The Associated Press

MIAMI - A humble second-year franchise playing at highly touted Miami, the Houston Texans were the biggest underdogs of opening weekend.

That made them mad. So did the Dolphins' trash-talking during pregame warmups.

"One of their players said, 'I'll see you after today's practice,' " Houston's Jabar Gaffney said. "That was their thinking - they were looking at us like this was just a little practice."

The Dolphins can only wish the game had been just a practice. Kris Brown kicked his fifth field goal, a 35-yarder, with 25 seconds left and the Texans stunned Miami 21-20.

"Not many people gave us a chance to win, but we're not shocked," Brown said. "We took it as a slap in the face that we were the largest underdogs the opening weekend."

The Week 1 upset was the Texans' second in as many seasons. Last year they became the first expansion team since 1961 to win their opening game by beating the Dallas Cowboys.

Miami, a 14-point favorite, fell to 0-1 for the first time in 12 years.

"I'm stunned. Shocked. Disappointed. Amazed," defensive tackle Larry Chester said. "No one could have told me we were going to lose - not with this team."

David Carr kept Miami's proud defense on its heels by throwing for 266 yards, including a 78-yard touchdown to Corey Bradford. Brown made field goals of 50, 36, 24 and 23 yards before hitting the game-winner.

The Texans forced the game's only three turnovers, including an interception by Marcus Coleman that set up the winning score. They limited Ricky Williams, last year's NFL rushing champion, to 69 yards.

The Dolphins, touted as a potential Super Bowl team, had won 11 consecutive openers and 17 consecutive home games in August and September since 1994. They're below .500 for the first time since the end of 1996.

Coleman intercepted Jay Fiedler's desperation pass at the 5-yard line on the final play, and the crowd booed the Dolphins as the clock ran out. Miami lost to a team that went 4-12 last year and was outscored 107-38 while losing all four exhibition games last month.

The Dolphins committed 11 penalties, with the most costly a holding infraction that negated a 48-yard run to the 2 by Williams. He also lost a fumble that led to a Houston field goal, but he put Miami ahead in the fourth quarter on a 35-yard touchdown pass.

The Texans answered with a 76-yard drive that took 7 1/2 minutes. Brown's 24-yard field goal left Houston trailing 20-18 with 4:55 left.

Coleman then stepped in front of a pass by Fiedler to give the Texans the ball at the Miami 36, and seven plays later Brown put them ahead.

Chris Chambers gave Miami the lead on touchdown catches of 57 and 21 yards, with the latter a spectacular one-handed grab.

Fiedler's three scoring passes tied his career high, but Carr was better, completing 17 of 31 attempts. The Dolphins failed to sack the second-year quarterback, who was sacked an NFL-record 76 times last year.

After falling behind 15-14 late in the third quarter, Miami drove 80 yards to regain the lead.

But Fiedler's 2-point conversation pass was incomplete, which proved decisive. At the finish, the Texans heard no more trash-talking.

Bills 31, Patriots 0

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. - Safety Lawyer Milloy needed less than a week to stick it to his former team. Quarterback Drew Bledsoe's wait was longer, but the victory just as sweet.

The two former New England stars combined for a dominating performance, sparking the Buffalo Bills to a 31-0 victory over the Patriots in their opener Sunday.

The win snapped Buffalo's five-game losing streak against its AFC East rival. And it capped a hectic, emotional week after the Bills snagged Milloy, a four-time Pro Bowler, on Wednesday, a day after the Patriots released him for salary cap reasons.

Milloy, a Patriots defensive captain, not only started despite getting in only two practices with Buffalo, but also made an impact, causing an interception, recording a sack and taking part on five tackles.

"It feels good," said Milloy. "But it feels good in a positive way, not in a personal vendetta way. I could be sitting up here and throwing out names and sticking it to them, but they know."

Former Bengal Takeo Spikes intercepted two passes in his Buffalo debut.

Bledsoe engineered scoring drives of 80 and 90 yards on his first two possessions. Acquired in a trade last year, Bledsoe won his first so-called "Bledsoe Bowl" in three tries, and finished 17-of-28 for 230 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

The game was effectively over when the Bills went up 21-0 in the second quarter. The lead was built on Travis Henry's 1-yard plunge, Dave Moore's 7-yard reception, and defensive tackle Sam Adams' 37-yard interception return.

The Patriots had nothing in response, looking nothing like the team that outscored Buffalo by a combined 65-24 in two games last season.

Tom Brady, who replaced Bledsoe as the Patriots' starter in 2001, had an abysmal outing. He finished 14-of-29 for 123 yards and threw four interceptions, tying a career high; he also threw four against Denver in 2001.

Brady summed up the loss: "From the first play on, it was Buffalo, Buffalo, Buffalo."

Colts 9, Browns 6

CLEVELAND - Peyton Manning saved his best for last. Manning drove Indianapolis 65 yards to set up Mike Vanderjagt's 45-yard field goal with 1 second left.

Vanderjagt's third field goal ended what figured to be a shootout between two of the AFC's best offenses, but turned into an error-filled matchup of penalties, turnovers and blown chances.

Manning, who finished 27-of-43 for 214 yards, threw two interceptions - one in the end zone - in the first half and didn't look sharp until late.

He went 8-for-10 on the Colts' game-winning drive, using five receivers. A year ago, Manning rallied the Colts from a 16-0 halftime deficit to beat the Browns 28-23.

After Indianapolis made the Browns punt, Manning took over at his own 8-yard line with 2:39 left. He completed three passes for 26 yards to get the Colts out of the shadow of their end zone, and then hit Reggie Wayne for 16 yards on a crucial third-and-10.

Cleveland quarterback Kelly Holcomb, who beat out Tim Couch for the starting job, finished 20-of-29 for 182 yards, but threw two interceptions in the first half and seemed reluctant to throw anything deep after halftime.

Steelers 34, Ravens 15

PITTSBURGH - On a day filled with mismatches, the biggest of all might have been Tommy Maddox against a Ravens defense supposedly among the NFL's best.

Maddox threw three touchdowns passes, two to Hines Ward, and Pittsburgh's defense roughed up Baltimore rookie quarterback Kyle Boller in his NFL debut.

Maddox, making his first season-opening start 11 years after being Denver's first-round draft pick, was everything Boller wasn't: decisive, accurate and effective in picking on mistakes. Maddox went 21-of-29 for 260 yards and didn't throw an interception, something he did only once in 11 starts last season.

The Steelers won their opener for the first time since 1999 and only the fifth time since coach Bill Cowher was hired in 1992. They also won their fifth straight against Baltimore. Pittsburgh was without Joey Porter, the All-Pro linebacker shot last weekend in Denver, but Baltimore was mostly without an offense. Boller had a predictable performance in his first game - predictably bad.

He was intercepted by Kendrell Bell on Baltimore's first possession, setting up the second of Jeff Reed's field goals, and it didn't get much better from there. The former Cal star went 22-of-42 for 152 yards, with almost all the yardage coming after the outcome was decided.

Chiefs 27, Chargers 14

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Priest Holmes ended any doubts about his recovery from an injured hip. The Kansas City Chiefs' running back is just fine, thank you.

Showing no ill effects from offseason hip surgery, Holmes rushed for two touchdowns and had 183 yards in total offense to lead the Chiefs.

Holmes had TD runs of 5 and 24 yards and 159 total yards in the first half alone as the Chiefs built a 24-0 lead against their AFC West rivals.

Holmes, who has led the NFL in yards from scrimmage each of the past two years, seemed confident from the beginning, showing his full repertoire of moves. He was the offensive player of the year for 2002 despite missing the final two games because of the hip injury.

Titans 25, Raiders 20

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Steve McNair threw two touchdowns and punter Craig Hentrich matched his career high by kicking three field goals to lead Tennessee.

It was a messy opener that doubled as a rematch of last season's AFC championship game. The Titans came in wanting to avenge the loss that kept them from their second Super Bowl in four seasons - and get a jumpstart for this season. Oakland won the AFC title game 41-24 in January and outscored the Titans 93-49 in two meetings last season that featured plenty of Tennessee mistakes.

The teams combined for 28 penalties for 284 yards.

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