Giants blow over Tampa Bay

The wind was up in Giants Stadium, which meant everything else was down — points, yards, passes, punts. Ugly was the way to win, and the Giants can do ugly.

Their 17-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday was the Giants’ fourth straight, and they can win any way you want. Ugly, pretty, high-scoring, low-scoring; even with a season-low 251 yards and 17 points and without three defensive starters, the Giants got enough from their offense and another physical game from their improving defense to open up some ground between themselves and the rest of the NFC East.

Tiki Barber ground out 68 hard yards on 26 carries, and Eli Manning felt as if he was throwing a medicine ball for two of the four quarters, finishing 16 of 31 for 154 yards. But playing with the wind in the first quarter, the Giants got the score they needed, a 7-yard jump-ball throw from Manning to Plaxico Burress, who one-handed the catch over Ronde Barber’s head with 3:27 left in the quarter.

The Bucs managed no first downs and 15 total yards in the first quarter.

Jaguars 13, Eagles 6: At Philadelphia, Fred Taylor keyed a power running attack and scored on a 15-yard run, backup quarterback David Garrard was efficient and Jacksonville shut down Donovan McNabb and Philadelphia to capture a win.

The Jaguars held the Eagles to 229 total yards. Philadelphia came in averaging a league-best 417 yards per game, but couldn’t generate much, even with the return of dynamic receiver Donte Stallworth.

Packers 31, Cardinals 14: At Green Bay, Wis., Ahman Green is back making big plays for the Packers.

The veteran running back, who struggled early this season after returning from a torn right quadriceps, scored two first-half touchdowns as Green Bay beat Arizona.

Green and backup running back Vernand Morency both surpassed the 100-yard rushing mark, and Brett Favre added a rare rushing touchdown of his own.

Falcons 29, Bengals 27: At Cincinnati, Michael Vick threw three touchdown passes, repeatedly slipping out of tacklers’ grasp, while leading Atlanta to victory over Cincinnati.

The mercurial quarterback has led the Falcons to consecutive wins over the defending Super Bowl champion Steelers and the defending AFC North champion Bengals. Vick has thrown seven touchdown passes in the last two games, showing he’s much more than a runner with a strong arm.

Titans 28, Texans 22: At Nashville, Tenn., Vince Young ran for a touchdown and threw for another, and Tennessee won consecutive games for the first time since the end of the 2003 season by beating Houston.

The Texans lost their 11th straight road game, wasting backup quarterback Sage Rosenfels’ three TD passes in the final 17 minutes. His last pulled them within 28-22 with 1:54 left.

Ravens 35, Saints 22: At New Orleans, Steve McNair ran for a touchdown and passed for two more as Baltimore ended a two-game losing streak with a victory over New Orleans.

The Ravens’ defense was dominant as well, accounting for two touchdowns on a pair of 12-yard interception returns by Ronnie Prude and Dawan Landry.

Bears 41, 49ers 10: At Chicago, The Bears turned two fumble recoveries and a one-handed interception by Brian Urlacher into a 24-0 first-quarter lead.And they matched a franchise record for points in a first half, set in 1948 against Washington, with their 41-0 lead, as Chicago went on to beat San Francisco.

Rex Grossman completed 23 of 29 passes for 252 yards and three touchdowns in three quarters.

Chargers 38, Rams 24: At San Diego, LaDainian Tomlinson rushed for a season-high 183 yards and scored three touchdowns to lead San Diego to a win over St. Louis.

Tomlinson, who carried 25 times, reached 90 career TDs by scoring on the ground to cap the Chargers’ first two drives. He added his 91st when he caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from Philip Rivers with 3:58 left in the game.

Raiders 20, Steelers 13: At Oakland, Calif., Chris Carr returned an interception 100 yards for a touchdown, Nnamdi Asomugha also took back an interception by Ben Roethlisberger for a score andOakland mounted a late goal-line stand to hold on for avictory over Pittsburgh.

Browns 20, Jets 13: At Cleveland, a potential one-handed tying touchdown grab by New York tight end Chris Baker in the final minute was called out of bounds, giving Cleveland a win over the Jets.