Colts, Titans win with dramatic rallies

Aggressive defense can win - and lose - football games.

On Sunday, it won a game for the Indianapolis Colts but lost one for the Baltimore Ravens.

Indianapolis trailed Houston, 27-17, with under four minutes left and the Texans in possession at the Colts' 39. But Indianapolis forced two fumbles in the next four Houston snaps to claim an improbable 31-27 victory.

Baltimore clung to a 10-7 lead over Tennessee with under six minutes left and the Titans in possession on their 20. On third-and-10, Kerry Collins fired a deep incompletion to Justin McCareins.

But Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs was penalized for roughing the passer, giving the Titans 15 yards and new life. Collins promptly marched the Titans 65 yards in nine plays for a touchdown and a 13-10 victory.

Let's go back to the Colts. On third-and-8, Texans quarterback Sage Rosenfels scrambled for 7 yards, but Colts tackle Raheem Brock stripped the ball away. Linebacker Gary Brackett recovered the ball and raced 68 yards for a touchdown.

That cut the Colts' deficit to 27-24 with 3:36 left. The Texans were still in position to burn some clock before punting, which would have forced the Colts to mount a long drive for the potential game-tying or game-winning points.

But on third-and-9 from the Houston 21, Colts end Robert Mathis sacked Rosenfels and again stripped the ball away, recovering it at the 20. Two plays later, Peyton Manning threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Reggie Wayne to seal the victory.

Rosenfels then threw an interception on Houston's final possession, giving him three turnovers in the final four minutes.

Now back to the Ravens. Collins was struggling against the Ravens, completing 11 of 22 passes for 105 yards before that roughing-the-passer penalty. But that woke him up. Collins completed his next four passes and went 6-of-9 for 58 yards in the game-winning drive, culminating in an 11-yard TD toss to Alge Crumpler.

OBSERVATIONS Baltimore's defense has allowed three touchdowns this season. That's also how many touchdowns the Detroit offense has allowed. Opponents have returned three interceptions for scores against the Lions, including a 26-yarder by Chicago's Charles Tillman on Sunday.

The San Diego Chargers released wide receiver Greg Camarillo in the final roster cutdown in September 2007. He was claimed off waivers by the Miami Dolphins. Camarillo played against his old team for the first time Sunday and caught six passes for 68 yards, including a 17-yard touchdown, in the Dolphins' 17-10 upset of the Chargers.

The teams out West don't like breakfast football. Not only did Seattle and San Diego have to travel almost 2,500 miles across the country to play a game in the East, the NFL scheduled both for 1 p.m. Eastern starts. The Seahawks and Chargers played like they were still waking up. The Chargers were upset by the Dolphins, and the Seahawks were roasted by the New York Giants, 44-6.