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Defenses rise up for Bears, Pats, Panthers
2006-11-20
Three fat zeros, as in shutouts, highlighted a day of significant injuries and the fall of the NFL's final unbeaten team. The Bears, Panthers and Patriots all blanked opponents Sunday in a variety of fashions. Chicago and Carolina showed little on offense, but took advantage of takeaways. New England routed Green Bay to end a two-game slide. Muzi.com News 10026752-0 (muzi.com)And Indianapolis, the first team in league history with consecutive 9-0 records, fell at Dallas. Muzi.com News 10026752-1 (muzi.com) The Eagles saw their playoff hopes take a sharp turn for the worse when they lost star quarterback Donovan McNabb for the rest of the year with a torn knee ligament in a loss to Tennessee. Muzi.com News 10026752-2 (muzi.com) Chicago (9-1) ended two long Jets drives with interceptions of Chad Pennington in a 10-0 win. The Bears entered the game with a league-leading 27 takeaways. Muzi.com News 10026752-3 (muzi.com) "I was just reading his eyes," linebacker Brian Urlacher said of his end-zone pickoff. "I don't think he saw me." Muzi.com News 10026752-4 (muzi.com) In the Panthers' 15-0 victory over St. Louis, the Rams had nine punts, an interception, a fumble and a safety as they finished with 111 yards. Mike Rucker had two of the Panthers' seven sacks of Marc Bulger, one for a safety, as Carolina (6-4) moved into a tie with New Orleans atop the NFC South. Muzi.com News 10026752-5 (muzi.com) "We believed that we still have a shot at this thing," Rucker said. "The last couple of weeks we've done our part by winning games." Muzi.com News 10026752-6 (muzi.com) The Patriots (7-3) lost their last two, their first such streak since 2002. They righted things with ease against the Packers, forcing Brett Favre out of the game with a wrist injury and getting four TD passes from Tom Brady in a 35-0 win. Muzi.com News 10026752-7 (muzi.com) "It just felt like everything was going our way," Brady said. Muzi.com News 10026752-8 (muzi.com) Not much went the Colts' way as they fell far short of their 13-0 record of last season before losing. Marion Barber III ran for two fourth-quarter touchdowns in a 21-14 victory. Muzi.com News 10026752-9 (muzi.com) "If we keep playing like this, we have a chance to do something," Cowboys coach Bill Parcells said. Muzi.com News 10026752-10 (muzi.com) Elsewhere, it was Tennessee 31, Philadelphia 13; San Diego 35, Denver 27; Pittsburgh 24, Cleveland 20; Kansas City 17, Oakland 13; Buffalo 24, Houston 21; Baltimore 24, Atlanta 10; Cincinnati 31, New Orleans 16; San Francisco 20, Seattle 14; Miami 24, Minnesota 20; Tampa Bay 20, Washington 17; and Arizona 17, Detroit 10. Muzi.com News 10026752-11 (muzi.com) On Monday night, Jacksonville hosts the New York Giants. Muzi.com News 10026752-12 (muzi.com) Bears 10, Jets 0 Muzi.com News 10026752-13 (muzi.com) Mark Bradley turned a short completion into a 57-yard touchdown 10 seconds into the final quarter. Chicago notched its second shutout this season -- the Bears blanked the Packers at Green Bay on Sept. 10. The Bears, coming off a 38-20 victory over the New York Giants, also became the first road team since the 1999 Redskins to win two straight games at the Meadowlands. Muzi.com News 10026752-14 (muzi.com) Thomas Jones had 121 yards rushing on 23 carries against the Jets (5-5). Muzi.com News 10026752-15 (muzi.com) Panthers 15, Rams 0 Muzi.com News 10026752-16 (muzi.com) The host Panthers handed St. Louis (4-6) a fifth straight loss. Jake Delhomme threw a 62-yard touchdown pass to Steve Smith. Rookie DeAngelo Williams took over for injured running back DeShaun Foster and rushed for 114 yards on 20 carries for the Panthers, who came into the game 28th in the league in rushing, but had a team-record 244 yards on the ground. Muzi.com News 10026752-17 (muzi.com) It was the first time since 1998 that the Rams, devastated by the loss of Pro Bowl tackle Orlando Pace in last week's game, didn't score. Muzi.com News 10026752-18 (muzi.com) Patriots 35, Packers 0 Muzi.com News 10026752-19 (muzi.com) At Green Bay, New England had a 21-0 lead with under two minutes left in the first half when linebacker Tully Banta-Cain wrapped up Favre in the backfield and Tedy Bruschi jumped in to finish the sack. Bruschi's hit slammed Favre to the ground on his throwing arm, and the three-time MVP got up wincing. Muzi.com News 10026752-20 (muzi.com) Favre, who made his 251st consecutive start including playoff games, was replaced by second-year quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Favre struggled with his accuracy before the injury, going 5-for-15 for 73 yards and leading the Packers (4-6) to only two first downs in the first half. Muzi.com News 10026752-21 (muzi.com) Cowboys 21, Colts 14 Muzi.com News 10026752-22 (muzi.com) The Colts had escaped close calls all season, but couldn't overcome four turnovers, their most in a regular-season game since Nov. 25, 2001. Muzi.com News 10026752-23 (muzi.com) For the Cowboys (6-4), it was easily their most impressive win in Parcells' four seasons. Dallas (6-4) has four of its six remaining games at home. Muzi.com News 10026752-24 (muzi.com) Titans 31, Eagles 13 Muzi.com News 10026752-25 (muzi.com) At Philadelphia, McNabb went down on the second play of the second quarter and was carted off the field. He was rolling to his right near the Tennessee sideline after throwing an incomplete pass, grabbed his right knee and was immediately tended to by trainers. Muzi.com News 10026752-26 (muzi.com) McNabb will have surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and is expected to be sidelined from eight months to a year. Muzi.com News 10026752-27 (muzi.com) Travis Henry had a 70-yard touchdown run and Adam "Pacman" Jones returned a punt 90 yards for a score. Henry ran for 143 yards on 18 carries, and Tennessee (3-7) finished with 209 yards on the ground against the Eagles (5-5). Muzi.com News 10026752-28 (muzi.com) Chargers 35, Broncos 27 Muzi.com News 10026752-29 (muzi.com) LaDainian Tomlinson scored four times and reached 100 touchdowns faster than any player in NFL history. Tomlinson, who has scored an NFL-record 19 touchdowns in his last six games, reached 100 TDs in his 89th game, four fewer than it took Hall of Famer Jim Brown and Emmitt Smith. He now has 102 TDs and also topped 1,000 yards rushing for the sixth straight season. Muzi.com News 10026752-30 (muzi.com) It was his first win in six trips to Invesco Field and vaulted the Chargers, who rallied from a 24-7 deficit, into first place in the AFC West at 8-2, a game ahead of Denver. Muzi.com News 10026752-31 (muzi.com) The Chargers became the first team in history to win back-to-back games after trailing by 17 or more points and also the first team to win four straight when allowing at least 24 points in each game. Muzi.com News 10026752-32 (muzi.com) Steelers 24, Browns 20 Muzi.com News 10026752-33 (muzi.com) At Cleveland, Ben Roethlisberger shoveled a 4-yard touchdown pass to Willie Parker with 32 seconds left. Roethlisberger, intercepted three times in the first half, threw for 272 yards -- 224 in the fourth quarter -- to help the Steelers (4-6) avoid a defeat that would have made it almost impossible to get into the playoffs. Muzi.com News 10026752-34 (muzi.com) Roethlisberger had to shake off rookie Kamerion Wimbley before completing the TD pass, making him 18-for-29 in the final 15 minutes. Muzi.com News 10026752-35 (muzi.com) The Browns (3-7) spent all week talking about getting revenge for their 41-0 loss to Pittsburgh last Christmas Eve, and for most of the day it looked like they would. But Cleveland's defense couldn't stop Roethlisberger when it mattered most, and the Browns dropped their sixth straight game to their bitter rivals, who have won 12 of the last 13 between the teams. Muzi.com News 10026752-36 (muzi.com) Chiefs 17, Raiders 13 Muzi.com News 10026752-37 (muzi.com) Trent Green, in his first action since suffering a severe concussion 10 weeks ago, directed an 80-yard touchdown drive in the final minutes and sluggish Kansas City (6-4) won its seventh straight vs. Oakland (2-8). Muzi.com News 10026752-38 (muzi.com) The visiting Raiders led 13-10 lead when the Chiefs took the ball on their 20 with 4:53 to play. Hitting 3-of-5 for 50 yards, including passes of 10 and 16 yards to Samie Parker, Green set up a game-saving and possible season-saving 1-yard TD run by Larry Johnson with 1:32 to play. Muzi.com News 10026752-39 (muzi.com)
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