Pennington turnaround seals New York win

NEW YORK Jets quarterback Chad Pennington dug himself and his team out of a hole in the fourth quarter on Sunday night to hand coach Herman Edwards his first victory of the fledgling NFL season.

The Miami Dolphins had just closed the gap to 10-7 when Pennington put a poor performance behind him to drive the Jets to a 17-7 win.

A week earlier Pennington had fumbled six times as the Jets slumped to a shock opening-day defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs, who continued their winning ways by shackling Oakland Raiders star Randy Moss.

Moss, a close-season trade from the Minnesota Vikings, caught a 64-yard touchdown pass early in the third quarter before the Chiefs' defence shut down Oakland, keeping the Raiders at bay at the 10-yard line in the final minutes of a 23-17 victory.

Winning with defence has been a welcome addition to the Kansas City armoury. The Chiefs have relied on a high-scoring offence in recent years which has come up short and that led to a defensive overhaul in the off-season, bringing instant results in the first two weeks of the new campaign.

After taking a shut-out into the final minute of a season-opening 27-7 win over the Jets, the Chiefs held off the Raiders when they needed to.

Cleveland Browns quarterback Trent Dilfer had lost eight times on his previous trips to Green Bay, making his latest visit to Lambeau Field all the sweeter as the Browns edged out Brett Favre's Packers 26-24 for new coach Romeo Crennel's first win.

St Louis Rams held off a late Arizona rally to defeat the Cardinals 17-12 for their first win, keeping their rivals winless after the opening two games.

The Denver Broncos came from 11 points down at half-time to sneak a 20-17 victory over the San Diego Chargers while the Seattle Seahawks nearly blew a 21-0 half-time lead but held on to beat the Atlanta Falcons 21-18. Seattle had surrendered four fourth-quarter leads last season.

Detroit Lions quarterback Joey Harrington had an evening to forget when he was intercepted a career-high five times by the Chicago Bears, who ran out 38-6 victors.

In Sunday's earlier games, Super Bowl champions the New England Patriots were beaten 27-17 by the Carolina Panthers, the Philadelphia Eagles routed the San Francisco 49ers 42-3, Pittsburgh downed Houston 27-7 and the Tennessee Titans overcame Baltimore 25-10. Peyton Manning's Indianapolis Colts edged past Jacksonville 10-3, Tampa Bay beat Buffalo 19-3 and the Minnesota Vikings were crushed 37-8 by the Cincinnati Bengals.