Luck Guides the Unbeaten

To everyone who said the NFL will play regular-season games in Mexico City and San Antonio the same day the Cincinnati Bengals go 4-0, congratulations, you got it right.

On a Sunday when the Alamodome and Azteca Stadium played host to NFL games -- and, again, the Los Angeles Coliseum did not -- the Bengals defeated the Houston Texans, 16-10, to open a season 4-0 for the first time since the 1988 season, which is the last time the Bengals went to the Super Bowl.

At the same time, the Washington Redskins edged the Seattle Seahawks in overtime, 20-17, to move to 3-0 for the first time since the 1991 season, which is the last time the Redskins went to the Super Bowl, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Detroit Lions, 17-13, to open a season 4-0 for the first time since the 1997 season, which was not a Super Bowl year for the Buccaneers, because Trent Dilfer had only one of those in him and Ray Lewis did not play for Tampa Bay in 1997.

Amazing streaks, all of them.

And now, how to categorize them?

Into the “Man Bites Dog” file go the Bengals. That one was easy.

Into the “Chucky Gets Lucky” file go Jon Gruden’s Buccaneers, who are unbeaten against four opponents who are a combined 3-11 so far in 2005.

And into the “Joe Paterno & Other Old Coaches Who Haven’t Quite Lost It Yet” file goes Joe Gibbs’ Redskins, who probably don’t care much that they rate as the worst undefeated team in pro football, having beaten Chicago by two points, Dallas by an out-of-nowhere fourth-quarter rally and now Seattle in overtime.

One other thing about these streaks: Change one play in each game and, probably, each streak is over.

The Bengals defeated winless Houston by six points after Texan quarterback David Carr was hit while attempting to pass with three minutes left, the resulting bouncing ball being generously ruled a fumble instead of an incomplete pass. Ball to Cincinnati, potential winning drive by Houston thwarted by a referee’s decision.

The Buccaneers defeated 1-2 Detroit by four points after the Lions had two potential touchdown receptions in the final minute ruled out of the end zone, by inches. First was Marcus Pollard’s sliding catch, which appeared to be a legitimate score on at least one replay angle, but was ultimately called incomplete. This was followed immediately by Mike Williams leaping to catch Joey Harrington’s pass in the back of the end zone, only to have officials rule he did not land with both feet in bounds.

That left Harrington with one last play.

Result: An overthrown ball intended for Roy Williams, out of the end zone, end of the game, no controversy here, a ball thrown out of the end zone by Harrington being a sacred Detroit Lion tradition.

The Redskins held on against the Seahawks only after a controversial pass-interference penalty set up Washington’s second touchdown and Seattle kicker Josh Brown plunked the left upright with his 47-yard field-goal attempt to win the game with one second left.

By that much, the Redskins crawled into overtime, winning the coin toss and then the game on a 39-yard field goal by rookie Nick Novak.

Joining this unlikely undefeated trio are the Indianapolis Colts. No major surprise about that result, but Indianapolis’ route to 3-0 was more than a tad curious -- no touchdown passes in two games for Peyton Manning, no more than seven points given up by the Colt defense in any of those three games.

The Colts used an old dog-eared road map in Sunday’s 31-10 triumph over Tennessee. Manning was back to being Manning, passing for four touchdowns, which elicited the following reaction from Colt fans:

a) “What took him so long?”

b) “He was absolutely killing my fantasy team!”

c) “That puts him back on pace for ... um ... 24 touchdown passes?”

d) “He couldn’t let Eli embarrass him on national TV, could he?”

It’s not often that two brothers combine to throw for eight touchdowns on the same NFL Sunday, and rarer still when Peyton has to throw for four to keep up with his kid brother. But there was Eli, throwing for four scores in a 44-24 victory over the St. Louis Rams, who are such a shambles that Marc Bulger had to throw 62 times (the most ever against the Giants) for 442 yards just to stay within 20 points of Eli Manning.

Two of Peyton’s scoring passes went to Marvin Harrison, enabling Manning and Harrison to tie Steve Young and Jerry Rice for most touchdown passes between a quarterback and receiver, 85. Also worth noting, as it too is fairly historic: With those four touchdown throws, Peyton trails Eli in 2005 scoring passes, nine to six.

In its all-important crusade to earn home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, 4-0 Indianapolis holds a two-game edge over New England, which dropped to 2-2 with a startling 41-17 home loss to San Diego.

That ended a 21-game home winning streak for the Patriots, who have lost this season to Carolina by 10 points and San Diego by 24 points and, yes, you could say the injuries are starting to catch up with the Super Bowl champions.

Philadelphia and Kansas City played two games in one, the Chiefs routing the Eagles by 18 points in the first half before the Eagles scored 28 unanswered points on their way to a 37-31 triumph.

Or, to break it down as simply as Donovan McNabb shredded the Chief defense (three touchdowns, 369 yards), the Chiefs led at one point, 24-6, and then were outscored the rest of the way, 31-7.

Elsewhere, the New Orleans Saints finally played a “home” game, beating Buffalo, 19-7, in San Antonio; the Oakland Raiders won for the first time this season, 19-13, over Dallas; and the Arizona Cardinals defeated the San Francisco 49ers, 31-14, in Mexico City, the first NFL regular-season game played outside U.S. borders.

Going south is nothing new for the Cardinals, but this is the first time the franchise ever benefited from that game plan.

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Oh, brothers

Comparing the season statistics of Peyton Manning and his younger brother Eli:

*--* PEYTON ELI 4 Games 4 114 Attempts 123 73 Completions 66 868 Yards 985 6 Touchdowns 9 2 Interceptions 2 64.0 Completion % 53.7 97.4 QB Rating 97.8

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