AMERICAN FOOTBALL:THE NEW York Giants and Minnesota Vikings maintained their unbeaten starts to the season as week five of the National Football League got under way on Sunday.
Both sides were playing teams with losing records, New York trouncing the Oakland Raiders 44-7 at Giants Stadium while Brett Favre led Minnesota to a 38-10 defeat of the winless St Louis Rams, with Adrian Peterson rushing 69 yards for two touchdowns.
The Giants saw quarterback Eli Manning shrug off an injury in his right foot to start the game.
Manning threw two touchdown passes and handed off another two for running back Ahmad Bradshaw as he led New York into a 28-0 first-half lead, before the Raiders got on the board for only their fourth touchdown of the season.
His work done, Manning was removed from the fray as a precaution ahead of next week's showdown with the 4-0 New Orleans Saints. His replacement, David Carr, took the Giants into a 31-7 half-time lead.
Carr made his mark by breaking out of trouble in the pocket for a 12-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to push New York into a 38-7 as the Giants rolled to a 5-0 record for the season.
NFC East divisional rivals the Philadelphia Eagles kept on the Giants' coat tails with a 33-14 home victory over the winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
In Kansas City, the winless Chiefs gave the Dallas Cowboys a fright as they took a 10-3 lead at half-time and were 13-10 up heading to the fourth quarter.
A Cowboys field goal levelled the scores and Tony Romo threw a short pass to Miles Austin who ran in a touchdown from 59 yards, the conversion sending Dallas into a 20-13 lead with three minutes left.
Back came the Chiefs, Matt Cassel throwing a touchdown pass to Dwayne Bowe and the extra point tying the game at 20-20 to send it into overtime.
Kansas City twice had the ball but could not get the job done, and when Romo received the ball a second time in the extra period he once again found Austin for the winning touchdown in a 26-20 victory.
The Pittsburgh Steelers moved to 3-2 for the season with a 28-20 road win over the Lions in Detroit.
The Lions, missing injured rookie quarterback Matt Stafford, started with former Vikings QB Daunte Culpepper, who threw one touchdown and 282 yards with one interception. His opposite number, Ben Roethlisberger, threw three touchdowns for 277 yards and one interception.
The Cleveland Browns got a first win of the season for new head coach Eric Mangini as they ground out a 6-3 win at the Buffalo Bills, who slipped to 1-4.AFC EAST P W L D F A PCT
Weekend Results
Cleveland 6 Buffalo 3
Dallas 26 Kansas 20 (OT)
Minnesota 38 St Louis 10
NY Giants 44 Oakland 7
Philadelphia 33 T Bay 14
Pittsburgh 28 Detroit 20
Carolina 20 Washington 17
Cincinnati 17 Baltimore 14
Atlanta 45 San Francisco 10
Seattle 41 Jacksonville 0
Arizona 28 Houston 21
Denver 20 N England 17 (OT)
Indianapolis 31 Tennessee 9
