Unbeaten Colts keep Ravens out of end zone, improve to 10-0 with 17-15 victory

Colts beat Ravens 17-15 to go to 10-0

The Indianapolis Colts are two wins away from the longest winning streak in NFL history.

The Colts kept Baltimore out of the end zone Sunday and got the go-ahead field goal from former Ravens kicker Matt Stover in a 17-15 victory, their 19th straight regular-season win over two seasons.

Indianapolis (10-0) overcame three turnovers, including two interceptions by Peyton Manning. The Colts’ 19-game streak is the second-longest in NFL history behind a 21-game run by the New England Patriots (2006-08). Their eight consecutive 10-win seasons rank second behind San Francisco’s 16 (1983-98).

Indianapolis has won its last four games by a combined 10 points. The Colts usually rely on Manning, who fashioned a huge comeback against New England last week. Nearly everyone contributed to this one.

“To be able to come out of this game with a win is huge,” rookie coach Jim Caldwell said. “We’re not going to ever sneeze at being 10-0, but we’re doing it by a small margin these days.”

The defense forced a field goal after Baltimore got a first-and-goal at the 1 in the fourth quarter, and linebacker Gary Brackett sealed the win with an interception in the closing minutes.

“We are definitely a bend-but-not-break defense,” Brackett said. “They drove a couple of times on us, but we held them to field goals.”

Baltimore’s last chance ended when Ed Reed fumbled on a punt return with 17 seconds left.

Manning did his part by throwing a touchdown pass and directing a 60-yard drive before Stover — much to the dismay of the Ravens and their fans — kicked a 25-yard field goal with 7:02 to go. Baltimore (5-5) did not re-sign Stover over the summer, and the move has proven costly.

Billy Cundiff made field goals of 46, 44, 38, 36 and 20 yards in his debut with the Ravens. But he also was wide right on a 30-yard attempt that would have given Baltimore a 15-14 lead in the third quarter.

Cundiff tied Stover’s team record for field goals in a game. He was signed Wednesday after Baltimore cut an ineffective Steve Hauschka — who originally replaced Stover.

After Stover’s field goal made it 17-15, Brackett picked off Joe Flacco’s pass at the Indianapolis 13 with 2:42 remaining.

“I made a dumb play and threw an interception in a tight situation,” Flacco said.

At Tampa, Fla., Drew Brees threw for three touchdowns and the Saints shrugged off a slow start defensively to remain unbeaten.

Robert Meacham caught touchdown passes of 4 and 6 yards in the first half. Third-string running back Mike Bell scored on runs of 3 and 1 yards in the second half, when New Orleans gained 147 of its 183 yards rushing. The Saints (10-0) have their first 10-game winning streak in franchise history.

A spate of turnovers made the Saints seem more vulnerable over the past month, but Brees didn’t throw an interception for the first time in five games. The Saints also didn’t allow a sack for the first time since Oct. 18 against the Giants.

Tampa Bay (1-9) drove 95 yards for a touchdown on its first possession. But Josh Freeman had little success after his 18-yard scoring pass to Michael Clayton gave the Bucs a short-lived 7-0 lead.

At Kansas City, Mo., Ryan Succop kicked a 22-yard field goal with 8:28 left in overtime after Chris Chambers’ 61-yard catch-and-run, and the Chiefs snapped a team-record 10-game home losing streak.

The Super Bowl champs, with Charlie Batch replacing a shaken-up Ben Roethlisberger in overtime, had to punt on their first possession. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Roethlisberger’s injury was a “concussion-oriented thing.”

The Chiefs faced third down when Matt Cassel connected with Chambers, who went 61 yards before he was pushed out of bounds at the 4. Succop, the final player drafted in April, kicked the game-winner for the Chiefs’ first home victory in more than a year. Succop also had a 27-yarder that tied it 17-17 in the final seconds of the third quarter.

It was the second loss in a row for the Steelers (6-4), who were without injured Pro Bowl safety Troy Polamalu. The Steelers had the ball for almost 19 minutes longer than the Chiefs (3-7) and outgained them 463-206. The Chiefs stayed in it with a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and a 94-yard interception return.

At Denver, Philip Rivers and a dominant defense led the Chargers into sole possession of first place, drubbing the Broncos, who couldn’t move the ball effectively behind either of their quarterbacks.

The Chargers (7-3) have won five straight and the Broncos (6-4) have dropped four in a row, turning the division race upside-down. Just five weeks ago, the Chargers trailed the Broncos by 3½ games.

The balance of power in the AFC West couldn’t have shifted in a more dramatic fashion.

Rivers was a crisp 17 for 22 and led San Diego to scores on seven of 10 drives. Nate Kaeding kicked four field goals and the Chargers also recovered an onside kick, had three sacks and forced three turnovers.

The Broncos? They were flagged nine times to San Diego’s one. Chris Simms’ first start since nearly being killed in a game three years ago didn’t last long. After getting sacked twice and losing a fumble, he was replaced by Kyle Orton, who didn’t take a single snap in practice last week because of a sprained ankle.

Simms was just 2 for 4 for 10 yards with two sacks over three series. Orton entered to a standing ovation, but also struggled.

At Oakland, Calif., Bruce Gradkowski threw a 29-yard tying touchdown pass to Louis Murphy with 33 seconds left and Sebastian Janikowski kicked a 33-yard field goal after Andre Caldwell fumbled the ensuing kickoff.

The Bengals (7-3) have lost all 10 games in Oakland, including one playoff game.

Oakland (3-7) rallied from an early 14-point deficit and trailed 17-10 with 2:06 left when Gradkowski took over at the 20-yard line. Gradkowski, who took the starting job from JaMarcus Russell this week, threw a 19-yard pass to Zach Miller, then a 16-yarder to Chaz Schilens on fourth-and-10.

After a spike, Gradkowski found Murphy near the goal line. Murphy got loose from Morgan Trent and dived across the goal line for the tying score.

Just when it seemed as if the game was headed to overtime, Caldwell was stripped by Brandon Myers on the kickoff, giving the Raiders the ball at the 17.

At Foxborough, Mass., the defense Bill Belichick didn’t want to put on the field a week ago kept the offense of the Jets off it.

Leigh Bodden had three of the four interceptions thrown by Mark Sanchez and the Patriots’ defense allowed just one touchdown and 226 yards. The victory gave them a two-game lead in the AFC East and sent the Jets (4-6) to their sixth loss in seven games.

Now the critics of the Patriots coach can take a week off.

They questioned Belichick for going on fourth-and-2 at his 28-yard line rather than punt to the Colts and hope his defense could stop Peyton Manning last Sunday night. The play failed and Manning and the Colts moved 29 yards to Manning’s scoring pass and a decisive extra point in their 35-34 win.

Tom Brady completed 28 of 41 passes for 310 yards, his fifth straight game with more than 300. Wes Welker set career highs with 15 receptions for 192 yards. And Laurence Maroney ran for two touchdowns, his fifth consecutive game with at least one, for New England (7-3).

At Minneapolis, Brett Favre completed a career-high 88 percent of his passes for 213 yards and four touchdown passes and the Vikings delivered their most complete performance of the season.

Favre completed 22 of his 25 throws for the Vikings (9-1). His previous career high was 85.2 percent against Detroit on Sept. 20. But he has only completed at least 80 percent two other times in his previous 18 seasons in the league.

Favre threw touchdown passes to Percy Harvin, Visanthe Shiancoe and Bernard Berrian in a 21-point second quarter that got the Vikings rolling, then finished his day with a 7-yard pass to Sidney Rice with 4 minutes to play in the third quarter. It was his 22nd career game with at least four touchdown passes, surpassing Dan Marino.

Nate Burleson had six catches for 100 yards for Seattle (3-7), which rushed for a franchise-low 4 yards on 13 carries. The injury-ravaged Seahawks have lost seven of their last nine.

At Detroit, an ailing Matthew Stafford threw his fifth touchdown pass from 1 yard to Brandon Pettigrew, and Jason Hanson’s extra point with no time on the clock gave Detroit a thrilling win.

Detroit was given the untimed play because safety Hank Poteat was called for pass interference in the end zone when Stafford heaved a desperation attempt. Stafford was hit after his throw to the end zone and appeared to hurt his left shoulder or chest area. He was replaced by Daunte Culpepper.

The Browns, though, gave Stafford a chance to get back in the game by calling a timeout with the ball at the 1-yard line. Stafford returned and connected with fellow rookie Pettigrew to snap Detroit’s six-game losing streak.

The Lions (2-8) started the winning drive with 1:46 remaining and no timeouts. Stafford, the No. 1 pick in the draft, did just enough to rally them for the win — helped hugely by the call that went against the Browns (1-9).

Brady Quinn threw four TDs, surpassing his previous career total, and helped Cleveland score a franchise-record 24 points in the first quarter.

At East Rutherford, N.J., Eli Manning and the offense bailed out the Giants’ top-ranked defense.

Lawrence Tynes kicked a 36-yard field goal 3:54 into overtime to make up for an earlier miss after the defense blew a two-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter.

Manning threw for a career-high 384 yards and three touchdown passes, including two to Kevin Boss, to help the Giants (6-4) snap a four-game skid coming off their bye week. Manning set up Tynes’ winner when he connected with Mario Manningham for a 29-yard pass.

It wasn’t an easy win for the Giants, though, as the defense — without injured linebacker Antonio Pierce indefinitely — couldn’t hold a 31-17 lead against Matt Ryan and the Falcons (5-5).

Ryan threw a 4-yard scoring pass to Eric Weems with 6:01 left in regulation, then found Tony Gonzalez for 11 yards with 28 seconds remaining to tie it.

New York also lost running back Brandon Jacobs to an injured right leg late in the third quarter.

At St. Louis, Kurt Warner spent the second half pacing the sideline after taking a blow to the head, still in uniform but shut down for the day. Warner threw for 203 yards and two touchdowns while building a 21-3 cushion.

Tim Hightower had 110 yards on 14 carries, the first 100-yard game of the season for a team ranked next to last in the NFL in rushing, helping the Cardinals (7-3) win for the sixth time in seven games and go 5-0 on the road.

Steven Jackson became the first Rams player to post five consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, gaining 116 yards on 24 carries with a fourth quarter touchdown that cut the deficit to eight points. It’s also the fourth straight 100-yard game for Jackson.

The Rams (1-9) showed life in the second half after a miserable start, but are 0-4 at home after losing to the Cardinals for the sixth straight time.

At Arlington, Texas, Tony Romo led a single scoring drive, hitting Patrick Crayton for a 10-yard touchdown pass with 2:41 left to preserve first place in the NFC East.

The Cowboys (7-3) avoided getting shut out the previous week by scoring with 38 seconds left at Green Bay, then almost saw it happen again at home.

Shaun Suisham put Washington ahead 6-0 with field goals of 45 and 31 yards. But he missed a 39-yard attempt shortly before halftime and a 50-yarder that would’ve made it 9-0 with 7:06 left. Suisham had been 13 of 13 this season before those misses.

The Redskins (3-7) were without expensive defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth (sprained left ankle). They lost RB Ladell Betts (left knee) on their second series.

At Green Bay, Wis., Aaron Rodgers made San Francisco pay for a draft-day snub in 2005. Rodgers threw touchdowns to Greg Jennings and Jordy Nelson, and Ryan Grant rushed for 129 yards and a score. The Packers (6-4) saw outside linebacker Aaron Kampman injure his left knee and cornerback Al Harris also injured a knee.

Rodgers was 32 of 45 for 344 yards, including 274 in the first half as the Packers took a 23-3 lead.

Alex Smith, chosen by the 49ers instead of Rodgers, recovered from a rough start to make things interesting with three second-half touchdowns, including rookie Michael Crabtree’s first career score, but it wasn’t enough for the 49ers (4-6).

At Jacksonville, Fla., David Garrard’s second game-winning drive in as many weeks gave the Jaguars their first three-game winning streak in nearly two years. Garrard threw a touchdown pass to Mike Sims-Walker with 56 seconds remaining, spoiling Perry Fewell’s debut as interim coach of the Bills (3-7).

Buffalo bottled up Maurice Jones-Drew, pressured Garrard and managed 300 yards of offense for the first time in two months. But Garrard directed a 68-yard scoring drive when it mattered for the Jaguars (6-4).

Terrell Owens caught nine passes for 197 yards, including a team-record 98-yarder for a score. It was his best outing with the Bills, who have lost three straight and six of eight.

At Chicago, Donovan McNabb threw for 244 yards against his hometown team, LeSean McCoy scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 10-yard run following Antonio Dixon’s block of a field goal attempt, and Philadelphia came away with a victory over struggling Chicago.

The Bears were leading 20-17 when Dixon blocked a 48-yard field goal by Robbie Gould with 11 minutes left. McNabb then led the Eagles (6-4) on a 62-yard touchdown drive that McCoy capped with a neat 10-yard run, sending Chicago to its fifth loss in six games and delivering another big hit to its playoff hopes.

Barring a big run, the Bears (4-6) will miss the postseason for the third straight season — certainly not what they expected when they made that big offseason trade with Denver for Jay Cutler.