Pats romp again to stay among NFL's unbeaten
FOXBORO, Massachusetts: The New England Patriots romped again on Sunday, downing the Cleveland Browns 34-17 to easily remain among the National Football League's unbeaten teams.
Although first-time starter Derek Anderson came in leading the Browns to two wins in their last three games, he was intercepted twice by New England's Junior Seau in the opening half.
It marked the first two interceptions for the veteran linebacker since 2002.
"It's the name of the game," Seau said. "Obviously, you go out there and want to perform well and stop the run and get them into a passing situation. Whenever you make big plays like we did today, it definitely leans in our favor and offense took care of the rest."
Cornerback Asante Samuel had an interception and forced another one in the first half, as New England took advantage of the turnovers to race to a 20-0 lead.
Brady threw three touchdown passes, completing 22-of-38 passes for 265 yards, and tying an NFL record in the process.
Brady joined Steve Young as the only quarterbacks to throw at least three TDs in five consecutive games to begin a season.
Young accomplished the feat for San Francisco in 1998.
But Brady said the interceptions by the defense provided the real spark.
"Those four turnovers (were) all critical plays of the game," Brady said. "Offensively, we had the ball in a short field a bunch (and) couldn't really get it in the red area like we were wanting to.
"We had a few three-and-outs that weren't very good, some missed opportunities in the passing game. But I think everybody is happy we won and to be 5-0, you can't be much better than that at this point in the year."
Meanwhile, the Chicago Bears denied Green Bay's bid for its first 5-0 start to a season in more than 40 years with a 27-20 win over the Packers at Lambeau Field.
The Bears overcame a sluggish first half and forced five turnovers to beat their NFC North rivals, limiting the Packers to just 98 total yards in the second half.
The Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts improved to 5-0, shrugging off some key injury absences to beat Tampa Bay 33-14.
Kenton Keith, playing in place of injured Joseph Addai, scored two touchdowns, rushed 28 times for 121 yards and scored on runs of 1 and 7 yards.
In addition to Addai (shoulder), the Colts were playing without wide receiver Marvin Harrison (knee).
The Colts' passing game did not suffer without Harrison, as tight end Dallas Clark and wide receiver Reggie Wayne found the end zone in his place.
Quarterback Peyton Manning completed 29-of-37 passes for 253 yards and two touchdowns.
The Dallas Cowboys will also try to remain unbeaten when they visit the Bills in Buffalo on Monday night.
In Washington, Jason Campbell completed 23-of-29 passes for 248 yards and two touchdowns as the Redskins routed the Detroit Lions 34-3.
The San Diego Chargers snapped out of their early season slump in a big way as Philip Rivers passed for 270 yards and two touchdowns in a 41-3 victory over the Broncos in Denver.
Kurt Warner, who guided the St. Louis Rams to a Super Bowl, guided the Arizona Cardinals to a 34-31 victory over his former team. Warner came off the bench to take over when starting quarterback Matt Leinart suffered a fractured left collarbone in the second quarter.
The Tennessee Titans survived five turnovers to hold off the Atlanta Falcons 20-13.
The Baltimore Ravens edged the San Francisco 49ers 9-7 thanks to three field goals from Matt Stover.
AFP
(China Daily 10/09/2007 page24)
