With the midway point of the National Football League fast approaching, the teams to beat appear to have become the New Orleans Saints and the San Diego Chargers.
Both came up with significant victories Sunday while the Green Bay Packers came up with a potentially costly win.
The NFL produced four overtime games Sunday along with its second shutout of the season and the 12th contest this year in which at least 70 points were scored. Last year, there were only four such games.
Miami found it missed quarterback Jay Fielder, the St. Louis Rams began to resemble their old selves and Tampa Bay's defense struggled with Duce Staley.
The key contests, however, resulted in New Orleans and San Diego moving to the top of their conferences and Green Bay sweating out the status of quarterback Brett Favre.
Favre made his 164th straight start Sunday, the longest streak for any player at any position in the league. But he hobbled off the field in the third quarter with a torn knee ligament courtesy of Washington linebacker LaVar Arrington.
Green Bay had a 17-6 lead at the time and they went on to down the Redskins, 30-9, behind backup quarterback Doug Pederson.
Although both Favre and Green Bay Coach Mike Sherman were optimistic that the Packers star could return after the team's upcoming bye week, a MRI will be taken Monday to determine the full extent of the injury.
"I don't feel too bad, all things considered," said Favre. "From what I understand, it is an injury I could play with. It is a wait-and-see thing and we'll see how it heals."
"There's some swelling but not a lot of it. It appears like he's going to be OK," Sherman said. "There was a lot of concern by us on the sideline but it appears he'll be fine. We're going to MRI it tomorrow and see if there's more swelling and we'll go from there."
The Packers improved to 6-1, but that was good enough only for a tie at the top of the NFC standings.
New Orleans reached the same record by coming from behind to defeat the San Francisco 49ers, 35-27. Deuce McAllister rushed for a career-high 139 yards and Aaron Brooks threw for three touchdowns for the Saints, who pulled out the game with 22 fourth-quarter points.
New Orleans traded running back Ricky Williams to the Miami Dolphins in the offseason because they believed McAllister, a first-round pick in 2001, would be able to handle the role of feature back. He has justified that confidence.
McAllister increased his NFC-leading rushing total to 721 yards and also caught four passes for 26 yards, including a four-yard touchdown.
San Francisco's Terrell Owens created a stir last Monday when he autographed a football with a pen he stored in his sock and presented it to his financial adviser in the stands after he caught a touchdown pass. But Joe Horn of the Saints was the best receiver on the field Sunday.
With the Saints trailing, 24-13, Horn caught touchdown passes of 10 and 20 yards in a span of 2:21. Saints Coach Jim Haslett opted to go for the two-point conversion twice and New Orleans failed both times, leaving the Saints with a 25-24 advantage.
San Francisco (4-2) regained the lead when Jose Cortez kicked a 41-yard field goal with 8:39 left in the fourth quarter.
Brooks promptly led the Saints on a 10-play, 63-yard drive, which featured a 17-yard pass to Horn on third and 12. Brooks also escaped the pocket for a 12-yard run to set up John Carney's go-ahead 22-yard field goal with 3:12 remaining.
On San Francisco's next possession, cornerback Ken Irvin cut in front of Tai Streets and intercepted a pass at the San Francisco 37. McAllister ran 25 yards up the middle on the next play and Brooks capped the scoring with a one-yard touchdown run with 1:56 left.
San Diego, meanwhile, became the top team in the AFC at 6-1 with a 27-21 overtime victory over the Oakland Raiders, who lost their second straight game after going into last weekend's action as the only unbeaten team in the league.
Drew Brees hit Tim Dwight with a pair of clutch third-down passes to set up a 19-yard touchdown run by LaDainian Tomlinson 3:38 into the overtime.
The touchdown capped a 153-yard performance for Tomlinson, who took over the NFL rushing lead with 785 yards and also caught a four-yard scoring pass.
While Tomlinson pounded the Raiders on the ground, Oakland quarterback rich Gannon enjoyed his fifth straight game with more than 320 passing yards, completing 35 of 45 for 361 yards and three second-half touchdowns.
Gannon, who has thrown for 2,048 yards this season, hit fullback Jon Ritchie with a seven-yard touchdown with 1:21 left in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 21-21.
But San Diego won the coin flip in overtime and drove 80 yards in eight plays.
Elsewhere around the NFL:
-- Keith Burns blocked a punt in overtime and a pass interference penalty on cornerback Eric Warfield then helped set up a 25-yard field goal by Jason Elam as the Denver Broncos rallied for a 37-34 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. Four of the 12 games that have produced at least 70 points this year have involved the Chiefs.
-- Jason Hanson kicked a game-tying, 24-yard field goal with two seconds left in regulation and boomed a 48-yarder 4:48 into overtime to lift the Detroit Lions to a 23-20 victory over the Chicago Bears. Hanson's tying field goal this time came after rookie quarterback Joey Harrington engineered a 12-play, 72-yard drive.
-- Bill Gramatica, who had missed three field goals with two of them coming in the final 3:30 of regulation, made a 40-yarder with 3:10 to play in overtime, lifting the Arizona Cardinals to a sloppy 9-6 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. The Cardinals improved to 4-2 for the first time since 1988 -- their first year in Arizona after leaving St. Louis. They moved into a first-place tie with San Francisco in the NFC West.
-- After calling some Cleveland fans "classless" for cheering when he suffered a concussion in his last home game, quarterback Tim Couch played efficiently as the Browns snapped a three-game losing streak with a 34-17 win over the Houston Texans. Couch completed 21 of 31 passes for 146 yards, including a go-ahead 25-yard touchdown pass to Quincy Morgan in the third quarter.
-- Duce Staley rushed for 116 of his 152 yards in the second half as the Philadelphia Eagles added to Tampa Bay's frustrations at Veterans Stadium with a 20-10 victory over the Buccaneers. Tampa Bay failed to score a touchdown in playoff games each of the last two years in Philadelphia and hoped to gain some revenge Sunday since the Buccaneers had a five-game winning streak and the NFL's top-ranked defense. But Staley carried a season-high 24 times and had a 57-yard run at the two-minute warning to seal the victory.
-- Travis Henry gained 130 yards on 19 carries and the Buffalo Bills took advantage of the absence of Miami quarterback Jay Fielder to down the Dolphins, 23-10. Miami's Ray Lucas struggled in place of the injured Fiedler as Buffalo's defense held an opponent to less than 24 points for the first time this season. Lucas fumbled away two snaps from center and was intercepted four times.
-- Michael Vick, returning to action after missing one week with a shoulder injury, produced the longest scoring run ever by an Atlanta quarterback in helping the Falcons coast past the punchless Carolina Panthers, 30-0. It was Atlanta's first shutout in nine years and only the second recorded in the NFL this season. Tampa Bay blanked Baltimore in Week 2, 25-0.
-- Marshall Faulk rushed for a season-high 183 yards and three touchdowns and had 52 yards on seven catches with another score as the St. Louis Rams rallied for a 37-20 victory over the Seattle Seahawks. Faulk's second touchdown 9:41 into the second half moved him past John Riggins and into seventh place on the NFL's all-time list. Faulk finished the contest with 119 career touchdowns. He also became the 15th player in NFL history to rush for 10,000 yards in his career.
-- Chad Pennington produced a breakout effort and the New York Jets took advantage of four turnovers to defeat the Minnesota Vikings, 20-7. Making just his second NFL start, Pennington overshadowed college teammate Randy Moss by completing 24 of 29 passes for 324 yards and a touchdown.
-- Todd Heap caught a pair of touchdown passes, breaking three tackles on one of them for a 20-yard score, as the Baltimore Ravens outlasted the Jacksonville Jaguars, 17-10.
