Jay Cutler and the Broncos stopped the surging Jets, and showed they might be a team to reckon with in the wide-open AFC.
Cutler passed for 357 yards and two touchdowns and rookie Peyton Hillis ran for 129 yards and a score at a wet and windy Meadowlands. The Broncos (7-5) washed away the sting of a 31-10 loss to Oakland at home last weekend by stopping the Jets' five-game winning streak. Denver leads the AFC West by three games with four weeks left.
It was a disappointing loss for New York (8-4), coming off emotional victories at New England and Tennessee and making a claim as the conference's top team.
Cutler finished 27-of-43, and Hillis became the first to rush for 100 or more yards against the Jets' third-ranked run defense. Brandon Stokley and Eddie Royal each had touchdown catches, and tight ends Tony Scheffler and Daniel Graham combined for 13 catches and 149 yards.
Thomas Jones had 138 yards rushing and two touchdowns for New York, but Brett Favre struggled in the sloppy conditions. He finished 23-of-43 for 247 yards and an interception. The Jets are still a game ahead of both New England and Miami in the AFC East.
Atlanta 22, San Diego 16: Matt Ryan, Michael Turner and the rest of the Falcons are very much alive in the playoff picture. The Chargers, once thought to be Super Bowl worthy, are on life support.
Ryan, the rookie from Boston College, threw two touchdown passes and Turner, LaDainian Tomlinson's former understudy, ran for 120 yards against his former team. The Falcons (8-4), one of the NFL's most surprising teams behind rookie head coach Mike Smith, remained a game behind Tampa Bay and Carolina in the NFC South.
San Diego (4-8) lost for the fifth time in six games. The Chargers came into the day two games behind Denver in the anemic AFC West.
Ryan completed 17 of 23 passes for 207 yards. Turner carried 31 times in his sixth 100-yard game of the season.
Tomlinson, the two-time defending NFL rushing champion, was held to 24 yards on 14 carries.
Kansas City 20, Oakland 13: Tyler Thigpen put together one effective drive to beat the Raiders in a matchup between two of the NFL's worst teams.
Thigpen engineered a 91-yard drive capped by Larry Johnson's 2-yard tiebreaking run early in the fourth quarter to lead the Chiefs to just their second win in their last 21 games. Kansas City had lost seven in a row.
Kansas City (2-10) scored its first touchdown on Maurice Leggett's 67-yard fumble return on a botched fake field goal by Oakland (3-9).
Indianapolis 10, Cleveland 6: Defensive end Robert Mathis scooped up Derek Anderson's fumble and rumbled 39 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter as the Colts stayed in the thick of the AFC playoff chase by winning their fifth straight.
Mathis' big play helped bail out Peyton Manning and Indy's high-octane offense, which never got humming with its usual efficiency.
Still, the Colts (8-4) got a 30-yard field goal from Adam Vinatieri and improved to 5-0 in November.
The Browns (4-8) lost their fourth straight at home and may have lost quarterback Derek Anderson and tight end Kellen Winslow for an extended period.
Anderson, starting in place of the injured Brady Quinn, hurt his left leg in the final two minutes.
Winslow went out on the first play of the third quarter with an ankle injury and didn't return.
N.Y. Giants 23, Washington 7: Eli Manning had his first 300-yard game of the season, Clinton Portis was held to 22 yards rushing, and the Giants put aside the Plaxico Burress mess with another dominating performance.
The Giants (11-1) have won seven straight, including six in a row against teams with winning records, and have a three-game lead in the NFC East over the second-place Dallas Cowboys with four to play.
The loss not only dropped the Redskins (7-5) out of contention for the division title, but now they also trail Dallas in the wild-card race. Washington has lost three of four - all at home - after a 6-2 start.
Carolina 35, Green Bay 31: DeAngelo Williams scored his fourth touchdown of the game with 1:30 left on the clock, giving the Panthers a stunning come-from-behind victory in wintry conditions.
The Packers appeared headed for a comeback win of their own after breaking a 28-28 tie on Mason Crosby's 19-yard field goal with 1:57 remaining. But Green Bay immediately gave up a 45-yard kickoff return to Mark Jones and a 54-yard heave from Jake Delhomme to Steve Smith to set up first-and-goal on the Green Bay 1.
Williams then went up the gut for his career-high fourth score of the game, helping Carolina (9-3) keep pace in the competitive NFC South.
And the loss could be crushing for the Packers (5-7).
Tampa Bay 23, New Orleans 20: Jermaine Phillips and Phillip Buchanon intercepted Drew Brees, the NFL's leading passer, in the closing minutes and Matt Bryant kicked a 37-yard field goal with 1:55 remaining.
Brees, on pace to break Dan Marino's single-season yardage record, threw for 296 yards and two touchdowns on a rainy day, but also was picked off three times - once in the end zone - and bothered by the Bucs' pass rush all afternoon.
The victory was the fourth straight for Tampa Bay (9-3). The Bucs are 6-1 since Jeff Garcia regained the starting quarterback job.
Garcia was limited to 119 yards passing, but threw 38 yards to Antonio Bryant for a third-quarter touchdown that put the Bucs up 20-10. Carnell "Cadillac" Williams also scored on an 8-yard run, his first TD since a career-threatening knee injury 14 months ago.
San Francisco 10, Buffalo 3: Linebacker Patrick Willis and a suddenly sturdy San Francisco defense certainly did their job as spoilers. Willis had 14 tackles and a forced fumble in a win that all but ended the Bills' dwindling playoff hopes. The 49ers' win also prevented the Arizona Cardinals from clinching the NFC West.
Isaac Bruce scored on a 12-yard touchdown pass - the 90th of his career - and Joe Nedney hit a 50-yard field goal. San Francisco (4-8) won for the second time in three games.
The Bills (6-6) lost for the fifth time in six games.
Baltimore 34, Cincinnati 3: Mark Clayton put a little sizzle into Baltimore's steadily evolving offense.
The fourth-year receiver threw a touchdown pass on a reverse, then made a spectacular one-handed catch for a 70-yard score.
The Ravens (8-4) have won six of their past seven games with a renowned defense and an offense coming into its own behind rookie quarterback Joe Flacco.
Against the Bengals (1-10-1), they added a page for Clayton, a first-round draft pick who emerged as a dual scoring threat on a cold, rainy afternoon.
Miami 16, St. Louis 12: The Dolphins (7-5) made it into the end zone only once, but relied on stingy play from a defense that got routed last week by the Patriots to secure their fifth victory in six games.
The lone TD was a 3-yard run by Ronnie Brown.