Brady gets the better of Bledsoe
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y., Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Drew Bledsoe had minimal success against his former team Sunday and the same could be said for Jerry Rice.
As a result, the New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers came up with key victories. They joined the Atlanta Falcons, who found they could win when Michael Vick has an off day, and the Cincinnati Bengals, who discovered a guarantee might just work when the opponent is an expansion team.
Pittsburgh and Tennessee continued their comebacks while Tampa Bay and Philadelphia continued to emerge as two of the top teams in the NFL.
Most of the spotlight fell, however, on Bledsoe. And, to a lesser extent, the No. 1 receiver in the history of pro football.
Bledsoe was the most publicized backup in the league last year when he was injured early in the season and gave way to Tom Brady as quarterback of the New England Patriots. When Bledsoe healed, Brady stayed in and eventually led the Patriots to the NFL title.
Bledsoe was then dealt to Buffalo and going into this week's games, he led the league in passing yardage while guiding the Bills to a 5-3 record. Brady, meanwhile struggled along with his teammates as the Patriots lost four in a row.
So when Buffalo hosted New England Sunday, Bledsoe was favored to gain some revenge for being traded away.
Instead, Brady completed 23 of 27 passes for 310 yards and four touchdowns in New England's 38-7 victory.
In Oakland, Terrell Owens set season highs with 12 catches for 191 yards and Jose Cortez atoned for a missed 27-yard field goal on the final play of regulation with a 23-yarder at 8:41 of overtime to lift the San Francisco 49ers to a 23-20 victory over the Oakland Raiders.
It marked the first time superstar receiver Jerry Rice had played against the 49ers (6-2) in a regular season game and he finished with six catches for 74 yards.
The 40-year-old receiver spent 16 seasons with the 49ers, setting all-time records for receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns and helping them win three Super Bowl titles.
A two-time NFL Most Valuable Player, Rice requested to be released after the 2000 season and signed with the Raiders.
Elsewhere in the NFL:
-- Jay Feely kicked a 40-yard field goal late in the third quarter to break a tie and the Atlanta Falcons held on to win their fourth straight game, 20-17 over the Baltimore Ravens. Atlanta let a 14-point lead slip away, but still improved to 5-3 after a 1-3 start. One week after Atlanta Michael Vick had the best game of his professional career, he completed 12 of 24 passes for just 136 yards and wound up with a minus five yards rushing on seven carries.
-- Sparked by a defense that set the early tone and the running of Eddie George, the Tennessee Titans tied Indianapolis for first place in the AFC South Division Sunday with a 23-15 victory over the Colts. The Titans have won three straight games.
-- Jon Kitna threw a career-high four touchdowns and cornerback Artrell Hawkins returned an interception 102 yards for a score as the Cincinnati Bengals easily picked up their first victory of the season, 38-3 over the Houston Texans. Cincinnati (1-8) entered Sunday as the only winless team in the NFL, but Coach Dick LeBeau and wide receiver Chad Johnson guaranteed a win over Houston (2-6), which was coming off the first road victory in franchise history.
Other NHL Results: Pittsburgh 23, Cleveland 20; Tampa Bay 38, Minnesota 24; Detroit 9, Dallas 7; Philadelphia 19, Chicago 13; St. Louis 27, Arizona 14; Washington 14, Seattle 3; New York Jets 44, San Diego 13; New York Giants 24, Jacksonville 17.
Red Wings settle for tie
DETROIT, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Jason Williams scored a power-play goal with 6:19 left in regulation and Curtis Joseph made 34 saves Sunday night, helping the Detroit Red Wings to a 3-3 with the Dallas Stars.
Williams redirected Brendan Shanahan's pass from the left corner past goaltender Marty Turco as Detroit rallied twice to extend its home unbeaten streak to five games (3
2).
Pavel Datsyuk had a goal and assist for the Red Wings, who opened a five-game homestand.
The Stars had a pair of leads, the second of which came when Ulf Dahlen scored his second goal of the game on the power play 7 1/2 minutes into the third period to make it 3-2.
Mike Modano also scored for Dallas, which is winless in its last three games (0-1-1-1).
Other NHL results: St. Louis 3, NY Rangers 2; Columbus 3, Buffalo 2; Phoenix 2, Nashville 1 in overtime; San Jose 4, Anaheim 3; Edmonton 4, Chicago 1.
Kings lose for first time
MIAMI, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Mike James and Rasual Butler keyed a fourth-quarter burst Sunday night and the Miami Heat played terrific defense in an 88-78 victory over the previously unbeaten Sacramento Kings for their first win of the season.
The Kings came in having won their first three games by a combined 72 points despite the absence of All-Star power forward Chris Webber and premier point guard Mike Bibby, both out with injuries.
Starting a three-game road trip, they appeared to be ready to have their way with the Heat, who lost their first two games.
But Sacramento ran into a Miami team relying on a handful of youngsters and committed to defense. The Heat held the Kings to 35.5 percent shooting and never let them get into any rhythm.
Holding a three-point lead early in the fourth quarter, Miami scored 12 straight points. James, a second-year guard from Duquesne, made consecutive three-pointers and Butler, a rookie from La Salle, sank a jumper to cap it at 80-65 with 5:35 to go.
Other NBA results: Los Angeles Clippers 74, Detroit 72; Seattle 91, Utah 77.
Kenyans sweep New York Marathon
NEW YORK, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Kenyans swept the New York City Marathon titles for the first time Sunday with Rogers Rop and Joyce Chepchumba emerging as winners in the race through the city's five boroughs.
Running in temperatures in the 40s with no wind, Rop completed the 26.2-mile course in a personal-best 2 hours, 8 minutes, 7 seconds.
The winner of the Boston Marathon in April, the 26-year-old Rop became the fourth man to claim the two races in the same year.
As he did in Boston, Christopher Cheboiboch came in second in 2:08:16. Laban Kipkemboi gave Kenya its first sweep of the top three finishers with a time of 2:08:39.
The United States was the last country to sweep the first three men's places, doing so in 1975.
Pulling away down the stretch, Chepchumba crossed the finish line in 2:25:56 -- the 12th-fastest time by a woman in the history of this event. It was her first win in New York after three previous top-five finishes.
Los Angeles Marathon champion Lyubov Denisova of Russia came in second, 21 seconds behind Chepchumba, followed by Yugoslavia's Olivera Jevtic.
Singh wins Tour Championship
ATLANTA, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Vijay Singh of Fiji put on a charge over the final 10 holes Sunday and claimed the season-ending Tour Championship by firing a closing-round 67 at the East Lake Golf Club.
Singh built some breathing room with three straight birdies beginning at the ninth hole and he added a birdie at the 15th hole en route to a 72-hole total of 12-under 268.
Of the three Tour Championships held at East Lake, Singh held the 54-hole lead each time. But he lost a playoff to Hal Sutton in 1998 and finished third in 2000. This time he held off Charles Howell III by two shots.
With the $900,000 top prize, Singh finished third on the money list with a career-best $3.75 million. He also won the $500,000 bonus for finishing atop the standings in the PGA Tour's "Fall Finish."
Singh recorded his first two-win season since 1998, having claimed the Houston Open in March. The two-time major winner earned his 11th PGA Tour title and fifth with Tiger Woods in the field, which is one off the tour high.
Howell started the day three shots back and he quickly moved within two when Singh bogeyed the first hole. But Howell did not make his first birdie until the 12th. A 5-under 30 on the back nine gave the 2001 Rookie of the Year a 66 and a second-place finish at 10-under 270.
Woods and Phil Mickelson -- the top two ranked players in the world -- were in the next-to-last pairing but never threatened. Woods double bogeyed the first hole, shot a 70 and tied for seventh at 276. Mickelson shot a 69 and tied for fifth at 275.
Benson captures first NASCAR event
ROCKINGHAM, N.C., Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Johnny Benson was able to hold off a stiff challenge from Mark Martin Sunday to win the Pop Secret 400 at North Carolina Speedway, his first victory in 226 Winston Cup starts.
Driving a Pontiac Grand Prix, Benson took the lead by passing the Ford Taurus of Kurt Busch 29 laps from the checkered flag. It was not an easy ride to victory lane as Martin, also in a Ford, tried several times to pass Benson by taking the low line around the track.
Benson kept his cool and won by 0.261 seconds over Martin.
Martin entered the race 146 points behind Tony Stewart in the battle for the Winston Cup championship. He closed the gap to 87 points on Stewart, who had a miserable day and finished 14th.
Vasser edges Andretti in CART race
FONTANA, Calif., Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Jimmy Vasser timed a perfect pass on the final restart with two laps to go Sunday and motored past Michael Andretti to win The 500, CART's next-to-last race of the year.
The 250-lap race was red-flagged with five laps to go to remove the car of Dario Franchitti, which caught fire.
On the restart, the cars ran under yellow for three laps. When the green flag waved, Vasser powered his Ford-Cosworth/Lola past Andretti's Honda/Lola high in the first turn of the two-mile California Speedway
Vasser held on to capture his 10th career victory and first since Houston in 2000. He averaged 187.8 miles per hour as he claimed his third 500-mile win.
Safin wins first title of the year
PARIS, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Marat Safin captured his first title of the year in splendid fashion Sunday, a straight-sets victory over world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt in the final of the $2.8 million BNP Paribas Masters.
Mixing his usual hard-hitting style with some finesse, Safin produced a 7-6 (7-4), 6-0, 6-4 masterpiece for his first tournament win since the St. Petersburg Open 13 months ago.
The second-seeded Russian dropped just one set en route to his 11th career title. A winner here two years ago, he joined Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and Boris Becker as the only players to have claimed this event more than once.
Slovakia downs Spain for Fed Cup
MASPALOMAS, Spain, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Slovakia won the Federation Cup for the first time Sunday as Janette Husarova sealed the title with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Spain's Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario.
After the nations split Saturday's two singles matches, Daniela Hantuchova overcame Conchita Martinez, 6-7 (8-10), 7-5, 6-4, in 3 hours, 21 minutes to move Slovakia one point away from victory.
Husavora then stormed past Sanchez-Vicario, who played her 100th Fed Cup match and 58th tie -- both records.
The 30-year-old Sanchez-Vicario withdrew from her match against Hantuchova on Saturday with a leg injury she aggravated in the semifinal against Austria. It was not known until 10 minutes before Sunday's match whether Sanchez-Vicario or Magui Serna would take the court.
Miami clings to No. 1 in coaches poll
MIAMI, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- Virginia Tech and Notre Dame fell from the ranks of the unbeaten and each slipped four spots in the latest college football coaches poll.
Virginia Tech (8-1) went from No. 3 to No. 7 after its 28-21 loss to Pittsburgh on Saturday. Notre Dame (8-1), which had earned a first-place vote last week, fell from six to 10 after a 14-7 setback to Boston College.
Georgia (8-1) and North Carolina State (9-1) also dropped in the poll after suffering their first losses of the season. Florida posted a 20-13 victory over Georgia, which slid three spots to No. 8, and Georgia Tech defeated North Carolina State, which plummeted five places to No. 13.
Miami (8-0) remained on top of the poll after rallying for a 42-17 victory over Rutgers on Saturday. The Hurricanes, who set a school record with their 30th straight victory, earned 47 of a possible 61 first-place votes and 1,511 points in a nationwide poll.
But Oklahoma (8-0), which had an impressive 27-11 win over Colorado, moved within 33 points of Miami after collecting 14 first-place votes and 1,478 points.
Ohio State (10-0) remained unbeaten and climbed one spot to No. 3 while Texas (8-1) jumped three spots to No. 4. Washington State (8-1) moved into the top-five, ascending four places. Iowa (9-1) also moved up four spots to No. 6
Michigan (7-2) and Kansas State (7-2) are ranked 11th and 12th, respectively. LSU (6-2) is at No. 14, followed by Oregon (7-2), unbeaten Bowling Green (8-0), Florida (6-3), Florida State (6-3), Penn State (6-3) and Colorado State (8-2).
Colorado (6-3) fell nine spots to No. 21 followed by fellow Big 12 school Iowa State.
Pittsburgh (7-2) enters the poll at No. 23 after its upset of Virginia Tech. Arizona State (7-3) and Maryland (7-2) round out the top-25.
