Panthers pounce on Buccaneers

The Carolina Panthers are beginning to play more and more like championship contenders.

Stephen Davis ran for two touchdowns, Steve Smith caught his ninth TD pass of the season and Chris Gamble scored on a 61-yard interception return to lead the surging Panthers to a 34-14 rout of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday at Tampa, Fla.

The victory was the fifth straight for Carolina, which stumbled out of the gate in September by losing two of its first three games.

The Panthers also have won five in a row in their bitter NFC South rivalry with Tampa Bay, which fell out of a first-place tie with Carolina and Atlanta after losing for the third time in four games.

Smith scored on a 35-yard pass from Jake Delhomme in the fourth quarter, while Carolina’s defense forced four turnovers and sacked Chris Simms five times to ruin the young quarterback’s second start of the season for Tampa Bay.

Bengals 21, Ravens 9

Carson Palmer threw two touchdown passes, Rudi Johnson ran for 97 yards and a score, and Cincinnati kept the Ravens out of the end zone in a victory in Baltimore.

Cincinnati was nursing a 14-6 lead before Palmer capped a 91-yard drive with a 3-yard TD pass to Chris Henry with 6:05 to go. That was enough of a cushion to dispatch the Ravens.

Steelers 20, Packers 10

Troy Polamalu returned Brett Favre’s fumble 77 yards for a touchdown, and Tyrone Carter’s interception set up the offense’s only touchdown in Pittsburgh’s win over Green Bay in Green Bay, Wis.

The Steelers became the first team since the 1989-90 San Francisco 49ers and the fourth team overall to win 11 straight road games.

Chargers 31, Jets 26

LaDainian Tomlinson scored a career-high four touchdowns – three rushing, one receiving – and San Diego needed every one of them to hold off pesky Brooks Bollinger and New York in East Rutherford, N.J.

The last Charger to have four TDs in one game was Chuck Muncie against Denver on Nov. 29, 1981.

Bollinger replaced an ineffective Vinny Testaverde late in the third quarter and threw two touchdown passes to make it a game.

Vikings 27, Lions 14

Brad Johnson passed for 136 yards and two touchdowns in relief of the injured Daunte Culpepper, Michael Bennett rushed 18 times for 106 yards and Minnesota beat Detroit in Minneapolis.

Bennett and Nate Burleson caught second-quarter scores from Johnson, sandwiched around rookie Ciatrick Fason’s first career TD on a 3-yard run.

Bears 20, Saints 17

Robbie Gould kicked a 28-yard field goal with 6 seconds remaining to lift Chicago to a victory over New Orleans in Baton Rouge, La.

New Orleans knocked starting running back Thomas Jones from the game in the first half, only to watch Adrian Peterson and Cedric Benson combine for 137 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries.

Falcons 17, Dolphins 10

Michael Vick led four drives of more than 70 yards, and Keion Carpenter’s interception stopped a scoring threat with less than three minutes left to help visiting Atlanta hold off Miami.

Vick went 22 for 31 for a season-high 228 yards and added 38 yards on eight rushes.

Giants 24, 49ers 6

Eli Manning passed for 251 yards and a touchdown, Brandon Jacobs rushed for two short fourth-quarter scores and New York’s defense yielded just 138 total yards in a road victory over San Francisco.

Plaxico Burress had five catches for 79 yards in the third straight victory for the Giants, who maintained their lead in the NFC East by suffocating the 49ers’ offense, which hasn’t scored a TD in its last 13 quarters at home.

Browns 20, Titans 14

Reuben Droughns, arrested earlier in the week on a drunken driving charge, rushed for 116 yards and caught a crucial third-down pass for 51 yards, to lead Cleveland past visiting Tennessee.

Droughns added four receptions for 73 yards, but he spent most of the final six minutes in the locker room being treated for leg cramps.

Jaguars 21, Texans 14

Byron Leftwich directed two long scoring drives in the fourth quarter to rally Jacksonville to a victory over Houston in Jacksonville, Fla.

Jacksonville also tied the NFL record for consecutive games played without scoring 30 or more points. They matched Cleveland’s mark of 58 games set between 1995 and 2002 (the Browns didn’t field a team in 1996-98).