The Associated Press

LANDOVER, Md. - With both offenses going nowhere, all the Baltimore Ravens needed was a few big plays by safety Ed Reed.

Reed scored a touchdown on a safety blitz, stopped Clinton Portis on a third-and-1 and sprung B.J. Sams for a 78-yard punt return, all in a 2 1/2-minute span in the third quarter. The Ravens scored 14 points without their struggling offense taking the field and that was more than enough to rally from a 10-0 halftime deficit in Sunday night's 17-10 victory over the punchless Washington Redskins.

The Ravens (3-2) held the Redskins (1-4) to 107 yards, sending Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs to his fourth straight defeat, his longest losing streak since starting 0-5 as a rookie head coach in 1981. Even Deion Sanders got into the act, getting his first interception since coming out of retirement.

Vikings 34, Texans 28, OT

HOUSTON - The upstart Texans proved they're never out of any game. The Vikings and quarterback Daunte Culpepper showed them what it takes to close one out, winning 34-28 in overtime Sunday.

Culpepper threw five touchdown passes, the last a 50-yarder to Marcus Robinson on the Vikings' second possession in overtime.

The victory was a huge relief for the Vikings (3-1), who almost let it get away after building a 21-0 lead in the third quarter as Culpepper picked apart the Texans.

David Carr rallied the Texans (2-3) with 372 yards passing and three touchdowns, two to Andre Johnson.

Johnson's first score came when he went high to catch the ball and hung on when he was upended and landed on his head, making it 21-7. Broncos 20, Panthers 17

DENVER - Rumblin', bumblin', stumblin', Julius Peppers looked up and saw nothing but 104 yards of Mile High air between himself and the end zone. He only made it 101.

That pretty much defined the day for the Carolina Panthers, who came up just short on a wild day filled with lots of strange and unexpected performances from lots of strange and unexpected places.

Reuben Droughns ran for 193 yards for Denver (4-1) and Jake Plummer made up for his fourth-and-goal interception to Peppers by throwing a pretty, 39-yard touchdown pass to Ashley Lelie for the winning points.

Lelie's touchdown - caught over the shoulder in the corner of the end zone, then upheld after Carolina asked for a review - was one of the few things that went to script on an otherwise crazy day. Despite the loss, Peppers will surely get a game ball for his 101-yard trek that goes down as the longest interception return in NFL history not to result in a touchdown.

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