ARLINGTON, Texas — Colin Kaepernick and the San Francisco 49ers can put a tumultuous offseason behind them. They have a rusty Tony Romo to thank for making the opener a little easier.
Kaepernick threw two touchdown passes to Vernon Davis, one after the first of three interceptions from Romo, and the 49ers cruised to a 28-17 win over the sloppy Cowboys on Sunday.
The 49ers (1-0) came in with questions about their defense, missing key players because of injuries or suspensions. Defensive tackle Ray McDonald got the start just a week after his arrest in a domestic violence case.
The secondary put all those issues to rest, getting Chris Culliver’s 35-yard fumble return for a touchdown on the second play of the game and two of the Romo picks on their way to a 28-3 halftime lead.
“There’s been a lot of rhetoric,” said coach Jim Harbaugh, who improved to 4-0 in season openers. “This game was about steel in the spine. When it comes to 49er players, that’s where they excel.”
For one game, it didn’t matter that linebacker Aldon Smith will miss the first nine games on a suspension over off-the-field issues and fellow linebacker NaVorro Bowman is out until midseason because of a knee injury.
After Culliver picked up a loose ball stripped from DeMarco Murray and ran untouched for a score, safety Eric Reid returned Romo’s first interception 48 yards to the Dallas 2, setting up Kaepernick’s second scoring toss to Davis.
“Our front seven did a good job getting pressure on the quarterback, and the secondary played well,” Reid said.
Romo looked like a quarterback who was limited in the offseason and training camp, not a good start for a team trying to avoid tying a franchise record with a fifth straight year of missing the playoffs.
He didn’t see Reid on a throw to Dez Bryant, then didn’t see wide-open receiver Dwayne Harris for what would have been an easy touchdown. Instead he forced a pass to Jason Witten that was intercepted by Patrick Willis in the end zone.
The picks kept coming even after starting San Francisco cornerbacks Tramaine Brock (toe) and Culliver (concussion) had been knocked out of the game. Backup Perrish Cox had his second career interception when Romo threw deep to Bryant in double coverage.
“I felt comfortable,” said Romo, who threw for 281 yards and a late touchdown. “Just couple poor decisions that I made tonight.”
FALCONS 37, SAINTS 34
ATLANTA — Matt Bryant kicked a 51-yard field goal on the final play of regulation, then booted a 52-yarder in overtime to give the Falcons a victory over the Saints.
In another thriller between the NFC South rivals, Matt Ryan threw for a franchise-record 448 yards, leading the Falcons to just their fourth victory over the Saints in the last 17 meetings.
The teams combined for 17 points in the final 2:50 of the fourth quarter to force overtime. The Saints got the ball first, but Marques Colston fumbled after catching a pass over the middle. The Falcons recovered at the Saints 38; after three plays gained only 4 yards, Bryant booted through another long field goal.
BILLS 23, BEARS 20, OT
CHICAGO — Fred Jackson set up Dan Carpenter’s field goal in overtime with a 38-yard run to the 1, and the Bills stunned the Bears.
The Bears had just punted to open the extra period and Buffalo took over on its 22. The Bills got to the Chicago 39 when Jackson turned toward the left side and broke off his big run, pushing safety Chris Conte out of the way twice inside the 10 before being knocked out of bounds at the 1.
Carpenter won it with a 27-yarder.
STEELERS 30, BROWNS 27
PITTSBURGH — Shaun Suisham drilled a 41-yard field goal as time expired.
The Steelers blew a 24-point halftime lead as the Browns rallied behind quarterback Brian Hoyer, but escaped thanks to some great plays from Ben Roethlisberger and wide receiver Markus Wheaton.
Roethlisberger hit Wheaton twice on the winning drive, including a 20-yarder that put Suisham in range to send the Browns to their 10th straight season-opening loss.
Roethlisberger passed for 365 yards and a touchdown.
BENGALS 23, RAVENS 16
BALTIMORE — A.J. Green caught a 77-yard touchdown pass from Andy Dalton, and the Bengals blew a 15-point lead before bouncing back. Green got behind cornerback Chykie Brown, who was pressed into a starting role for the injured Lardarius Webb. The ball popped from Green’s grasp before he gathered it in.
That TD, along with the 2-point conversion, came 48 seconds after Baltimore newcomer Steve Smith caught an 80-yard touchdown pass from Joe Flacco.
Following Green’s score, Flacco took the Ravens to the Cincinnati 16 before he was sacked on fourth down.
DOLPHINS 33, PATRIOTS 20
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Knowshon Moreno rushed for 134 yards and a touchdown, Ryan Tannehill threw for two scores and the Dolphins overpowered New England after halftime.
The Dolphins outscored New England 23-0 in the second half.
Tannehill had touchdown throws to Lamar Miller and Mike Wallace as Miami debuted a faster-paced offense. The Dolphins’ defense made four sacks, all in the second half, and recovered two fumbles.
Tom Brady threw a scoring pass to Rob Gronkowski, and Shane Vereen had a TD rushing for New England.
BRONCOS 31, COLTS 24
DENVER — Peyton Manning threw three touchdown passes to tight end Julius Thomas in the first half. In his second try, Manning beat his old team and joined Brett Favre as the only quarterbacks to beat each of the current 32 NFL franchises.
The Broncos raced to a 24-0 lead thanks to Thomas, then turned to their revamped defense to fend off a furious comeback attempt by Andrew Luck, who was working wonders behind a patchwork offensive line.
Luck found Hakeem Nicks for a 9-yard scoring strike with 3:26 remaining. But Indy’s last drive stalled at midfield when rookie Bradley Roby broke up a fourth-down pass to Reggie Wayne.
EAGLES 34, JAGUARS 17
PHILADELPHIA — Nick Foles threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Maclin in the fourth quarter and the Eagles rallied from a 17-0 second-half deficit.
Chad Henne threw two touchdown passes to rookie Allen Hurns in the first quarter and the Jaguars dominated the defending NFC East champion Eagles in the first two quarters.
But whatever Chip Kelly said to his players at halftime worked.
The Eagles scored TDs on their first two possessions in the third quarter. Cody Parkey hit a 51-yard field goal on his first career attempt in the fourth quarter to tie it 17-17.
Then Foles made a perfect deep throw to a wide-open Maclin for the longest pass of his career to put the Eagles ahead 24-17.
TEXANS 17, REDSKINS 6
HOUSTON — Rookie Alfred Blue blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown and J.J. Watt lived up to his massive new contract to help Texans snap a 14-game losing streak.
The Texans led 7-6 after a 76-yard touchdown reception by DeAndre Hopkins in the second quarter. Blue blocked Washington’s punt on the next drive, scooped it up and returned it 5 yards for a touchdown to push the lead to 14-6 in Bill O’Brien’s first game as an NFL head coach.
Robert Griffin III threw for 267 yards, but Washington was done in by two second-half fumbles in Jay Gruden’s debut as an NFL head coach.
VIKINGS 34, RAMS 6
ST. LOUIS — Wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson ran for 102 yards on three carries with a 67-yard scoring run off a simple pitchout and the Vikings opened impressively under new coach Mike Zimmer.
The Rams handled Adrian Peterson, limiting the star runner to 75 yards on 21 carries. They had zero luck with Patterson, who had three touchdowns rushing as a rookie.
Rams quarterback Shaun Hill lasted one half as the stand-in starter for Sam Bradford, missing the rest of the game with a thigh injury and leaving untested Austin Davis in charge. Hill’s last pass was intercepted by Josh Robinson with 1:09 to go in the half, setting up Matt Cassel’s 8-yard pass to Greg Jennings for a 13-0 lead.
TITANS 26, CHIEFS 10
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jake Locker threw for 266 yards and two touchdowns, while Alex Smith was intercepted three times.
Locker picked apart a defense that lost linebacker Derrick Johnson and defensive tackle Mike DeVito to Achilles tendon injuries. Locker was 22 of 33 and found eight targets, including former Chiefs wide receiver Dexter McCluster.
Kendall Wright and Delanie Walker had TD catches for the Titans, and Ryan Succop was perfect on four field-goal attempts against the team that released him last weekend.
JETS 19, RAIDERS 14
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Chris Ivory burst through a few tackle attempts for a 71-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter, and the Jets’ defense clamped down on Oakland rookie quarterback Derek Carr.
With still a one-score game, Ivory rushed up the middle and appeared stopped, but slipped a few would-be tacklers on his way to the end zone. A 2-point conversion failed, but the Jets held on to win their season opener.
Geno Smith threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Chris Johnson as the Jets sent the Raiders to their 14th straight loss in the Eastern time zone.
PANTHERS 20, BUCCANEERS 14
TAMPA, Fla. — Derek Anderson filled in nicely for injured Cam Newton, throwing for 230 yards and two touchdowns.
Despite rallying with two late TDs, it was an ugly debut for the Bucs under coach Lovie Smith. The defense applied little pressure on Anderson, and an offense that was among the worst in the NFL in 2013 showed few signs of improvement until midway through the fourth quarter.
With Newton cheering from the sideline after being held out because of a rib injury suffered in preseason, Anderson completed 24 of 34 passes with no interceptions and one sack.
By wire sources