Raiders start with a victory

The way last season went for the Oakland Raiders, they’ll take any sort of a victory -- even one of the exhibition variety over the Arizona Cardinals.

Andrew Walter threw a touchdown pass to Mike Williams and Hiram Eugene scored on a 36-yard interception return to lead the Raiders to a 27-23 victory Saturday night at Oakland in Lane Kiffin’s first game as coach.

New Cardinals Coach Ken Whisenhunt played quarterback Matt Leinart only one quarter and running back Edgerrin James only two series. Leinart finished five for 11 for 50 yards and James carried twice for three yards.

Vince Young was benched for violating a team rule, and without him the Tennessee Titans struggled in a 14-6 loss to the Washington Redskins at Nashville. Marcus Mason scored from one yard and Byron Westbrook recovered a fumble in the end zone in the final 1:14, helping the Redskins pull out the win.

Trent Green struggled in his debut with the Miami Dolphins, underthrowing receivers while completing only six of 15 passes for 60 yards with one interception in an 18-17 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars at Miami. The Jaguars’ Josh Scobee missed a 43-yard field-goal try with 42 seconds left to clinch Miami’s victory.

Backup quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw a touchdown pass and led two other scoring drives in Green Bay’s 13-9 victory over the Steelers at Pittsburgh. Rodgers (18 for 27 for 168 yards) produced the Packers’ only touchdown by ending a 71-yard drive on their opening possession of the second half with a three-yard scoring pass to Carlyle Holiday.

Charlie Frye completed 12 of 15 passes for 122 yards for host Cleveland, but also botched a swing pass in the backfield that was returned 56 yards for a touchdown by Kansas City’s Benny Sapp in the first half. The Browns won, 16-12.

Matt Schaub, who replaced David Carr after backing up Michael Vick for three years in Atlanta, completed three of five passes for 25 yards in the Houston Texans’ 20-19 loss to the Chicago Bears at Houston. The Bears scored 13 fourth-quarter points, including a 47-yard go-ahead field goal by Robbie Gould with 2:23 remaining.

Jake Delhomme threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Steve Smith to cap an 81-yard opening drive, and Taye Biddle caught touchdown passes of 23 and 85 yards in the Carolina Panthers’ 24-21 victory over the New York Giants at East Rutherford, N.J.

Adam “Pacman” Jones can appear at a wrestling show tonight at Orlando, Fla., with a couple of provisions: The suspended Titans cornerback won’t be allowed to touch or be touched, use or be hit by any object or anything else that could injure him.

But at least he can be in the building for the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling pay-per-view event. The arrangement was approved by a Tennessee judge after an agreement among the Titans, Jones’ attorney and lawyers for TNA Entertainment.

The Titans received a temporary restraining order Friday that prohibited Jones -- suspended from the NFL for the 2007 season for violating the personal conduct policy -- from even being present at a TNA event.

Denver Broncos linebacker Warrick Holdman has been advised by doctors not to play football for three months after suffering a spinal cord concussion in a collision with a teammate last week. Holdman was injured Aug. 2 while trying to tackle running back Mike Bell, who lowered his left shoulder and struck the 243-pound linebacker on his helmet. Holdman went numb for about 40 seconds before regaining feeling in his extremities.

Buffalo Bills defensive end Anthony Hargrove was suspended for four games without pay by the NFL for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. In announcing the suspension, the league did not say what banned substance Hargrove tested positive for.