Byron Leftwich and Dennis Dixon combined to lead three long touchdown drives after Roethlisberger made his preseason debut and the Steelers beat the Giants 24-17 on Saturday night, spoiling New York’s first home game in its new $1.6 billion stadium.
Roethlisberger, suspended for the opening six games of the regular season by commissioner Roger Goodell for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy, was solid in his first game since the suspension was announced. He completed six of eight passes for 76 yards and an interception and led the Steelers on a 13-play, 58-yard drive that lasted seven-plus minutes and ended in a 26-yard field goal by Jeff Reed .
This was a quarterback mismatch. The Steelers (2-0) had three good ones while the Giants (1-1) had only third-stringer Rhett Bomar , with starter Eli Manning (stitches) and backup Jim Sorgi (shoulder) sidelined.
Saints 38 Texans 20: In New Orleans, Drew Brees led New Orleans to two touchdowns — handing off to Reggie Bush for a 9-yard scoring run and leaping over center from a yard out to put New Orleans up 14-0 in the first quarter.
Brees completed 5 of 10 for 36 yards.
There wasn’t much drop off when Chase Daniel took over in the second quarter for the Super Bowl champion Saints (1-1) in their first home game since the NFC title game.
Daniel worked the last three quarters of the game and completed 15 of 21 for 182 yards and three touchdowns. He also threw an interception once.
Raiders 32 Bears 17: In Chicago, Oakland reserve linebacker Slade Norris recovered a muffed punt in the end zone for a go-ahead TD and later blocked a punt for a safety.
Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher , who missed all but one game last season after hurting his wrist in the season opener, injured his calf on the opening drive.
Starting quarterbacks Jason Campbell of the Raiders (2-0) and Jay Cutler of the Bears (0-2) both played the first half in the game.
Campbell was 10 for 20 for 170 yards with a short TD run and an interception. Cutler completed 7 of 15 for 99 yards with a 22-yard TD pass to Johnny Knox and was sacked five times — four of them credited to linebacker Kamerion Wimbley .
Buccaneers 20 Chiefs 15: In Tampa, Florida, Josh Freeman’s preseason is over, and Tampa Bay (1-1) can only hope his injured thumb doesn’t lead to another slow start when the real games begin.
The second-year quarterback fractured the tip of the thumb on his throwing hand and will be sidelined at least until the opening week of the regular season.
Freeman’s backups, Josh Johnson and Rudy Carpenter , each threw for a touchdown.
Ravens 23 Redskins 3: In Landover, Maryland, Baltimore safety Haruki Nakamura took a direct snap on fourth-and-6 and juked his way 51 yards — all the way to the 1 — in the second quarter to set up the only touchdown scored by either first-team offense.
The Redskins (1-1) had two starters leave with knee injuries: Fullback Mike Sellers hurt his left knee while blocking on a running play, and free safety Kareem Moore injured his right knee trying to catch up to Nakamura on the fake punt play.
Jets 9 Panthers 3: In Charlotte, North Carolina, Mark Sanchez was lucky to avoid two interceptions and failed to get New York (1-1) in the end zone despite great field position.
And he still had the better night of the two starting quarterbacks.
Matt Moore couldn’t lead Carolina (0-2) to any points on a night of dismal offense.
Sanchez was 5 of 10 for 12 yards, a setback after he recovered from an interception on his first pass Monday against the Giants and looked sharp. LaDainian Tomlinson’s 20-yard draw play was the Jets’ top offensive play.
Cowboys 16 Chargers 14: In San Diego, Philip Rivers , Sam Diego’s $93 million quarterback, chased Dallas safety Barry Church for about 70 yards before making a touchdown-saving tackle.
The Cowboys (2-1) scored three plays later to tie it, then went on to win it 16-14 on a safety with 3:46 left to play. Chargers rookie quarterback Jonathan Crompton was sacked by Victor Butler , who forced a fumble at about the 5. The ball rolled into the end zone and was recovered by San Diego rookie left tackle Ryan Otterson .
Lions 25 Broncos 20: In Denver, Many in the crowd came hoping to get a glimpse of Denver’s future in Tim Tebow and instead got a peek at the past when former Bronco Dre’ Bly’s 47-yard interception return set up Detroit’s first touchdown.
Detroit third-stringer Drew Stanton’s 25-yard touchdown run on a quarterback draw with 1:53 left was the difference. Brady Quinn drove the Broncos into Lions territory in the closing seconds before Willie Young stripped the ball away.
Dolphins 27 Jaguars 26: In Jacksonville, Florida, eight months after picking apart Jacksonville in the regular season, Chad Henne did it again in a preseason game, completing 11 of 14 passes for 151 yards and two touchdowns in the first half for Miami.
The game was delayed 1 hour, 45 minutes by a thunderstorm.
The Dolphins improved to 2-0, and the Jaguars dropped to 0-2.
Rams 19 Browns 17: In Cleveland, Josh Brown made a 28-yard field goal, his fourth field goal of the game, with 3:33 left to lift St. Louis (1-1).
Jake Delhomme , making his home debut for Cleveland (1-1), was accurate and efficient in a steady first-half downpour, completing 12 of 16 passes for 127 yards and a touchdown before he was replaced in the second half by Seneca Wallace .
Packers 27 Seahawks 24: In Seattle, Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers was 8 for 11 for 116 yards and two touchdowns in one, easy quarter, and Seattle’s Matt Hasselbeck was 11 for 15 for 127 yards with a score in a redeeming first half before the Packers (1-1) rallied.
Former New York Jets All-Pro Leon Washington , making his debut for Seattle (1-1), scored his first touchdown since breaking two bones in his leg 10 months ago. And Hasselbeck got back his passing form following a largely idle training camp and rough preseason opener last week for Seattle.
