Garrard tied a club record with four touchdown passes and ran for another while narrowly missing a perfect quarterback rating, leading the Jaguars to a 35-17 victory over the Cowboys on Sunday.
Tony Romo could only watch from the sideline, his left arm in a sling because of a broken collarbone, as the Cowboys (1-6) continued their worst start since 1989. The disturbing part for Dallas is that this one was not even close; all previous losses were by a touchdown or less. It was not even as close as the final score suggests.
“I’m dumbfounded,” owner said.
Coach Wade Phillips normally can find a silver lining in anything, no matter how meaningless, such his new starting quarterback, Jon Kitna, throwing for 379 yards or Dallas scoring two fourth-quarter touchdowns. He was absolutely deflated this time, his voice lacking any energy.
“I’m distraught, to say the least,” Phillips said. “I’ve got talented players and I’m not getting them to play well enough. To me, that’s the root of the problem.”
The Cowboys trailed by 14-3 and were inside the 1-yard line just before halftime when Kitna turned right and Marion Barber went left. There was a handoff, a collision and an easy goal-line stand for Jacksonville (4-4). Garrard opened the second half with touchdowns on his first two drives, making it 28-3, and the result never was in doubt again.
The Jaguars were coming off losses by 22 and 27 points, with Garrard having missed the last game recovering from a concussion. He completed his first 12 passes, finally misfiring early in the third quarter only to avoid a sack. He threw his third touchdown on the next snap. He finished 17 of 21 for 260 yards. Even with three sacks and a lost fumble, his rating was 157.8; perfect is 158.3.
¶ passed for 305 yards and 2 touchdowns and the host beat the , 20-10.
Brees was 20 of 22 for 191 yards in the second half, breaking open a defensive struggle in which no team scored a touchdown through the first three quarters.
Brees’s first touchdown pass went to Marques Colston for 16 yards and the second went for 8 yards to Lance Moore with 2 minutes 37 seconds left.
Leigh Torrence then intercepted to seal it for the Saints (5-3).
Roethlisberger was 17 of 28 for 195 yards for the Steelers (5-2).
Kickers Save the Day
Dan Carpenter kicked five field goals for the second straight game, and the visiting made them stand up in beating the , 22-14, to remain perfect on the road. Last week, the Dolphins (4-3) lost after a disputed play. Ben Roethlisberger’s touchdown was ruled a fumble on review, but the Steelers kept the ball and kicked a field goal for a 23-22 win, offsetting Carpenter’s five field goals.
The Bengals (2-5) failed to get a first down in the third quarter and were shut out in the second half. Their final chance ended with ’s interception with 2:43 to go.
¶Ryan Succop kicked a 34-yard field goal as time expired in overtime to lift the host over the winless , 13-10.
Succop had a chance to win the game with 3:38 to go in overtime, but his 39-yard attempt with 3:38 to go hooked left at the last instant.
Buffalo’s Rian Lindell hit what would have been a 53-yard winner earlier in the overtime, but the kick was nullified because the Chiefs (5-2) had called their last time out. Forced to do it again, Lindell kicked a wobbler that hit the right upright.
The Bills (0-7)are off to the third-worst start in franchise history.
Finding a Rhythm
Matthew Stafford made the most of his return. He threw four touchdown passes, including a 10-yarder to Calvin Johnson with 3 minutes 12 seconds left, and the host went on to score 9 points in 14 seconds to turn a close game into a 37-25 win over the .
The Redskins (4-4) turned the ball over on downs after Johnson’s career-high third score. Washington Coach then put Rex Grossman in for an apparently healthy , and he fumbled on his first play with Ndamukong Suh returning it for a touchdown.
The Lions (2-5) were trailing late in the game with Alphonso Smith stepped in front of McNabb’s pass at the Redskins’ 26 to set up the go-ahead touchdown.
Stafford played for the first time since Week 1, when he separated his right shoulder on a sack at Chicago. He finished 26 of 45 for 212 yards and had an interception.
¶Troy Smith needed three quarters to find his range in his first start as a 49er. Once he did, San Francisco rallied to victory in the ’s fourth regular-season game in London.
He completed three long passes in the fourth quarter to lead the 49ers (2-6) to a 24-16 win over the (2-6).
¶Philip Rivers threw a go-ahead, 48-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Gates midway through the third quarter and the host rallied for a 33-25 win against the , who lost quarterback Vince Young to another injury.
San Diego (3-5) snapped a three-game losing streak and won its eighth straight game against Tennessee dating to 1993. The Titans (5-3) had their three-game winning streak snapped. San Diego is the only team Titans Coach Steve Fisher has not beaten.
Young was hurt while scrambling with less than six minutes to play and had to be helped off the field.
Around the League
Sam Bradford threw two touchdown passes and the ’ defense forced four turnovers in a 20-10 victory against the visiting .
Bradford threw a 2-yard scoring pass to Danny Amendola in the second quarter and a 23-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Fells in the fourth as the Rams — an N.F.L.-worst 1-15 last season — reached the midway point at 4-4.
¶Jason Campbell threw for 310 yards and 2 touchdowns, and Oakland’s defense delivered helped the host to a 33-3 victory against the . Oakland (4-4) did not allow a first down until more than 27 minutes into the game and gave up just 162 yards of offense to the Seahawks (4-3).
¶Aqib Talib intercepted two passes, returning one 45 yards for a touchdown and saving the game with the other, and the Buccaneers (5-2) rallied from a fourth-quarter deficit for the fourth time this season to secure a 38-35 victory against the host Cardinals (3-4).
Correction: November 3, 2010
An Associated Press report on Monday about Sunday’s N.F.L. games misstated, in some editions, the Dallas Cowboys’ record after a 35-17 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. That loss made them 1-6, not 1-5. The error was repeated in a picture caption.