The Houston Texans enter the penthouse floors at No. 3, the franchise’s peak in ESPN.com’s NFL Power Rankings dating to the 2002 season. The Texans’ road victory over the Washington Redskins impressed our experts, who elevated the club four spots. The Texans are hot on the heels of the New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers, who hold the Nos. 1 and 2 rungs, respectively. The Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers — who moved up from No. 10 — round out our Top 5.

In Week 3 the Steelers will have their mettle tested by the upstart Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs jumped seven rungs to No. 21 overall, but the Chicago Bears own the biggest climb of the week. The Bears climbed 10 spots to No. 12 overall; the Minnesota Vikings suffered the biggest fall, slumping 12 spots to No. 18 this week.

The Green Bay Packers, who ranked second overall this week, received one first-place vote. The Baltimore Ravens,New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts round out this week’s Top 5. The Colts opened the season as our No. 1. Read more about the voting here.

Among the more interesting Week 2 matchups: The No. 4 Patriots visit the No. 11 New York Jets, and the No. 10Pittsburgh Steelers drop in on the No. 9 Tennessee Titans.

The Steelers jumped eight slots. Other big movers include the Titans (up from No. 16) and the No. 7 Houston Texans (up from No. 14).

The St. Louis Rams lost again but escaped the cellar. The Cleveland Browns are the new No. 32.

Drew Brees and the Saints extended New Orleans’ post-Super Bowl euphoria for at least another week and denied Brett Favre a victory in the Louisiana Superdome one more time.

Brees completed 27 of 36 passes for 237 yards and one touchdown, and the Saints survived a hard-fought season opener for a 14-9 victory over the Minnesota Vikingson Thursday night.

It wasn’t the most spectacular way to open a title defense, considering it was a rematch of the riveting 2009 NFC title game last January, which the Saints won in overtime to advance to their first Super Bowl.

“We’re not used to 14-9 victories, but we’re used to winning,” said Brees, the reigning Super Bowl MVP. “So we like the W.”

It was the lowest-scoring victory of the Sean Payton era, which began in 2006, but the Saints will take it, especially after their defense limited Favre to 171 yards passing and one touchdown.

“I know people are going to say it wasn’t the fireworks they expected it to be,” Favre said.

Although his offense was far less potent than usual, Payton said he “was proud of the way we came through and made enough plays to start the season 1-0.”

Unlike the NFC championship game, the Vikings didn’t lose a fumble and turned the ball over only once on Jonathan Vilma‘s interception of Favre, who made an ill-advised throw as Roman Harper hit him on a safety blitz.

Also unlike their previous meeting, the Saints had most of the statistical advantages, outgaining Minnesota 308 yards to 253 and controlling the ball for 33:43, compared to 26:17 for Minnesota.

“We knew we would have to play better in a lot of areas than we did last year [against the Vikings] and I felt like we did,” Brees said. “We just showed that we can win in a lot of different ways.”

New Orleans might have won the game more easily if not for two missed field goals by Garrett Hartley, who kicked the dramatic winning field goal last year.

Still, New Orleans was able to kneel on the ball to run out most of the last two minutes after Pierre Thomas capped a 71-yard, one-touchdown performance with a 10-yard, first-down run right after the 2-minute warning.

Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, who rushed for 122 yards and three TDs in the last meeting, rushed for 87 yards on 19 carries against New Orleans’ stingy defense.

“We did a very good job of holding against the run and still taking some of the downfield throws away,” Payton said.

Although the game was competitive, it hardly lived up to its hype.

Favre’s comeback from ankle surgery, marking the start of his 20th season, was largely unspectacular. Despite being sacked only once and hit not nearly as often, or as hard, as in the NFC title game, he looked out of synch or inaccurate at times. The fact that Minnesota was without star receiver Sidney Ricemay have had something to do with that.

“There’s three of four throws that I just missed,” Favre said. “I have no excuse. I just missed.”

Favre’s best sequence came on Minnesota’s only touchdown drive late in the first half, when he found Visanthe Shiancoe on precision down-the-middle completions of 33 and 20 yards, the second for the Vikings’ only TD.

That gave Minnesota a 9-7 halftime lead, which the Saints erased on their first drive of the second half.

“We were right where we wanted to be at halftime, then it was three-and-out, three-and-out,” Vikings coach Brad Childress said. “There were not a lot of throws to be made downfield. They were going to hold us down and make us bleed slowly.”

The Saints’ triumph ended a long day of festivities which for some might have been more exciting than the game itself.

Tailgaters were setting up around the Superdome at dawn, and one pregame cookout even doubled as a wedding. Some government offices, businesses and schools shut down.

NFL-sponsored pregame festivities included a concert in the French Quarter featuring Dave Matthews and Taylor Swift, along with a Mardi Gras-style parade, for which police estimated the crowd at about 200,000.

Shortly before kickoff, singer and New Orleans native Harry Connick Jr. entered the Superdome on a parade float with a giant replica of the silver Vince Lombardi Trophy. Also on the float was Saints owner Tom Benson, holding the real trophy.

As Connick finished the first verse of, “When the Saints Go Marching In,” a black championship banner was unfurled from the roof of the dome and Saints players streamed out of the tunnel to sustained and boisterous applause.

Shortly before kickoff, Brees stood on the 30-yard line, holding a fist up high before pumping his arm down in an orchestrated move to send the sellout crowd of 70,051 into a chants of: “Who dat say dey gonna’ beat dem Saints!”

Soon after, the Saints received the opening kickoff and scored on only five plays, with Brees hitting three of his first four passes for 69 yards, including a 29-yard scoring strike to Devery Henderson

on a rollout.

Minnesota made it 7-3 on Ryan Longwell‘s 41-yard field goal in the second quarter and the Vikings defense stifled Brees and the Saints in the second quarter, allowing only 7 yards. New Orleans’ only scoring threat in the quarter came after Vilma’s interception at the Vikings 34, but Hartley missed a 46-yard field goal.

The Saints quickly regained their stride on their first drive of the second half, going 74 yards in 11 plays, capped by Thomas’ 1-yard TD plunge up the middle. That turned out that was all the scoring the Saints needed.

Game notes

The defending Super Bowl champion has played host to the last seven Thursday night openers and won them all. … The previous lowest-scoring Saints victory under Payton was his debut as a head coach in the 2006 regular season, a 19-14 win at Cleveland. … Brees, who completed 75 percent of his passes without an interception, had a quarterback rating of 101.3, the 30th time in 64 regular season games with the Saints that is rating was above 100. … Favre was 15 of 27 (56 percent) with one interception for a passer rating of 71.7. … Favre needs two more TDs passing to become the first NFL quarterback with 500. … Shiancoe finished with four catches for 76 yards, all in the first half. … Thomas rushed for all but 1 of his yards in the second half.

Young outdueled Leinart yet again, Chris Johnson ran for a touchdown and Tennessee beat the Arizona Cardinals 24-10 Monday night in the Titans’ preseason home opener.

The Titans (1-1) never trailed as Johnson scored on his sixth carry, an 8-yard TD that capped an 85-yard drive. The All-Pro watched from the bench the rest of the night.

The top two quarterbacks taken in the 2006 draft didn’t play very much in the preseason matchup. At least Leinart didn’t have to watch Young drive his team down the field late for the win like he did in the 2006 BCS national championship or on this very field last Nov. 29 with a 99-yard drive for a 20-17 win.

“He felt excited about playing,” Titans coach Jeff Fisher said of Young. “He was prepared, focused and made plays with his legs, made plays with his arm and was really good on the line of scrimmage as well.”

Young has no competition for his starting job these days, and he was 9 of 13 for 128 yards. The former Texas star left after four series with a 10-0 lead, and he said the offense feels like it’s coming together.

“We’ve got to … keep working,” Young said. “Don’t get happy with ourselves right now because we still have a long ways to go. But I feel the confidence in myself as well as the receivers is very good right now.”

Leinart is trying to hold off Derek Anderson for the starting job in Arizona. Leinart, who starred for Southern California in college, was 4 of 6 for 28 yards but produced no points for a second straight preseason game. The Cardinals (1-1) went three-and-out on each of his three series with the Titans blitzing and showing different looks on defense.

“I’m trying to work to get better,” Leinart said. “Guys are counting on me, and I’m confident that we’re going to get the job done and I’m going to get the job done. And that’s the bottom line.”

Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt wasn’t happy that the offense couldn’t take advantage of the Titans’ pressure, especially on third-and-1 on Leinart’s final series with a ball down the sideline to rookie Stephen Williams.

“That’s disappointing,” Whisenhunt said. “It is a preseason game where we didn’t prepare against those kind of blitzes, but we’ve seen looks like that from our defense so I expect us to handle it better than we did tonight.”

Young struggled a bit early but completed three of four passes for 67 yards to set up Johnson’s TD run.

On his fourth drive, Young fumbled the ball off his chest while scrambling only to see the ball bounce right back to him as he finished off an 8-yard gain for a first down. Three plays later, Nate Washingtongot his hands underneath a low throw initially ruled incomplete. Fisher challenged and the replay showed he made the catch.

Young drove the Titans to first-and-goal before they stalled. He tried to scramble up the middle on third down and was sacked by Paris Lenon andAdrian Wilson. Still, Rob Bironas‘ 29-yard field goal capped the clock-consuming drive.

Anderson replaced Leinart and gave the Cardinals a brief spark against the Titans’ first-team defense. He completed a 13-yarder to Steve Breaston for Arizona’s first first down of the game. He also found Williams, starting in place of Larry Fitzgerald (sprained knee), on a 37-yard pass.

Working from the Tennessee 6, Anderson overthrew Breaston in the end zone and couldn’t connect with Williams before the Cardinals settled for a 19-yard field goal from Jay Feely in the second quarter.

The Titans certainly looked energized playing under the lights in the first game at LP Field since a May flood covered the field and parking lot with water. The Cardinals looked a bit tired from the trip east in an exhibition preceding a joint practice between the teams Wednesday at the Titans’ headquarters.

The flood was remembered with a moment of silence before the national anthem.

“We were very, very fortunate here,” Fisher said of minor damage to the stadium. “This was the last of Nashville’s worries, and we were just very fortunate.”

Samkon Gado, signed when rookie Stafon Johnson dislocated his right ankle in the Titans’ preseason-opening loss at Seattle, scored on a pair of 4-yard TD runs in the third quarter.

Max Hall was intercepted in his brief duty behind Anderson, but he did find Max Komar for a 22-yard TD midway through the fourth.

Game notes

Titans CB Pete Ittersagen suffered a concussion on the team’s second punt of the game. He laid on the field for a few minutes before walking off. … Titans rookie WR Marc Mariani had a 60-yard kickoff return as the seventh-round pick out of Montana competes for a roster spot.

Titans 24   Cardinals 10

No matter that he completed one pass and also got clobbered on a sack that lost Minnesota 10 yards.

Favre’s highly anticipated first game back with the Vikings lasted all of four unspectacular plays and one series in a 15-10 loss to the 49ers in a nationally televised preseason game Sunday at Candlestick Park, the only NFL show of the night.

“I didn’t fumble a snap, completed a pass,” Favre said. “That’s a win for me.”

Favre completed a 13-yard pass toAdrian Peterson on his first play from scrimmage but was sacked by Pro Bowl linebacker Patrick Willistwo plays later and the Vikings wound up punting. The 40-year-old quarterback took the field just four days after his first training camp practice of the year. He decided to return for a 20th season and make yet another run at a Super Bowl title.

“There’s no substitute for getting in a game, calling plays, having a 40-second clock that you have to pay attention to,” said Favre, admittedly a little stiff afterward. “They blitzed on the last play. We technically could have picked it up, I could have made a call, but the mind wasn’t working quick enough. … That was obviously not a positive play but it’s what you do with it from here on. I’ll look at the film. I would hate for that to happen the first game in real action against New Orleans.”

It’s hard to make much of the small sampling. Not that Favre’s numbers mattered to the Vikings, just thrilled to have him back.

Alex Smith, Favre’s 49ers counterpart, went 9 of 13 for 88 yards in a solid first half. Willis had four tackles playing only nine snaps.

After that single series, Favre headed to the bench and gave way to backupTarvaris Jackson — who had been in line to be the starter before Jared Allen,Ryan Longwell and Steve Hutchinson flew to Mississippi early last week to recruit Favre back to the Twin Cities. Favre, sporting a 5-o’clock shadow peppered with gray, could be seen laughing on the sideline in the second half.

Coach Brad Childress had planned to give Favre 10 plays, but that changed when it took so long for the Vikings offense to finally get on the field.

Smith bounced back a week after stumbling through a subpar outing in which he completed 3 of 9 passes for 37 yards and only two first downs in a win at Indianapolis. David Carr and Nate Davis rallied the Niners to 34 straight points in the 37-17 victory.

He made do for a 49ers offense missing three of its biggest stars: receiverMichael Crabtree, tight end Vernon Davis and running back Frank Gore.

“We just came out against the No. 1 rush defense in the NFL and marched it down the field,” Smith said. “After last week, it was nice to come out and have some quick success and then end it with a score. … We’ve been doing it all summer in practice. It was nice just to finally go do it in a game scenario.”

Smith completed his first four passes for 48 yards and 5 of his first six on the Niners’ opening drive, including a 24-yard strike to backup tight end Delanie Walker that set up a 4-yard scoring run by rookie Anthony Dixon.

After all the drama that surrounds Favre each offseason — will he or won’t he really retire? — he’s back in his No. 4 jersey and told his teammates he’s as committed to this as ever.

And why not keep going?

Favre is coming off a year in which he threw for 4,202 yards and 33 touchdowns and established career highs for completion rate (68.4), quarterback rating (107.2) and fewest interceptions (seven).

Favre insists the Vikings’ success will ride on the play of Peterson.

“I played the best football of my career and it wasn’t enough,” Favre said, referring to the Vikings losing to the eventual Super Bowl champion Saints in the NFC title game.

He was booed by the crowd Sunday when running onto the field for the first time midway through the first quarter. Favre has been the Niners’ nemesis for years.

In late September last year, Favre hit Greg Lewis on a 32-yard touchdown with 2 seconds left as the Vikings stunned San Francisco 27-24 in Minneapolis. That was the first of six straight road losses — five in a row by a combined 19 points — for the 49ers that helped cost them a playoff trip and a winning season.

Davis, San Francisco’s No. 3 QB and fifth-round pick last year, completed a pretty 60-yard pass to Ted Ginn Jr. in the third quarter with his foot planted at the goal line when he released the ball. The pass set up Joe Nedney‘s 28-yard field goal. Davis later had an 18-yard completion to Nate Byham.

Longwell kicked a 40-yard field goal early in the second quarter for the Vikings’ first points. Minnesota rookie quarterback Joe Webb broke loose up the middle for a 48-yard TD run with 1:54 to play, then Webb was sacked by Derek Walker in the end zone for a safety on the final play of the game.

Former Stanford star Toby Gerhart got his first of his four carries for Minnesota midway through the second quarter, a 3-yard gain. This marked the rookie’s first game back in the Bay Area since the Vikings selected him at No. 51 in the second round of this year’s draft. Gerhart, who rushed for 1,871 yards and 28 touchdowns for the Cardinal last year, also caught two short passes.

Game notes
Vikings WR Percy Harvin is expected back on the field Tuesday. He had a severe migraine headache attack at practice Thursday that sent him to the hospital. … Minnesota CB Chris Cook had his 87-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown overturned based on review, which showed Dixon was down by contact. … CB Phillip Adams, the 49ers’ seventh-round draft pick, broke up three passes. … The Vikings placed WR and punt returner Jaymar Johnson on season-ending injured reserve with a broken left thumb that he hurt in the team’s exhibition opener last Saturday at St. Louis. … Former San Francisco WR Brandon Jones signed with the Seahawks.

49ers 15   Vikings 10

Seattle’s rollicking summer with new coach Pete Carroll just got its first big concern.

Rodgers was 8 for 11 for 116 yards and two touchdowns in one, easy quarter. Seattle’s Matt Hasselbeck was 11 for 15 for 127 yards with a score in a redeeming first half, but the Seahawks may be without rookie sixth-overall pick Russell Okung for a while because of an injured right ankle sustained early in the Packers’ 27-24 preseason victory Saturday night.

The left tackle who got a guaranteed $29 million this month from the Seahawks to replace retired All-Pro Walter Jones left for good after one drive with what coach Pete Carroll said could be a high ankle sprain. That injury sometimes involves two months or more of recovery time.

“It’s pretty significant,” Carroll said of Okung’s absence. “Obviously we made it as big a priority as we could make it to get him.”

Carroll said he didn’t know how Okung got injured, only that it stings the entire team that is banking on improved offensive line play to lead a comeback season from 9-23 the last two years.

“That’s a big loss if he can’t come back,” Carroll said. “We put a lot of time and effort to get this guy right and he’s done everything we’ve asked of him.”

After he missed the first eight days of training camp because of a contract impasse, the Seahawks gave Okung a six-year deal earlier this month that has a maximum value of $58 million.

He sprained the same ankle in Oklahoma State’s opener against Georgia last season but missed only a few plays. The 6-foot-5, 310-pound stalwart started all 13 games for those college Cowboys last season, though the ankle continued to bother him late into the year.

Mansfield Wrotto, normally a guard, replaced him and played almost the rest of the game. Seattle already has backup tackle Ray Willis out while facing knee surgery.

Seattle’s starting defense, which was ransacked most of last season, allowed 264 yards and 17 points to the Packers’ first- and second-team offense in the first half.

Rodgers plus outstanding protection against a Seattle defense that’s been searching for a pass rush for two years made the Packers’ breezy opening drive look like a 7-on-7 drill. Or 7-on-none.

Green Bay’s first play was an exquisitely thrown bootleg pass for 56 yards to a diving Greg Jennings, who beat first-round pick Earl Thomas. Rodgers had his second incompletion in 15 preseason throws when Seattle’s Red Bryantdeflected a pass at the line, but followed that with a 12-yard completion toJermichael Finley on third down to the Seahawks 1. Then, Rodgers threw another bootleg pass to wide-open fullback John Kuhn for an easy touchdown.

Rodgers’ second touchdown pass of the opening quarter came while victimizing Thomas again. Seattle’s rookie ran up hard to join Lawyer Milloy in covering the same receiver, leaving tight end Finley alone down the middle for a 12-yard touchdown catch and a 14-7 lead for Green Bay. Milloy was yelling and pointing at Thomas after the play.

“We’re tough to stop,” Rodgers said. “We have a lot of playmakers.”

Former New York Jets All-Pro Leon Washington, making his Seattle debut, scored his first touchdown since breaking two bones in his leg 10 months ago. And Hasselbeck, upstaged by new backup Charlie Whitehurst last week against Tennessee, established a rhythm he and Seattle’s offense has mostly lacked in his last two injury-filled seasons while leading two touchdown drives in the opening half.

Whitehurst was 9 for 20 for 73 yards with two interceptions while playing the second half. He threw a go-ahead touchdown pass of 3 yards to Ben Obomanu late in the third quarter.

Washington bolted out of the tunnel to the opposite end zone while leading his new teammates onto the field before kickoff. Then he bolted through the line unlike any back Seattle has had in years on an 11-yard touchdown run that tied it at 14 early in the second quarter.

“An awesome feeling,” the 2008 Pro Bowl kick returner said.

He brought the ball to the bench for a souvenir of his injury comeback. He was then mobbed by teammates and the always excited Carroll, who’s been eager to see if Washington was ready to lead the competition to become Seattle’s lead running back.

Washington said he was inspired by honoring his favorite uncle. George Mangrum died Friday in Jacksonville, Fla. He was in his early 50s.

“He’s in heaven watching me, and I know he was watching me today,” Washington said. “Plus coming back from injury, not playing football the last 10 months, there was a lot of juice for me.”

The Packers had seven starters inactive — six on defense. Aside from injuries to Clay Matthews, Al Harris, Atari Bigby and Nick Barnett, among others, Green Bay rested veterans Charles Woodson and Donald Driver.

A team spokesman said Woodson, last year’s NFL defensive player of the year, has a mild hip flexor and wide receiver Driver has a sore calf.

Yet Green Bay’s defense felt better than it did while allowing Cleveland to roll up 21 points and 204 yards in the opening half last week.

“We were pleased with the way we came out and started with everybody playing their role and doing their assignments, and we got that [opening] three-and-out,” safety Nick Collins said. “We know that all of our players aren’t here.”

Packers 27   Seahawks 24

The San Diego Chargers‘ $93 million quarterback chased Dallas Cowboyssafety Barry Church for about 70 yards before making a touchdown-saving tackle after a turnover on Saturday night. He even popped the ball loose, although the play had been whistled dead.

It was the highlight of what was otherwise mostly a stinker, won 16-14 by the Cowboys on a safety with 3:46 left.

The Chargers were leading 7-0 late in the second quarter with the ball on the Cowboys 18 when Rivers threw a short pass toDarren Sproles. The running back fumbled when hit by linebacker Bradie James. Church scooped up the ball and ran up the left side of the field, weaving in and out of traffic. Rivers raced in and brought him down at the San Diego 8.

“It was just the competitor in me,” said Rivers, who had scored on a 1-yard sneak late in the first quarter. “I don’t know how you are going to let a guy score. They are still keeping score. I know it’s a preseason game, but still.”

Said coach Norv Turner: “I just knew he was going to do that. I’d prefer that he didn’t do it. He’s a football player out there and he did what he did.”

Asked what Turner said to him on the sideline after the play, Rivers said: “He didn’t, other than, ‘You’re done.’ “

Church knows he’s going to catch grief from his teammates for being caught from behind by a QB.

“Oh yeah. It was Philip Rivers. He wears knee braces. I know it’s going to be bad,” Church said. “It showed a lot of heart and a lot of fire. He wants to win. He’s a great quarterback and he will win in this game.”

Church said he was thinking touchdown until he got to about the 30-yard line and his legs started giving in.

“I thought the blocker was going to come and I was trying to set him up to keep going outside, but I couldn’t even move my legs. My legs felt numb. I was gassed. When he hit me, it was over. I just went down.”

Chargers rookie running back Ryan Mathews called the play “crazy. I didn’t want him to get hurt. But it was a good play.”

Cracked Dallas quarterback Tony Romo: “I’d have got him far before then.”

The Cowboys (2-1) scored three plays later to tie the game.

They won on the safety it when linebacker Victor Butler sacked Chargers rookie quarterback Jonathan Crompton and forced a fumble at about the 5-yard line. The ball rolled into the end zone and was recovered by San Diego rookie left tackle Ryan Otterson.

“The guys kept fighting,” Dallas coach Wade Phillips said. “I didn’t think we were playing our best to start out with, but we kept fighting and made plays at the end of the game.”

The Chargers (1-1) committed two turnovers in their first four series. The Cowboys’ first-team offense was mostly dreadful, gaining only 49 yards. Romo was 4 of 11 for 30 yards with a touchdown and an interception, finishing with a rating of just 37.3, although the Cowboys did score their first offensive touchdowns in three exhibition games.

There were overthrows, underthrows and dropped passes on both sides. Cowboys backup linebacker Jason Williams had all but intercepted a pass byBilly Volek when teammate Brandon Williams accidentally slammed into him, knocking the ball loose.

Three plays after Church’s 80-yard return, Romo threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Miles Austin to tie the game at 7.

“It was good to score,” Romo said. “We needed a touchdown, I think for our confidence for the season, but also in this game as we struggled a bit at the beginning.”

San Diego went ahead when Marcus Mason scored on a 4-yard run late in the third quarter. The Cowboys tied it when Jon Kitna threw a 19-yard pass toMartellus Bennett early in the fourth quarter.

Mathews had another strong game for San Diego, gaining 53 yards on 12 carries and catching one pass for 13 yards.

Rivers was intercepted by Terence Newman on San Diego’s first possession of the game. Romo gave it back six plays later when he was picked off by Eric Weddle.

Game notes
Otterson allowed the sack that led to the game-deciding safety. It came several hours after the Chargers announced that veteran left tackle Tra Thomas retired, leaving them woefully thin at a crucial position due to Marcus McNeill‘s holdout.

Chargers 14   Cowboys 16

Cornerback Dre’ Bly‘s 47-yard interception return set up Detroit’s first touchdown in the Lions’ 25-20 win over the Denver Broncos on Saturday night.

“I’m not worried about that. I know what I can do. I’ve been doing it my whole life,” said Bly, who hauled in a pass bobbled by Broncos running back Lance Ball at the Detroit 26 and raced up the Broncos’ sideline to the Denver 27, where he was finally corralled by tight end Riar Geer.

“It was a deflected pass. He dropped the ball and whenever the ball is around me, I go get it,” Bly said. “I’m just sad I couldn’t score.”

Two plays later, Matthew Stafford connected with Calvin Johnson for a 20-yard touchdown pass.Detroit third-stringer Drew Stanton‘s 25-yard touchdown 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 and Korey Bosworth recovered. Tebow’s home debut will have to wait at

least another week. He sat out with bruised ribs he suffered in the exhibition opener a week ago, much to the disappointment of throngs of Broncos fans donning his No. 15 jersey at Invesco Field.

Tebow missed most of the Broncos’ practices during the week, undoubtedly contributing to the nearly 8,000 unused tickets Saturday night.

Kyle Orton, fresh off signing a one-year extension that bought some time for the Broncos to formulate their long-term plans at quarterback, completed 16 of 22 passes for 177 yards with two touchdowns and one interception in four first-half possessions.

Orton has thrown four TD passes in seven drives this preseason despite playing behind a makeshift offensive line, with the team’s top three tailbacks sitting out and a turnstile of targets catching his throws.

One of his TDs Saturday night was caught by Ball, who atoned for his bobbled pass that Bly picked off.

Jabar Gaffney caught six passes for 98 yards, all from Orton.

“He’s a very dependable receiver. I think he’s underrated in his playmaking skills,” Orton said. “He made a lot of really nice catches for his in tight coverage.”

Stafford was 13 of 20 for 130 yards, guiding the Lions to scores on all four of their first-half drives.

The game also marked the return to Denver of Lions tight end Tony Scheffler, who was traded from Denver in the offseason after a falling out with McDaniels.

“Felt good to come back,” Scheffler said. “It felt even better to win.”

Scheffler caught a couple of key passes, but another went off his hands in the end zone.

His replacement in Denver, Marquez Branson, snared an 11-yard TD from Orton with 3 seconds left in the first half, pulling the Broncos to 16-14 at the break. Top draft pick Ndamukong Suh was on the sideline for that last-minute drive, his day done after causing plenty of havoc along the Broncos’ makeshift offensive line.

Steven Hauschka, filling in while Jason Hanson recovers from minor knee surgery, kicked field goals of 28, 27, 29 and 27 yards after Detroit’s offense repeatedly sputtered around the 10-yard line.

Rookie Perrish Cox returned a punt 65 yards to the Lions 10 in the third quarter but the Broncos, too, settled for a chip shot field goal as Matt Prater‘s 30-yarder gave Denver its first lead at 17-16.

In all, 16 Broncos sat out, including Champ Bailey, D.J. Williams, Daniel Graham, Chris Kuper, Spencer Larsen, Brandon Stokley and Demaryius Thomas, the team’s top draft pick.

The Broncos hope most of them return next week to play against Pittsburgh in the all-important third preseason game, “but the worst thing we can do at this point is put somebody in jeopardy of not being ready to go in September,” McDaniels said.

Game notes

Broncos LT Ryan Clady, recovering from offseason knee surgery, did footwork drills with strength coach Rich Tuten on the field a few hours before kickoff. … FS Louis Delmas (groin) sat out for Detroit (1-1).

Oakland’s new quarterback led a long scoring drive on the first series of the game, Kamerion Wimbley had a strong game with four sacks and Slade Norriswas a special teams standout Saturday night as the Raiders beat the Chicago Bears 32-17.

“I felt like we started fast, came out and went down the field,” Campbell said after leading an 81-yard opening drive that got the Raiders rolling, a series in which star Chicago linebacker Brian Urlacher hurt a calf muscle that put him out the rest of the night.

In his one half of play, Campbell was 10-for-20 for 170 yards with a short TD run and an interception.

In the opening drive, he hit Michael Bush with a 24-yard screen pass on a third-and-17. He completed an 18-yarder to Johnnie Lee Higgins, a 13-yarder to Zach Miller and a 27-yarder to Louis Murphy that carried to the Chicago 2. Campbell sneaked in for the score on a third-and-goal as the Raiders’ first unit accounted for its first points of the preseason after failing to score in just over a quarter of action in last week’s opener against Dallas.

“The last game I had a couple of jitters before the game started, the first time with a new team, but this time I was just out there playing football,” Campbell said.

Chicago’s Jay Cutler also played the first half in the game at Soldier Field.

Cutler completed 7 of 15 for 99 yards with a 22-yard TD pass toJohnny Knox and was sacked five times — four of them credited to Wimbley.

“Clearly it’s too much. Definitely it’s not going to be acceptable and the offensive line is probably a little bit disappointed in themselves,” Cutler said. “They’ve got a lot of time left to make corrections.”

The Bears had a difficult time blocking Wimbley.

“He had an exceptional night. It started right from the get-go,” Oakland coach Tom Cable said. “Until he came out of the game, I thought he was a factor on third down on every series.”

And on special teams, backup linebacker Norris recovered a muffed punt in the end zone for the go-ahead score in the third quarter and then blocked a punt for a safety late in the game.

“We have a good group of second and third team guys who are really trying to force the issue and get on this football team and it shows,” Cable said.

Chicago’s first-team offense got a big lift when Matt Forte broke loose on an 89-yard TD run in the first quarter. But the Bears converted on only of 2 of 14 third-down situations in the game, while Oakland was 8-for-17.

After Cutler scrambled and found Knox for the score late in the opening half,Chester Taylor‘s 2-point conversion run put the Bears ahead 14-13.

The Raiders regained the lead early in the third quarter when Chicago’s Eric Peterman muffed the punt and after a scramble, Norris fell on the ball in the end zone.

Kyle Boller quarterbacked the Raiders for most of the second half, scoring on a 2-yard run to cap a 10-play, 51-yard drive late in the third quarter that gave the Raiders a 27-14 lead. Dan LeFevour replaced Cutler and led a drive that reached the 4 before the Bears settled for a 25-yard field goal by Robbie Gould.

Chicago got the ball back but Stevie Brown intercepted LeFevour and returned to the Bears 9. Colt Brennan came in to quarterback the Raiders and Oakland got a 28-yard goal from Swayze Waters. Minutes later, Norris broke through and blocked Brad Maynard‘s punt attempt and it went through the end zone.

Campbell hit another screen pass of 40 yards to Marcel Reece late in the first period but followed that up with a poorly thrown pass that Chicago’s Charles Tillman intercepted on the 11.

On the very next play, Forte broke through the right side, cut inside of safetyMichael Huff and raced 89 yards for a TD. After the Bears botched the snap on the extra point, Oakland led 10-6.

With veteran Chicago long snapper Patrick Mannelly out with a shoulder injury, the Bears were forced to use tight end Desmond Clark and he again made a bad snap on an attempted second-quarter field goal by Robbie Gould.

But after Raiders center Samson Satele limped off the field late in the second quarter, Campbell couldn’t hold a high snap from Chris Morris on the very next play and Chicago’s Israel Idonije recovered. That set up the Cutler-to-Knox TD.

Game notes

The Raiders rested DT Richard Seymour who had a sore triceps and Desmond Bryant replaced him in the lineup. … C Satele has a sprained ankle.

Raiders 32   Bears 17