Snow Way To Stop Broncos

The Denver Broncos can thank the people who rescued Jason Elam from the weekend blizzard in Denver for their victory over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

Elam, stranded along the side of the road for more than 5 hours Saturday in the snowstorm that hit Denver, kicked a 33-yard field goal with 1:56 left in overtime to lift the Broncos to a 23-20 win over the Bills in Orchard Park, N.Y.

“It was a fun closure to a crazy weekend,” Elam said. “It’s definitely something I won’t forget for a very long time.”

Terrell Davis rushed for 207 yards on 42 carries and scored one touchdown, and Elam added field goals of 23 and 22 yards for the Broncos (7-1), who bounced back from a 28-25 loss to the Oakland Raiders last week.

Steve Christie kicked a 55-yard field goal with two seconds remaining to tie the game for the Bills, who came back after backup quarterback Alex Van Pelt replaced Todd Collins in the third quarter.

The Broncos drew within field-goal distance after quarterback John Elway hit Ed McCaffrey with a 17-yard pass on third-and-10 and Rod Smith on a 14-yard completion on the next play. Five plays later, Elam nailed the game winner.

“I was just happy to win the game,” Elam said. “I think we were destined to win that game after everything we went through to get here.”

The Broncos’ flight to Buffalo was delayed 8-1/2 hours on Saturday because of the storm. The snow was so bad that cornerback Tim McKyer abandoned his car and carried his luggage a quarter mile to the team’s practice facility, where the team began a 2-1/2-hour bus ride to the airport. Safety Steve Atwater needed a snowmobile to get out of his neighborhood.

Steelers 23, Jaguars 17 (OT)

Jerome Bettis took Kordell Stewart’s shovel pass to score a 17-yard touchdown at 9:13 of overtime as host Pittsburgh (6-2) won its fifth consecutive game.

Jacksonville (5-3) took a 17-14 lead on Mark Brunell’s 3-yard TD pass to Pete Mitchell after Bettis fumbled at the Steelers 16. But Pittsburgh’s Norm Johnson sent the game into overtime with a 19-yard field goal with 2:21 remaining.

Vikings 10, Bucs 6

Charles Evans scored on a 1-yard run and Eddie Murray kicked a 28-yard field goal as visiting Minnesota (6-2) won for the fourth time in five games.

Murray’s field goal snapped a scoreless tie with just over 4 minutes left in the third quarter, and David Palmer returned a punt 57 yards to set up Evans’ TD in the final minute of the period.

49ers 23, Saints 0

In New Orleans, Steve Young threw two touchdown passes and Gary Anderson kicked three field goals as San Francisco (7-1) won its seventh straight game.

New Orleans (2-7), which lost 13-0 to Carolina last week, was shut out in consecutive games for the first time in its 31-year history.

It also was the first time since New England in 1992 that any team was shut out in consecutive games.

Giants 29, Bengals 27

Tyrone Wheatley and Charles Way each scored twice and Jason Sehorn intercepted a 2-point conversion pass with 1:30 to play as host New York (6-3) won its fifth straight, opening a 1-1/2 game lead in the NFC East.

The Bengals (1-7) lost their seventh consecutive game despite opening a 21-10 halftime lead on a team-record 102-yard kickoff return by Eric Bieniemy and a 39-yard touchdown pass from Jeff Blake to David Dunn with six seconds left in the second quarter.

Eagles 13, Cowboys 12

Rodney Peete’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Chad Lewis with 45 seconds left gave Philadelphia the win at home.

Lewis’ touchdown ended a 10-play, 74-yard drive sustained by a 27-yard pass to Kevin Turner and an 11-yard completion to Irving Fryar on fourth-and-11 at the Dallas 43.

The Eagles (like the Cowboys 4-4) knocked out Troy Aikman (mild concussion, strained neck) early in the first quarter.

Ravens 20, Redskins 17

Bam Morris ran 36 times for 176 yards, both career highs, as Baltimore handed Washington (4-4) its first defeat at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium.

Morris gained 103 yards on 19 attempts with a touchdown in the first half alone as the Ravens (4-4) took advantage of the second-worst run defense in the league entering the game.

Chiefs 28, Rams 20

Pete Stoyanovich drilled four field goals as visiting Kansas City beat error-prone St. Louis (2-6).

Elvis Grbac threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Lake Dawson and completed a pair of 2-point conversion passes as the Chiefs (6-2) converted three lost fumbles and an interception into 14 points.

Chargers 35, Colts 19

Gary Brown rushed 28 times for 169 yards and one touchdown as host San Diego kept Indianapolis winless in eight games.

Greg Davis kicked five field goals for the Chargers (4-4), but had a sixth attempt blocked by Ellis Johnson and returned for a touchdown by Ray McElroy to cut the lead to 29-19 with 2:17 to play.

The Colts tried an onside kick, only to see the ball go straight to Rodney Harrison, who ran between two Colts for a 40-yard TD.

Oilers 41, Cardinals 14

Steve McNair ran for two touchdowns and threw for two more as visiting Tennessee took advantage of four interceptions by Jake Plummer, who was making his first start.

McNair threw 55- and 20-yard scoring passes to Chris Sanders for the Oilers (4-4). All five Oilers TDs came after Arizona (1-7) turnovers.

Panthers 21, Falcons 12

Tshimanga Biakabutuka rushed for 104 yards and two touchdowns as host Carolina (4-4) beat a rookie quarterback making his first start for the second week in a row.

The Panthers kept Tony Graziani on the run almost constantly and he completed just four of 18 passes for 24 yards.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: SUNDAY’S BEST Quarterbacks Warren Moon 28-44-409-5-2 Kordell Stewart 25-42-317-2-1 Tony Banks 18-30-268-1-0 Running backs Terrell Davis 42-207-1 Gary Brown 28-169-1 Bam Morris 36-176-1 Receivers Yancey Thigpen 11-196-0 Joey Galloway 7-117-3 Tim Brown 7-107-0