McNabb and Owens combine to inspire Eagles

WARRING team-mates Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens put aside their differences to lead the Philadelphia Eagles to a 42-3 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in the early NFL games last night.

McNabb threw four of his five touchdown passes in the first 19 minutes, including a pair to Owens. The quarterback played three quarters, finishing 23-of-29 for 342 yards and tying his career-best for TD passes.

Owens had five catches for 143 yards in his first game against his former team. LJ Smith caught a career-best nine passes for 119 yards and one TD for Philadelphia (1-1). The two stars combined to put Owens over 10,000 yards receiving, making him the 22nd player to reach that mark.

Pittsburgh refused to wilt in the Texan heat as the Steelers cruised past Houston 27-7. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger led Pittsburgh to scores on its first four drives, a pair of field goals sandwiched around touchdown passes of 16 yards and 14 yards to Hines Ward, as the Steelers eased past the Texans 27-7.

It was Pittsburgh’s (2-0) 16th straight regular-season game, matching the Miami teams of 1971-73 and 1983-84 for the second-best streak in league history. Next up in the march toward the record of 18 is the record-holder, New England; the Steelers snapped that streak by beating the Patriots in Pittsburgh last October.

Super Bowl champion Patriots were on the losing side yesterday, going down 27-17 to the Carolina Panthers.

Chad Johnson caught a 70-yard touchdown pass on the game’s second play as the Cincinnati Bengals went to 2-0, overwhelming still winless Minnesota Vikings 37-8 while Cadillac Williams drove the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to victory over the Buffalo Bills.

Williams topped 100 yards rushing for the second straight week, returning to finish a 128-yard, one touchdown performance that helped the Bucs dominate the Bills 19-3.

Tennessee’s Steve McNair threw a touchdown and Rob Bironas kicked field goals of 39, 29 and 47 yards as the Titans, the NFL’s youngest team, beat the Baltimore Ravens 25-10.

And the Indianapolis Colts (2-0) gained an early edge in a second straight solid performance in 10-3 victory over Jacksonville.