NFL scores Week 3 with recaps are in.

The Saints lost their first game of the season, the 49ers are still winless and the Kansas City Chiefs remain unbeaten. Oh yeah, and the Vikings beat the Lions despite a so-so day from Brett Favre. Let’s go to the videotape as they say.

Pittsburgh Steelers 38  Tampa Bay Buccaneers 13: Charlie Batch threw for three TDs in the first half and the Bucs folded like a cheap suit.  So much for a Tampa Bay undefeated season. Speaking of that, the Steelers go 3-0 without Ben Roethlisberger.

Minnesota Vikings 24  Detroit Lions 10: Brett Favre can’t seem to find a deep threat or keep his INTs at bay…but when you have Adrian Peterson on a good day, you tend to win when you’re playing the Lions. He ran for two TDs and made you forget another pedestrian day for Old #4 who threw for one TD and 2INTs.

Cincinnati Bengals 20  Carolina Panthers 7 : Cincinnati’s passing offense is still less than you’d expect with their receivers, but Cedric Benson can still run and catch swing passes. He scored twice and the Bengals D forced four turnovers from young Jimmy Clausen and company.

IN OT: Atlanta Falcons 27 New Orleans Saints 24 : No Reggie Bush, no problem when you’ve got Lance Moore on a tear. He caught two TDs and Jeremy Shockey hauled in another. But Garrett Hartley, the Saints kicker had one of those days. He got his team to OT on a 32 yard effort but couldn’t replicate that in OT hooking a short 29-yarder that would have won the game. Handing the ball back to the Falcons was a mistake. Their kicker, an ex-USFL player, iced it with a 46 yarder.

Kansas City Chiefs 31 San Francisco 49ers 10: The new-look Chiefs frustrated the 49ers offense that you’d think would be explosive with Vernon Davis, Frank Gore and Michael Crabtree.  Oh well, KC showed off its passing game as Matt Cassel connected with three different receivers. Someone get the Xanax ready for Mike Singletary

Tennessee Titans 29 New York Giants 10:  Vince Young bounced back from last week’s benching and Chris Johnson was back on track with a 2 TD game. The Giants imploded with three turnovers, and multiple personal fouls on the O-line and secondary. Tom Couglin pulled three players as a result. The G-men fall to 1-2

New England Patriots 38  Buffalo Bills 30: Tom Brady threw 3 TDs, with 2 going to Randy Moss, while the latest of the unknown RBs for the Pats scored twice. The Bills made it interesting however, as C.J. Spiller finally found the end zone; he did it twice, one of them a 95 yard kick-off return.

Dallas Cowboys 27  Houston Texans 13: Dallas showed some life on offense with Romo to Williams counting for two of the team’s three scores. They limited their mistakes and their D wrapped up Matt Schaub, Andre Johnson and Arian Foster. Dallas notches win 1 of the season and the Texans lose the cross-state game.

Baltimore Ravens 24  Cleveland Browns 17: Joe Flacco found out how to use his new toy, Anquan Boldin who caught three TDs, as the Ravens won their first game of 2010. The Browns ran the ball against Ray Lewis & company with Peyton Hills gaining 144 yd. with a TD.

Indianapolis Colts 27 Denver Broncos 13 – After a slow first-half the points started coming and fast too, but not for the Broncos. Peyton Manning threw for 325 yards and 3 TDs, two to Austin Collie. On the Broncos side, Kyle Orton completed passes to nine different receivers for a total of 476 yards but only one was caught in the end zone. The Broncos running game is truly in trouble. Laurence Maroney and Correll Buckhalter had 16 attempts for fewer than 40 yards. While the Indy D only forced one turnover, they did what they needed to do to get the Colts to 2-1 on the year.

St. Louis Rams beat the Washington Redskins 30-16 – Rams’ rookie quarterback Sam Bradford looks better each week, but it sure helps to have Steven Jackson in the backfield. Bradford had one TD and one INT on 235 yards passing. Jackson combined with Kenneth Darby for 2 scores. Donovan McNabb continues to love Santana Moss, who racked up 124 yards through the air and the Redskins only TD. Washington could only muster 91 yards on the ground from its running backs and fell to 1-2 in the Mike Shanahan era. Steve Spagnuolo celebrated only his second win at Rams head coach, but he’ll take it, for sure.

Seattle Seahawks got past the San Diego Chargers 27-20 – Seattle held the Chargers scoreless in the first half, but it was San Diego’s three fumbles at key stages of drives that kept them off the board. Then the Seahawks’ pick-up from the NY Jets, Leon Washington ran back the second half opening kick 101 yards for a score. He added another one for 99 yards in the fourth quarter to seal the win for the Seahawks. Philip Rivers and his wide receivers gave it all they had but it wasn’t enough. Rivers ended up with 414 passing yards, throwing TDs to Gates and Floyd. The Seahawks go to 2-1 and their division rivals, fall to 1-2.

Philadelphia Eagles dominated the Jacksonville Jaguars 28-3 Michael Vick looks confident as the official starting QB for Philly. He threw for 3 TDs and ran for one. Jacksonville’s offense was virtually non-existent as they gained a bit more than 200 yards, 132 on the ground. David Garrard was harassed all day, going 13-30 with one INT and a quarterback rating of 38.9. Vick’s performance makes Andy Reid look good, after his early week flip-flop on the starter’s job. Kevin Kolb seems OK on the sideline with a visor and a clipboard. The Eagles lead the NFC East at 2-1 after losses by the Redskins and the New York Giants.

Arizona Cardinals outlasted the Oakland Raiders 24-23 – In a wild one in the desert, the Cardinals’ QB Derek Anderson was able to find his two top receivers, Larry Fitzgerald and Steve Breaston for one TD each, although his overall quarterback performance was average to poor. Anderson went 12-16 with an INT on 122 passing yards.

Oakland had more than enough chances to take this one from the Cardinals but tripped themselves up over and over. They committed 11 penalties that cost them 123 yards and to add insult to injury, kicker Sebastian Janokowski missed three field goalds. Bruce Gradkowski doesn’t lack for weapons and new ones at that. Louis Murphy caught 119 yards with TE Zach Miller hauling in 44 yards and one score. Darren McFadden had another good day a TD and 105 yards on the ground. Arizona climbs to 2-1 and the Raiders fall to 1-2

Used with permission of the author.

Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles. 

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