a 38-14 victory over the New York Jets on Sunday. Ellis Hobbs also set an NFL record by taking the second-half kick-off 108 yards for a score. "I was nervous before the game," Moss said.

"I didn't know how much I was going to play or what might happen. I settled down after the first catch and the first hit I don't think I ever was more anxious or more nervous. I didn't know how I would play." Neither did anyone else, including the Patriots. Moss, acquired from Oakland in a draft-day deal, missed most of training camp with a hamstring injury and it was unclear how much of an impact he would have with his new team, or if he'd even play against the Jets. In the end, Moss made all the difference.

Tve been playing long enough so that rve pretty much got down catching balls and making plays after I get them," Moss said. Tve got that covered, but Tve got to get my mind ready." Moss was prepared after two miserable years with the Raiders. A perennial Pro Bowl receiver with Minnesota, he appeared rejuvenated Sunday, MTech-nh SMOG CHECK Cane, mtrtomn i oCrm Act Now! $1500 DEALER INCENTIVE OFFER 'M) Taken Right Off The Invoice 1 1 'i 1 I I i imQW'W'btfeSeedeole' for term. fLJXkAlM i Offer expira August 3O.X07. Professional I SMOG CHECKS 34S5 Some Vans i Slightly Higher Plus Certificate, $8.25 1 i Plus Transmittal Fee 1 CownK linn Oct l5A.3n07 Grass FcIlztsrCertineil Main Street Shell Service 1 204 E.

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