Bledsoe too much for Rams

With a little help from Buffalo’s special teams, Drew Bledsoe answered his critics.

Bledsoe hit tight end Mark Campbell for three touchdowns and Nate Clements returned a punt 86 yards for a score, helping the Bills to a 37-17 win over the St. Louis Rams on Sunday in Orchard Park, N.Y.

It was a dominating effort by a Buffalo team that has won four straight at home, but was coming off its worst outing of the season, a 29-6 loss at New England.

Bledsoe answered those calling for rookie J.P. Losman to take over as starter, going 15 of 24 for 185 yards. His only blemish was an interception off Lee Evans’ hand in the first quarter.

The three touchdowns were the most Bledsoe’s thrown since he had three in Buffalo’s 38-21 win over Miami on Dec. 1, 2002.

Bledsoe was so good his 160 yards passing in the first half were more than he had in 10 of his previous 23 games. And he got his 213th career touchdown pass, moving into 19th place ahead of Terry Bradshaw and Y.A. Tittle.

After spotting the Rams a 10-0 first-quarter lead on their first two possessions, the Bills held St. Louis to 98 yards and no points in the second half, and intercepted Marc Bulger three times.

St. Louis has now lost three of its last four, all three losses against AFC East opponents.

This performance might have been worse than their loss to Miami, and could lead to another public outburst from coach Mike Martz.

Bulger went 27 of 45 for 287 yards, including touchdowns to Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce.

Panthers 35, Cardinals 10

Nick Goings ran for 121 yards and three first-half scores and the Panthers jumped to a 28-point halftime lead in a win against Arizona in Charlotte, N.C.

Muhsin Muhammad added two TD catches, the first with just 2 seconds left before the break, for the Panthers, who needed little more than a dominant first half to win their first home game of the season and their second straight game.

Larry Fitzgerald had a touchdown catch for the Cardinals, who couldn’t overcome a first half of turnovers and penalties.

Buccaneers 35, 49ers 3

Tampa Bay receiver Joe Jurevicius scored his first touchdowns since last year’s season opener, getting into the end zone twice on passes from Brian Griese in a rout of San Francisco in Tampa, Fla.

The victory was the fourth in six games after an 0-4 start for Tampa Bay. The 49ers have lost five straight and were held to just 197 yards total offense with Tim Rattay being sacked five times and turning the ball over twice.