The Tribune from San Luis Obispo, California • 28

THE TRIBUNE SanLuisObispocom NFL Monday September 24 2007 S4 Cowboys 34 Bears 10 Romo outshines Grossman as Cowboys beat hobbfing Bears Rex Grossman had another rough outing going 15 of 32 with 195 yards He threw three interceptions (fid not have a touchdown and was sacked three times twice by DeMartis Ware why he heard more boos from the home crowd Not that he had much help Bernard Berrian caught six passes for 73 yards but dropped a potential touchdown in the first half Cedric Benson ran for 46 yards on 16 carries and the Bears could only muster 239 yards against the 25dHanked defense Henry had a 28-yard interception return early in the fourth quarter to make it 27-10 and Marion Barber scored from the 1-yard line after breaking off a 54-yard run Former Cal Poly cornerback Courtney Brown was inactive for the Cowboys The defending conference champions lost four Pro Bowl players to injuries: linebacker Lance Briggs (groin) cornerback Nathan Vasher (groin) defensive tackle Tommie Harris (knee) and guard Ruben Brown (ankle) rious a contender they are in the NFC during the second half outscoring the Bears 31-7 Dallas is 3D for the first time since 1999 Romo again showed that last rise from obkurity to the Pro Bowl was no fluke going 22 for 33 with two touchdowns and an interception He led the Cowboys on an touchdown drive to start the second hall breaking a 3-3 tie And he put the Cowboys ahead for good 17-10 with a 10-yard touchdown pass late in the third to cap a 91-yard drive Acnociated Prea CHICAGO Tony Romo looked desperate early on scrambling rushing throws and doing all he could to avoid the Chicago Bears' defense The only thing he didn't do was go away Romo passed for 329 yards after a rough start Anthony Henry had two interceptions for the second straight week and the Dallas Cowboys made a big statement beating the Chicago Bears 34-10 on Sunday night The Cowboys showed just how se ASSOCIATED PRE55 Dallas OB Tony Romo Is sacked by Chicago's Mark Anderson on Sunday San struggles Raiders 26 Tomlinson feeling lost in Chargers offense Once thought to be the team to beat in the AFC San Diego is off to a disappointing 1-2 start Oakland Raiders defensive end of regulation The Raiders won ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS Tommy Kelly center Is congratulated by teammates after blocking a fieM goal at the end 26-24 thanks In part to the Mock and 121 rushing yards by La Mont Jordan baton Culpepper Jordan and Kelly's blocked field goal help Oakland get its first win of the season been in sync this season even though coach Norv Turner insists the Chargers will work hard in practice again this week and be OK when they play the Chiefs next weekend "Disheartening? I know that I use that Turner said "We have to make sure we get frustrated and we don't get in the mind-set that keeps us from taking that next step and moving forward and being a team that gets on a roll because we certainly Tomlinson has now run for 130 yards on 57 carries this season He said he recognize whether the issue is him or his blockers know if a problem Tomlinson said "I can't put my finger on one particular thing but obviously there are some things going on that I even know just not happening right San Diego did move the ball effectively for three quarters with two touchdown drives of 80 yards and another for 60 yards that gave the Chaigers a 21-17 lead heading into the fourth Rivers who finished 27 of 36 for 306 yards and three touchdowns was particularly sharp He opened the game by tying a franchise record of 15 straight completions set by Dan Fouts in 1981 But things came unraveled in the fourth quarter San Diego gained 82 yards Rivers went 6 of 11 but was sacked once and intercepted once Gates made just one catch and Tomlinson had four carries Still the Chargers had the ball and the lead on third and-3 with 2:31 to play Instead of handing off to Tomlinson Rivers overthrew Vincent Jackson and the Chargers had to punt got be able to finish in the crucial situations and we do Rivers said "The interception is what it is the obvious one but the third-down conversion that we hit You convert that and they may not get it back and if they do they have one timeout and a long way to go" Auociated Preai GREEN BAY Wis -LaDainian Tomlinson said his confidence remains strong He sure look or sound convinced a lot of people going to fry to divide this team and going to be talk about not as good as a lot of people think we said Tomlinson mumbling swallowing hard and staring straight ahead "That may be the case but got 13 more games to go and so we better find out whaf going on real Tomlinson acknowledged lost and mystified by San 1-2 start after losing to the Green Bay Packers 31-24 on Sunday think confidence is the last thing to go just a little frustrated kind of baffled at just the team right Tomlinson said After being the class of the AFC the Chargers have lost as many regular season games as they did all of last year where we expected to linebacker Shawne Merriman said "We expected to be 34) right now It happen so we keep playing" Tomlinson last MVP with 1815 yards rushing and a record 31 touchdowns again found littie room to run with 62 yards on 22 carries He reached the end zone once on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Philip Rivers but also got into an animated conversation with him on the sideline in the third quarter that they both downplayed as "competitive "It appears to be like arguing but it wasn't really arguing it was competitive Tomlinson said just things you get into sometimes with guys trying to get on the same Tomlinson was open on a swing route on thirdand5 with 4:26 left in the quarter but Rivers tried to forcea ball that fell incomplete to Antonio Gates who finished with 11 catches for 113 yards The show of frustration was fitting San Diego seemingly hasn't Browns 24 I top 23-17 with a 1-yard run with 10 seconds left in the third quarter Jordan also scampered 27 yards on a screen pass on third-and-23 to set up Janikowski's 48-yard field goal that made it 26-17 midway through the fourth The Raiders defense made Anderson look ordinary a Jets 31 Dolphins 28 EAST RUTHERFORD NJ-Qiad Remington left no question whether his injured right ankle was completely healed Showing no ill effects from the injury that sidelined him last week Pennington threw two touchdown passes and ran for another as he consistently moved the offense Buccaneers 24 Rams 3 TAMPA Fla Hard-hitting safety Jermaine Phillips and reserve cornerback Phillip Buchanon intercepted passes as the revamped Buccaneers throttled St Louis' struggling offense Seldom-used running back Earnest Graham entered in the fourth quarto and scored on runs of and 28 yards for Tampa Bay (24) Camell Williams rushed for a 7-yard touchdown in the third quarter and Matt Bryant kicked a short field goal in a brief but intense rainstorm to give Hie Buccaneers a 3-0 lead at the half Chiefs 13 Vhinas 10 KANSAS CITY Mo Damon Huard giving up on getting any production from Larry Johnson hit rookie wide receiver Dwayne Bowe with a fourth-quarter touchdown pass The Chiefs (1-2) beat Minnesota (1-2) to avoid what would have been just their second 0-3 start in 27 yean JadtsonvWe 23 Denver 14 DENVER Fred Taylor rushed for 84 yards as the Jaguars (2-1) controlled the clock for nearly 39 minutes In shutting down the leagued top tailback and its most prolific offense (I week after tying a team record with five touchdown passes in a 51-45 win over Cincinnati Anderson was intercepted twice in die first half and finished 18 for 37 for 248 yards and a touchdown He also scored on a 1-yard run with 3:33 remaining to cut lead to 26-24 Seaheib2Beng2l SEATTLE Nate Burleson caught a 22-yard touchdown pass from Matt Hasselbeck with 1 minute remaining to rescue sputtering Seattle Glenn Holt then got hit with a flying shoulder from Lance Laury while returning the ensuing kickoff Deon Grant recovered the fumble with 54 seconds remaining to seal the win for Seattle (24) Panthers 27 Ftana 20 ATLANTA The Carolina Panthers overcame a 361-yard two-touchdown performance by Joey Harrington and an injury to Jake Ddhomme taking control after Pro Bowl cornerback DeAngelo Hall lost his cooL DeShaun Foster rushed 122 yards and scored a couple of touchdowns but Carolina (24) may have lost its quarterback for a while Deihomme injured his throwing arm in the third quarter and didn't return Atlanta (0-3) went ahead 17-10 on second touchdown pass a 13-yarder to Alge Crumpier Giants 24 Redskins f7 LANDOVER Md A Giants defense that had allowed 80 points in Its first two games allowed only 81 yards after halftime and stopped Washington on four plays from flrst-and-goal at the 1 Hi the final minute New York (1-2) scored the final 21 points and rallied from a two-touchdown deficit Plaxico Burress had five receptions for 86 yards in the second for the Giants Auociated Pich OAKLAND Lane Kiffin showed he's a quick learner at NFL coaching strategy A week after a timeout wiped out Sebastian Janikowski's game-winning kick for Oakland Kiffin successfully used a similar strategy to help the Raiders beat the Cleveland Browns 26-24 Sunday when Tommy Kelly blocked Phil Dawson's last-second field goal attempt Derek Anderson had driven the Browns (1-2) from their own 9-yard line to the Oakland 23 in the final 1:04 without a timeout to set up 40-yard fry Right before the snap Kiffin called timeout just as Denver coach Mike Shanahan did to him a week ago in the Broncos' 23-20 overtime win Like Janikowski a week ago Dawson split the uprights with the kick that did not count His attempt when it did was low and blocked by Kelly setting off a midfield celebration by the Raiders following their first win since last Oct 29 against Pittsburgh Kiffin the NFL's youngest coach in more than four decades at age 32 got his first win LaMont Jordan rushed for 121 yards and a go-ahead touchdown late in the third quarter after Daunte Culpepper relieved an injured Jodi McCown to lead die Raiders (1-2) McCown threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to Ronald Curry in the first half and Janikowski made all four field goal attempts after missing four the first two Weeks including last potential game-winner from 52 yards after Shanahan's timely timeout The late-game dramatics overshadowed another big performance by Jordan who has 350 yards rushing after three games He carried nine times on an 80-yard drive after Cleveland had taken the lead and put Oakland back on for 381 yards and four touchdowns Kevin Curtis had 221 yards receiving and three scores and Philadelphia earned its first win In a stunning offensive display the Eagles (1-2) scored touchdowns on their first five possessions and had a franchise-record 42 points In the first half It was their most points scored since a 5647 victory at the Chicago Cardinals in 1953 Former Cal Poly defensive end Chris Gocong had a pair of tackles at linebacker for the Eagles Ravens totals 23 BALTIMORE Arizona's Kurt Warner orchestrated a dramatic fourth-quarter comeback only to be outdone by another backup quarterback Kyle Boiler moved the Ravens Into position for Matt Stover's winning 46-yard field goal as time expired The Ravens (24) led 20-3 at halftime and 23-6 entering the fourth quarter but struggled in the final 15 minutes for the second straight game Warner rallied the Cardinals 0-2) to a tie at 23 with LSD left Colts 30 Texans 24 HOUSTON Joseph Addal ran for two touchdowns and Adam Vinatieri added three field goals to lead the Colts (3-0) past the injury-ravaged and mistake-prone Texans Houston (2-1) entered the game without star receiver Andre Johnson who sprained his knee last week and lost running back Ahman Green to a knee injury on the first series of the second quarto Roundup Brady Moss making quite a 1-2 punch for unbeaten Patriots Aaociuted Pm FOXBOROUGH Mass Tom Brady and Randy Moss team up for touchdowns as if they've played together all their lives Brady threw two of his four scoring passes to his new deep threat and the New England Patriots (34)) rolled to their third straight rout Sunday with a 38-7 victory over the Buffalo Bills combined for five touchdowns and 403 yards as Moss became the first receiver in NFL history to gain at least 100 yards receiving in each of his first three games with a new team Moss obtained from Oakland in a draft-day trade finished the day with five catches for 115 yards The Bills (63) lost quarterback JP Losman to a knee injury when he was sacked and lost a fumble on his third play Eagles Urn 21 PHILADELPHIA Donovan McNabb threw ASSOCIATED PRESS San Dlaqo's LaDainian Tomlinson trlppad up by Groan Bay safety Atari Bigtoy has rushed for 130 yards In thro games I W3 A.