Favre wins, Brady hurt on NFL's

Brett Favre came up with a win and Tom Brady did not return to the game after being injured as the National Football League kicked off its Week 1 Sunday action.

Favre — whose soap-opera exit from Green Bay (he retired, then un-retired, then was traded) dominated the headlines this summer — threw for two touchdowns as his just-adopted New York Jets beat a scrappy Miami Dolphins club 20-14 in Florida.

It was the 161st victory of Favre's career —160 of them with Green Bay — who went 15-of-22 for 194 yards.

But the Jets had to hold on after Dolphins' quarterback Chad Pennington, released by the Jets a month ago when Favre moved in, hit for an 11-yard touchdown pass to David Martin with 3:27 left.

Pennington brought the Dolphins (1-15 last season and now under the command of Bill Parcells in the office and Tony Sparano on the field) down to the 20 before tossing an interception into the end zone on the final play.

Elsewhere, Brady, New England's already legendary quarterback, went down with a knee injury in the first half of the Patriots' 17-10 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs at Foxborough, Mass.

The two-time Super Bowl MVP was tackled by safety Bernard Pollard after tossing a pass downfield. Brady was taken to the dressing room and did not return.

Backup Matt Cassell, who has thrown just 39 passes in the last three years, took over and came up with the victory.

There was no word on Brady's condition.

In other games:

Bills 34 Seahawks 10

Buffalo's special teams came up with two touchdowns to lead an impressive looking Bills' squad to a 34-10 win over the visiting Seattle Seahawks.

The win sent a message to NFC East favourites New England and New York Jets that there's going to be a brawl for the division.

Roscoe Parrish scored on a 63-yard punt return and punter Brian Moorman threw for a 19-yard touchdown to defensive end Ryan Denney on a fake field goal to key the victory.

Kicker Rian Lindell also recovered a fumbled kickoff that set up another touchdown.

Saints 24 Buccaneers 20

In New Orleans, Drew Brees passed for 343 yards and three touchdowns as the Saints downed Tampa Bay 24-20.

Brees had promised the fans, who had to deal with Hurricane Gustav earlier in the week, a win in the opener and he came through with scoring passes of 39 yards to David Patten, 84 to Devery Henderson and 42 to Reggie Bush.

Former CFL star Jeff Garcia was 24-of-41 for 221 yards at the Bucs' helm.

Falcons 34 Lions 21

The Detroit Lions may have been picked by a number of prognosticators to win the NFC North this year, but on Sunday they looked like the same old clawless cats.

Rookie Matt Ryan (third overall pick in 2008) threw for a touchdown on his first NFL pass and set a team rushing record by rumbling for 220 yards to give the hometown Atlanta Falcons a 34-21 win.

Detroit had gone 4-0 in the pre-season.

Titans 17 Jaguars 10

Jacksonville quarterback David Garrard was sacked seven times and intercepted twice at Nashville as the Tennesee Titans took a 17-10 victory.

Jaguars, coming off an emotional week after offensive lineman Richard Collier was shot in an overnight incident (he's in critical condition), had three more O-linemen hurt on Sunday.

They could generate just 187 yards in offence, while Tennessee did just enough to win.

The Titans got 93 yards rushing and 34 yards in receptions plus a touchdown from rookie runner Chris Johnson.

Ravens 17 Bengals 10

Baltimore rode an excellent defensive performance to a victory over the visiting Cincinnati Bengals.

Carson Palmer was limited to 10-for-25 and 99 yards by Ravens, who only allowed a 65-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Johnathan Joseph and a field goal on the day.

Ravens' rookie quarterback Joe Flacco, playing because Kyle Boller is out for the year with a bad shoulder and Troy Smith has bad tonsils, ran for a touchdown and went 15-of-29 passing for 129 yards and no interceptions.

Eagles 38 Rams 3

The St. Louis Rams are really terrible — again.

Only 3-13 last year, the blue-and-gold were pounded black and blue by the hometown Philadelphia Eagles in a 38-3 drubbing.

Quarterback Donovan McNabb, hoping to reestablish himself as a premier passer, went 21-for-33 including a 90 yard TD pass to Hank Baskett as his offence came up with 522 total yards.

Steelers 38 Texans 17

Willie Parker ran for 138 yards and three touchdowns and Ben Roethlisberger threw two touchdowns to Hines Ward in an easy Pittsburgh 38-17 win over Houston.

It was the Steelers' sixth consecutive season-opening victory.

The Texans had gone 8-8 last season for the first time since coming into the league in 2002 and are hoping for more this time around.