NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Arizona Cardinals keep pushing for a playoff spot, even if they barely pulled out their latest victory.
Jay Feely kicked a 41-yard field goal in overtime, and the Cardinals edged the Tennessee Titans 37-34 in overtime after blowing a 17-point lead late in the fourth quarter.
Still, the Cardinals (9-5) won their sixth in seven games. With San Francisco and Carolina winning, they remain a game back of both for a NFC wild-card berth.
The Titans scored 17 points in the final 3:12 of regulation to force overtime with Ryan Fitzpatrick throwing two of his four touchdown passes to Michael Preston. They also recovered an onside kick to set up the tying touchdown with 10 seconds left in regulation.
They won the toss and drove to the Cardinals 43 before Antoine Cason intercepted his second pass of the game.
Tennessee (5-9) lost its third consecutive and eighth in 10 games. The Titans also lost their fifth consecutive home game for the first time since moving to Tennessee in 1997.
The Cardinals scored 21 consecutive points in the second half, the last when Cason returned his first interception for a touchdown and a 34-17 lead.
The Titans outgained Arizona 460-360 with Fitzpatrick throwing for 402 yards and Kendall Wright caught 12 passes for 150 yards hours after new president Tommy Smith said he felt they hadn’t given up on Mike Munchak with the coach’s job security at question.
But Arizona sacked Fitzpatrick three times to go along with Cason’s interceptions.
SEAHAWKS 23, GIANTS 0 Richard Sherman had two interceptions, Marshawn Lynch scored on a twisting, triple-effort 2-yard run, and Steven Hauschka kicked three field goals as visiting Seattle manhandled the New York Giants for its sixth road victory. Russell Wilson toyed with New York’s defense, running for 50 yards and throwing for 206 and a touchdown before sitting out the last few minutes. Wilson has 23 victories, the most for a quarterback in his first two seasons in the Super Bowl era.
STEELERS 30, BENGALS 20 Antonio Brown caught a touchdown pass and returned a punt for a score in a64-second span in the first quarter and host Pittsburgh beat Cincinnati. Shaun Suisham added three field goals for the Steelers (6-8), who built a 24-point lead and hardly looked like a team playing out the string. Ben Roethlisberger completed 20 of 25 passes for 191 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Le’Veon Bell added 117 yards of total offense.
DOLPHINS 24, PATRIOTS 20 Tom Brady’s latest comeback bid came up short, and the Miami Dolphins helped their playoff chances with a home victory over the AFC East-leading New England Patriots. A fourth-down pass from Brady was intercepted by reserve safety Michael Thomas, in his first NFL game, in the end zone with 2 seconds left, and Miami held on to win. The Patriots had mounted second-half rallies to win their past three games, and Brady moved them from their own 20 with 1:15 remaining to the Miami 14. But he threw three consecutive incompletions before Thomas sealed the third consecutive victory.
49ERS 33, BUCCANEERS 14 Vernon Davis caught a touchdown pass for the fifth consecutive game and Michael Crabtree scored his first TD since returning from injury to help the visiting San Francisco 49ers beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The victory was the fourth consecutive for Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers (10-4), who pulled away for good with a 10-minute, fourth-quarter drive that produced a field goal.
BEARS 38, BROWNS 31 Jay Cutler shook off some early rustiness and threw three touchdown passes in his first start since Nov. 10, leading visiting Chicago past Cleveland. Cutler, who missed Chicago’s previous four games with a sprained left ankle, threw a 4-yard TD pass to Earl Bennett with 5:41 left as Bears (8-6) rallied in the second half and stayed in contention for an NFC playoff spot.
COLTS 25, TEXANS 3 Andrew Luck threw two touchdown passes, and Robert Mathis broke Indianapolis’ single-season and career sacks records by forcing a second-half safety to lead the host Colts past Houston. Luck finished 19 of 32 for 180 yards with 1 interception.
PANTHERS 30, JETS 20 Cam Newton threw for 273 yards and a touchdown, Captain Munnerlyn had two sacks and returned an interception for a score and the host Panthers bounced back from their most lopsided loss of the season. Carolina’s defense, which surrendered 313 yards and four touchdowns in a 31-13 loss to New Orleans, came up big limiting rookie quarterback Geno Smith to 167 yards passing.
FALCONS 27, REDSKINS 26 Desmond Trufant deflected Kirk Cousins’ pass on a potential winning two-point conversion with 18 seconds remaining, and the host Falcons edged the Washington Redskins. The Falcons (4-10) scored 20 points off seven Washington turnovers.
BILLS 27, JAGUARS 20 EJ Manuel threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score, leading the visiting Buffalo Bills to a victory against the banged-up Jacksonville Jaguars.
x-clinched playoff spot y-clinched division THURSDAY’S GAME San Diego 27, Denver 20 SUNDAY’S GAMES Minnesota 48, Philadelphia 30 Atlanta 27, Washington 26 San Francisco 33, Tampa Bay 14 Seattle 23, NY Giants 0 Chicago 38, Cleveland 31 Indianapolis 25, Houston 3 Buffalo 27, Jacksonville 20 Miami 24, New England 20 Kansas City 56, Oakland 31 Carolina 30, NY Jets 20 Arizona 37, Tennessee 34, OT St. Louis 27, New Orleans 16 Green Bay 37, Dallas 36 Pittsburgh 30, Cincinnati 20TODAY’S GAME - All times Central Baltimore at Detroit, 7:40 p.m.
SUNDAY, DEC. 22 Tampa Bay at St. Louis, noon Indianapolis at Kansas City, noon Denver at Houston, noon Miami at Buffalo, noon New Orleans at Carolina, noon Dallas at Washington, noon Cleveland at NY Jets, noon Minnesota at Cincinnati, noon Tennessee at Jacksonville, noon Arizona at Seattle, 3:05 p.m.
NY Giants at Detroit, 3:05 p.m.
Oakland at San Diego, 3:25 p.m.
Pittsburgh at Green Bay, 3:25 p.m.
New England at Baltimore, 3:25 p.m. Chicago at Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m.
MONDAY, DEC. 23 Atlanta at San Francisco, 7:40 p.m.
Sports, Pages 22 on 12/16/2013