Colts shoot down Texans

Manning: Inspirational

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The Indianapolis Colts rallied from a 13-point deficit to win in Houston and maintain their 100 percent record in week 12 of the regular season.

The Minnesota Vikings moved to 10-1 with a crushing success over divisional rivals the Chicago Bears, while the Vince Young-inspired Tennessee Titans - who started the season 0-6 - edged out the Arizona Cardinals for their fifth straight win.

Indianapolis Colts 35-27 Houston Texans

Quarterback Peyton Manning threw for three touchdowns as Indianapolis Colts overcame Houston Texans to preserve their unbeaten start to the NFL season.

The Colts (11-0) were trailing Houston by 13 points at half-time, but battled back to record a 35-27 victory - their 20th straight regular-season triumph.

A four-yard pass from Manning to Dallas Clark put the Colts 21-20 ahead with less than 10 minutes to play.

Houston quarterback Matt Schaub then fumbled on the Texans' next possession and Chad Simpson sealed the Colts' victory with a touchdown run.

The Colts will clinch the AFC South division title later on Sunday if division rivals Jacksonville lose to San Francisco.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17-20 Atlanta Falcons

Atlanta Falcons gave their play-off hopes a major boost with a battling victory over Tampa Bay Buccaneers .

The Falcons did it the hard way, coming from behind at home to beat the lowly Bucs 20-17 despite being without quarterback Matt Ryan and running back Michael Turner, who both picked up injuries.

However a fourth-quarter touchdown catch from wide receiver Roddy White thrown by back-up Chris Redman proved enough for Atlanta.

The Falcons now move to 6-5 but are still a long distance behind the unbeaten New Orleans Saints in NFC South.

Cleveland Browns 7-17 Cincinnati Bengals

The Cincinnati Bengals tightened their grip on the AFC North division with a 16-7 win over Ohio rivals Cleveland Browns.

The win moves the Bengals to 8-3 for the season while the Browns have now suffered 10 defeats in 11 games under new head coach Eric Mangini.

For the Bengals it was the perfect response to an upset loss last week at the Oakland Raiders, their defence limiting the Browns to one third-quarter touchdown.

Cincinnati quarterback Carson Palmer threw one touchdown pass whilst Shayne Graham kicked three field goals to help his team clinch a divisional sweep.

Carolina Panthers 6-17 New York Jets

The New York Jets got back to winning ways with a much-needed 17-6 home victory over the Carolina Panthers at the Meadowlands.

Both teams had gone into the game with 4-6 records, with the Jets' first-year head coach Rex Ryan and rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez under intense pressure to turn around a losing season.

Ryan had his defence to thank for a first victory in four games, as they restricted the Panthers to only three field goals.

Cornerback Darrelle Revis also impressed with two interceptions of Carolina quarterback Jake Delhomme, one of which he returned 67 yards for the opening touchdown.

Washington Redskins 24-27 Philadelphia Eagles

The Philadelphia Eagles slashed the gap between themselves and NFC East leaders Dallas Cowboys with a 27-24 victory over Washington Redskins.

Donovan McNabb engineered a 90-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter to level the scores at 24 apiece before David Akers' fourth field goal of the day clinched the win for the Eagles.

Jason Campbell had thrown for two touchdowns and ran for one himself to help the Redskins hold the lead. However the quarterback was also picked off twice, both times by cornerback Asante Samuel.

The Eagles (7-4) still trail the Cowboys (8-3) while the Redskins slumped to 3-8 after crashing to their the fourth successive home defeat of the campaign.

Seattle Seahawks 27-17 St Louis Rams

A career high day for Justin Forsett helped Seattle stretch their winning run to 10 games against the hapless St Louis Rams, who were without starting quarterback Marc Bulger.

Tail-back Forsett - starting in place of the injured Julius Jones - managed 130 yards and two touchdowns, from two and three yards out, on 22 carries.

Olindo Mare kicked a pair of field goals for the Seahawks while their defence also found the end zone, Josh Wilson returning an interception of Kyle Boller 65 yards.

Boller did manage to throw an early touchdown to Donnie Avery, though, while Steven Jackson managed to score on a one-yard run to get the Rams a late consolation on another disappointing day in a dour season.

Miami Dolphins 14-31 Buffalo Bills

Miami's play-off hopes suffered a blow in Buffalo as Terrell Owens helped the Bills score 24 unanswered points to sink the Dolphins at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

Chad Henne's four-yard pass to Brian Hartline and a one-yard run from Ricky Williams helped the Dolphins move into a 14-3 lead at one stage in the third quarter.

However the Bills came storming back, Fred Jackson twice managing to find the end zone on the ground, while Rian Lindell booted a 56-yard field goal.

Owens played his part in the points spree, reeling in a 51-yarder from quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, to help clinch a first win for interim head coach Perry Fewell in his second game in charge.

Chicago Bears 10-36 Minnesota Vikings

Brett Favre threw three touchdown passes and a total of 392 yards as NFC North leaders Minnesota sent Chicago crashing to a 36-10 defeat in Minneapolis.

With the opening period ending scoreless, the veteran quarterback brought the match to life in the second period, when all three of his scoring passes came.

The first was a 15-yard touchdown pass to Percy Harvin, with Chester Taylor and Visanthe Shiancoe also on the scoresheet as Minnesota took a 24-7 half-time lead.

Two second-half field goals and a rushing touchdown from Adrian Peterson sealed the home victory, which moved the Vikings to 10-1.

The Bears, whose quarterback Jay Cutler was intercepted twice, therefore fell further behind the divisional leaders with a 4-7 record.

Arizona Cardinals 17-20 Tennessee Titans

Tennessee sealed their fifth win in a row after they rallied for a 20-17 home win over the NFC West-leading Arizona in Nashville.

Quarterback Vince Young, who came back into the Titans line-up to replace Kerry Collins after they started the season 0-6, delivered for his side with just six seconds left on the clock.

He had thrown 377 yards without a touchdown pass but then produced a game-winning 10-yarder to rookie wide receiver Kenny Britt.

Arizona, who had Matt Leinart start at QB instead of Kurt Warner, therefore lost their unbeaten away record and moved on to 7-4 for the season.

Jacksonville Jaguars 3-20 San Francisco 49ers

San Francisco put a dent in the winning record of Jacksonville by beating the AFC South side 20-3 at Candlestick Park.

Home quarterback Alex Smith threw for 232 yards and two touchdowns to Vernon Davis and Frank Gore, who both received short passes in the second quarter.

Joe Nedney also kicked two field goals for the Niners, who moved to 5-6 for the season.

They also snapped the three-game winning streak of the Jaguars (6-5), whose loss guaranteed the AFC South title for Indianapolis.

Kansas City Chiefs 14-43 San Diego Chargers

San Diego scored their sixth victory in succession and stayed one win ahead of divisional rivals Denver after putting Kansas City to the sword in California.

The 43-14 victory moved the AFC West-leading Chargers to 8-3; the visitors in contrast suffering their eighth defeat of the campaign.

Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers threw two touchdown passes to Antonio Gates and passed for a total of 317 yards - his side scoring five touchdowns in all.

One came after Paul Oliver recovered a Matt Cassel fumble and ran 40 yards to cross, the Chiefs (3-8) suffering defeat after stunning Super Bowl champions Pittsburgh last weekend.

Pittsburgh Steelers 17-20 (OT) Baltimore Ravens

Baltimore scored an overtime victory against Super Bowl champions Pittsburgh in Sunday's late game.

The result came after rookie defensive lineman Paul Kruger intercepted stand-in quarterback Dennis Dixon - the latter making his first NFL start after Ben Roethlisberger failed to shake off the effects of a concussion.

Dixon's first and only interception of the game came with 10 minutes of sudden-death overtime remaining after the game had been tied at 17-17 in regulation.

Once Kruger had intercepted and returned the ball to the Steelers' 29 yard line, Billy Cundiff sealed victory with a field goal.

Cundiff had earlier seen his 56-yard effort to end the contest with the last play of the game drop short of the posts and send it into overtime.

The Ravens therefore pulled level with the Steelers at 6-5 in AFC North, with both teams trailing the division-leading Cincinnati Bengals (8-3).