BALTIMORE — Any chance the Pittsburgh Steelers had of returning to the Super Bowl was seemingly laid to rest by the Baltimore Ravens.
The Ravens sacked Ben Roethlisberger nine times Sunday and coasted to their fifth straight victory, a 27-0 blowout that left the Steelers with only a mathematical chance of reaching the playoffs.
Baltimore (9-2) limited the defending NFL champions to 36 yards in the decisive first half. The nine sacks, which totaled 73 yards and matched a Ravens franchise record, included a vicious hit by Bart Scott that forced Roethlisberger out of the game in the second quarter.
Roethlisberger missed only one play, but for the rest of the afternoon he was harassed by a relentless rush. It was the second time this year that the Steelers were shut out; the last time Pittsburgh was blanked at least twice in a season was in 1989.
The Steelers (4-7) had won two straight following a 2-6 start, but their resurgence was emphatically squelched by the hated Ravens, who lead Pittsburgh in the AFC North by five games with five to play.
Roethlisberger went 21-for-41 for 214 yards and two interceptions. Willie Parker got only 15 yards rushing in the first half and finished with 20.
Patriots 17, Bears 13
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — After New England turned the ball over three times inside the Chicago 20-yard line, tight end Benjamin Watson hung onto it when Tom Brady’s 2-yard pass found him in the end zone. Patriots cornerback Asante Samuel put an abrupt end to the Bears’ comeback hopes with his third interception with 1:46 to play.
Playing on their new artificial turf, the Patriots (8-3) persevered against the Bears (9-2), who had allowed the fewest points in the league, 120. But New England was the second stingiest at 131.
The Bears capitalized on the fourth of their five takeaways — and Charles Tillman’s second interception — to tie the game 10-10 just 7 seconds into the fourth quarter on Cedric Benson’s 2-yard run.
The Patriots then moved 73 yards after the kickoff and went ahead with 8:22 left. Brady provided the dramatics with a scrambling 40-yard completion to Watson and an 11-yard run for a first down that ended with him jumping up and making an emphatic first-down signal.
That put the ball at the Chicago 14 and Watson scored five plays later.
Titans 24, Giants 21
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vince Young and Adam ‘‘Pacman’’ Jones never gave up, leading a stunning Tennessee fourth-quarter comeback.
The Titans cornerback intercepted two passes and had a 23-yard punt return that revived his teammates in the fourth quarter. Then rookie quarterback Young finished off an improbable rally from a 21-point deficit.
Young ran for a touchdown and threw for two more in the final 9:35 and finished with a career-high 249 yards passing. Rob Bironas kicked a 49-yard field goal with 6 seconds left to win it.
The Giants (6-5) lost their third straight and fell a game behind the Dallas Cowboys (7-4) in the NFC East going into next week’s game in the Meadowlands.
New York led 21-0 in the second quarter. But the Giants didn’t score again, and Jones got the Titans (4-7) into the game when he intercepted an Eli Manning pass with 12:55 left.
Chargers 21, Raiders 14
SAN DIEGO — With LaDainian Tomlinson and the Chargers looking all too human against Oakland, the star running back keyed yet another second-half rally to give the AFC West-leading Chargers (9-2) their fifth straight win.
Tomlinson, in the midst of an MVP-type season, rushed for two touchdowns and threw for another. He has 24 touchdowns this season, needing five in the last five games to break the NFL record of 28 set by Shaun Alexander during his MVP season of 2005.
Tomlinson threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to tight end Antonio Gates to tie the game at 14. It was his second TD pass of the season and the sixth of his career.
After the Raiders (2-9) punted, Tomlinson broke a 44-yard run on first down, then capped the drive with a 10-yard scoring run. It was his 21st touchdown in seven games.
Redskins 17, Panthers 13
LANDOVER, Md. — Chris Cooley’s 66-yard touchdown reception was the difference in Washington’s win over Carolina.
The victory broke a two-game losing streak for the Redskins (4-7) and gave quarterback Jason Campbell his first win in his second NFL start. The team returned to running the ball and stopping the run, but it took the big play to Cooley with 4:26 remaining to beat the Panthers (6-5).
Campbell had only 52 yards passing when he hit Cooley on a third-and-8 at the Washington 34. Campbell finished 11-for-23 for 118 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Ladell Betts, the Redskins featured running back now that Clinton Portis is out for the year, ran for 104 yards on 24 carries.
The Redskins defense had its first good game, holding the Panthers to 264 total yards. The much maligned secondary limited Smith to 34 yards on five catches. Safety Sean Taylor made a tackle on fourth down to stop Carolina’s next-to-last drive, and he intercepted Jake Delhomme in the end zone on the Panthers’ last possession.
Bengals 30, Browns 0
CLEVELAND — Cincinnati picked off Cleveland quarterback Charlie Frye four times in its first shutout win since 1989 and Carson Palmer threw three touchdown passes for the Bengals.
Palmer finished 25 of 32 for 275 yards and connected with Chris Henry for two TD passes as the Bengals (6-5) stayed firmly in the AFC playoff race by beating Cleveland for the fifth straight time.
Before piling up yardage during extended garbage time in the fourth quarter, the Browns (3-8) had only 167 yards — 21 rushing — after three quarters. By then, they were down 30-0 and on their way to dropping to 1-5 at home.
The shutout was the Bengals’ first since Dec. 3, 1989, a span of 269 games. That one also came against the Browns.
Rams 20, 49ers 17
ST. LOUIS — Marc Bulger threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Curtis with 27 seconds to go and St. Louis snapped a five-game skid.
Stymied much of the game, Bulger was 9-for-9 for 66 yards during a 12-play, 80-yard drive for the winning score. He finished 23-for-34 for 201 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Frank Gore had 134 yards on 21 carries for the 49ers, who missed a chance to keep the pressure on first-place Seattle in the NFC West.
St. Louis lost twice in the final minute during the slump, but this time safety Oshiomogo Atogwe intercepted a desperation pass by Alex Smith and ran out the clock.
The Rams (5-6) responded after the 49ers (5-6) punished the NFL’s weakest run defense to take a 17-13 lead.
Bills 27, Jaguars 24
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — J.P. Losman hit Roscoe Parrish for a 30-yard completion to set up Rian Lindell’s 42-yard field goal as time ran out, lifting Buffalo over Jacksonville.
The Bills, who never trailed, scored 28 seconds after the Jaguars tied it when David Garrard hit Matt Jones for a 3-yard touchdown.
Losman, who finished 21 of 28 for 169 yards, rallied the Bills. After a 6-yard completion to Parrish, the quarterback stepped up in the pocket and threw to the left sideline for Parrish, who kept both toes in bounds.
It was the second straight week Losman engineered a last-minute, game-winning drive.
The Bills (5-6) won consecutive games for the first time since October 2005, and continued to show life after a breakthrough offensive performance last week.
The Jaguars (6-5) dropped to 1-4 on the road.
Jets 26, Texans 11
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Chad Pennington had his finest passing day in weeks, throwing for 286 yards and a touchdown in New York’s 26-11 victory over Houston.
Pennington, who left briefly in the third quarter after an injury scare, finished 24 of 31. He connected with Laveranues Coles nine times for 111 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown in the third quarter. Jerricho Cotchery had seven catches for 110 yards.
Mike Nugent tied a career high with four field goals, including a career-long 54-yarder for the Jets.
Pennington was 5-for-5 for 89 yards on the Jets’ first possession of the third quarter. He found Chris Baker for 28 yards and Cotchery for 35 to get to the 12. Pennington then lofted a pass to the left front corner of the end zone, and Coles leaped for the score.
Vikings 31, Cardinals 26
MINNEAPOLIS — Brad Johnson threw for 271 yards and three touchdowns in Minnesota’s victory against Arizona.
Chester Taylor added 136 yards rushing and a touchdown for the Vikings (5-6), and the defense forced five turnovers and allowed just 17 yards rushing to snap a four-game losing streak.
The Cardinals (2-9) got a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by J.J. Arrington on the opening play of the game and a 99-yard fumble return for a score by Adrian Wilson in the fourth, but couldn’t overcome turnovers, penalties and a suddenly productive Vikings offense.
Rookie Matt Leinart played well for Arizona, completing 31 of 52 passes for a career-high 405 yards and two interceptions, but managed only one TD — a 9-yard pass to Anquan Boldin with 39 seconds to play — that came too little, too late.
The Ravens sacked Ben Roethlisberger nine times Sunday and coasted to their fifth straight victory, a 27-0 blowout that left the Steelers with only a mathematical chance of reaching the playoffs.
Baltimore (9-2) limited the defending NFL champions to 36 yards in the decisive first half. The nine sacks, which totaled 73 yards and matched a Ravens franchise record, included a vicious hit by Bart Scott that forced Roethlisberger out of the game in the second quarter.
Roethlisberger missed only one play, but for the rest of the afternoon he was harassed by a relentless rush. It was the second time this year that the Steelers were shut out; the last time Pittsburgh was blanked at least twice in a season was in 1989.
The Steelers (4-7) had won two straight following a 2-6 start, but their resurgence was emphatically squelched by the hated Ravens, who lead Pittsburgh in the AFC North by five games with five to play.
Roethlisberger went 21-for-41 for 214 yards and two interceptions. Willie Parker got only 15 yards rushing in the first half and finished with 20.
Patriots 17, Bears 13
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — After New England turned the ball over three times inside the Chicago 20-yard line, tight end Benjamin Watson hung onto it when Tom Brady’s 2-yard pass found him in the end zone. Patriots cornerback Asante Samuel put an abrupt end to the Bears’ comeback hopes with his third interception with 1:46 to play.
Playing on their new artificial turf, the Patriots (8-3) persevered against the Bears (9-2), who had allowed the fewest points in the league, 120. But New England was the second stingiest at 131.
The Bears capitalized on the fourth of their five takeaways — and Charles Tillman’s second interception — to tie the game 10-10 just 7 seconds into the fourth quarter on Cedric Benson’s 2-yard run.
The Patriots then moved 73 yards after the kickoff and went ahead with 8:22 left. Brady provided the dramatics with a scrambling 40-yard completion to Watson and an 11-yard run for a first down that ended with him jumping up and making an emphatic first-down signal.
That put the ball at the Chicago 14 and Watson scored five plays later.
Titans 24, Giants 21
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vince Young and Adam ‘‘Pacman’’ Jones never gave up, leading a stunning Tennessee fourth-quarter comeback.
The Titans cornerback intercepted two passes and had a 23-yard punt return that revived his teammates in the fourth quarter. Then rookie quarterback Young finished off an improbable rally from a 21-point deficit.
Young ran for a touchdown and threw for two more in the final 9:35 and finished with a career-high 249 yards passing. Rob Bironas kicked a 49-yard field goal with 6 seconds left to win it.
The Giants (6-5) lost their third straight and fell a game behind the Dallas Cowboys (7-4) in the NFC East going into next week’s game in the Meadowlands.
New York led 21-0 in the second quarter. But the Giants didn’t score again, and Jones got the Titans (4-7) into the game when he intercepted an Eli Manning pass with 12:55 left.
Chargers 21, Raiders 14
SAN DIEGO — With LaDainian Tomlinson and the Chargers looking all too human against Oakland, the star running back keyed yet another second-half rally to give the AFC West-leading Chargers (9-2) their fifth straight win.
Tomlinson, in the midst of an MVP-type season, rushed for two touchdowns and threw for another. He has 24 touchdowns this season, needing five in the last five games to break the NFL record of 28 set by Shaun Alexander during his MVP season of 2005.
Tomlinson threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to tight end Antonio Gates to tie the game at 14. It was his second TD pass of the season and the sixth of his career.
After the Raiders (2-9) punted, Tomlinson broke a 44-yard run on first down, then capped the drive with a 10-yard scoring run. It was his 21st touchdown in seven games.
Redskins 17, Panthers 13
LANDOVER, Md. — Chris Cooley’s 66-yard touchdown reception was the difference in Washington’s win over Carolina.
The victory broke a two-game losing streak for the Redskins (4-7) and gave quarterback Jason Campbell his first win in his second NFL start. The team returned to running the ball and stopping the run, but it took the big play to Cooley with 4:26 remaining to beat the Panthers (6-5).
Campbell had only 52 yards passing when he hit Cooley on a third-and-8 at the Washington 34. Campbell finished 11-for-23 for 118 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Ladell Betts, the Redskins featured running back now that Clinton Portis is out for the year, ran for 104 yards on 24 carries.
The Redskins defense had its first good game, holding the Panthers to 264 total yards. The much maligned secondary limited Smith to 34 yards on five catches. Safety Sean Taylor made a tackle on fourth down to stop Carolina’s next-to-last drive, and he intercepted Jake Delhomme in the end zone on the Panthers’ last possession.
Bengals 30, Browns 0
CLEVELAND — Cincinnati picked off Cleveland quarterback Charlie Frye four times in its first shutout win since 1989 and Carson Palmer threw three touchdown passes for the Bengals.
Palmer finished 25 of 32 for 275 yards and connected with Chris Henry for two TD passes as the Bengals (6-5) stayed firmly in the AFC playoff race by beating Cleveland for the fifth straight time.
Before piling up yardage during extended garbage time in the fourth quarter, the Browns (3-8) had only 167 yards — 21 rushing — after three quarters. By then, they were down 30-0 and on their way to dropping to 1-5 at home.
The shutout was the Bengals’ first since Dec. 3, 1989, a span of 269 games. That one also came against the Browns.
Rams 20, 49ers 17
ST. LOUIS — Marc Bulger threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Curtis with 27 seconds to go and St. Louis snapped a five-game skid.
Stymied much of the game, Bulger was 9-for-9 for 66 yards during a 12-play, 80-yard drive for the winning score. He finished 23-for-34 for 201 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Frank Gore had 134 yards on 21 carries for the 49ers, who missed a chance to keep the pressure on first-place Seattle in the NFC West.
St. Louis lost twice in the final minute during the slump, but this time safety Oshiomogo Atogwe intercepted a desperation pass by Alex Smith and ran out the clock.
The Rams (5-6) responded after the 49ers (5-6) punished the NFL’s weakest run defense to take a 17-13 lead.
Bills 27, Jaguars 24
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — J.P. Losman hit Roscoe Parrish for a 30-yard completion to set up Rian Lindell’s 42-yard field goal as time ran out, lifting Buffalo over Jacksonville.
The Bills, who never trailed, scored 28 seconds after the Jaguars tied it when David Garrard hit Matt Jones for a 3-yard touchdown.
Losman, who finished 21 of 28 for 169 yards, rallied the Bills. After a 6-yard completion to Parrish, the quarterback stepped up in the pocket and threw to the left sideline for Parrish, who kept both toes in bounds.
It was the second straight week Losman engineered a last-minute, game-winning drive.
The Bills (5-6) won consecutive games for the first time since October 2005, and continued to show life after a breakthrough offensive performance last week.
The Jaguars (6-5) dropped to 1-4 on the road.
Jets 26, Texans 11
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Chad Pennington had his finest passing day in weeks, throwing for 286 yards and a touchdown in New York’s 26-11 victory over Houston.
Pennington, who left briefly in the third quarter after an injury scare, finished 24 of 31. He connected with Laveranues Coles nine times for 111 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown in the third quarter. Jerricho Cotchery had seven catches for 110 yards.
Mike Nugent tied a career high with four field goals, including a career-long 54-yarder for the Jets.
Pennington was 5-for-5 for 89 yards on the Jets’ first possession of the third quarter. He found Chris Baker for 28 yards and Cotchery for 35 to get to the 12. Pennington then lofted a pass to the left front corner of the end zone, and Coles leaped for the score.
Vikings 31, Cardinals 26
MINNEAPOLIS — Brad Johnson threw for 271 yards and three touchdowns in Minnesota’s victory against Arizona.
Chester Taylor added 136 yards rushing and a touchdown for the Vikings (5-6), and the defense forced five turnovers and allowed just 17 yards rushing to snap a four-game losing streak.
The Cardinals (2-9) got a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by J.J. Arrington on the opening play of the game and a 99-yard fumble return for a score by Adrian Wilson in the fourth, but couldn’t overcome turnovers, penalties and a suddenly productive Vikings offense.
Rookie Matt Leinart played well for Arizona, completing 31 of 52 passes for a career-high 405 yards and two interceptions, but managed only one TD — a 9-yard pass to Anquan Boldin with 39 seconds to play — that came too little, too late.
