NFL League and Player Capsules: Ivory's 76-yard TD helps Saints top Chargers 36-21

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Chris Ivory’s college career was a bust.

The Saints gave him a chance anyway, and it is beginning to look like New Orleans may have plucked another exciting running back from the ranks of the undrafted.

Ivory turned a swing pass into a tackle-breaking, zigzagging, 76-yard score, and finished as both the game-high rusher and receiver in New Orleans’ 36-21 preseason victory over the San Diego Chargers on Friday night.

"I know I’ve got to come out and work hard, open some eyes and just prove that I want to be here," Ivory said. "I’m trying to go hard every play so I can keep (coaches’) minds open and make this team."

The rookie rushed for 45 yards on 11 carries, with a long run of 16 yards. He turned his only catch into the longest reception in the game by bowling over defenders, making others miss and carrying one on his back across the goal line.

Essentially, he played like Pierre Thomas, who joined the Saints as an undrafted rookie in 2007.

Ivory, who is a broad-shouldered 6 feet and 222 pounds, never rushed for more than 313 yards at Washington State, where he spent three years before being dismissed for violations such as being late to meetings and missing a practice. He finished his college career last year with an injury-plagued season at Division II Tiffin and wound up with a grand total of 757 yards rushing in four college seasons.

With his performance against San Diego coming after solid outings in the Saints’ first two preseason games — he had a TD run at New England and rushed for 66 yards against Houston — he appears likely to make the regular season roster, particularly after season-ending injuries to running backs Lynell Hamilton and P.J. Hill.

"He made a heck of a play on the catch for the touchdown," Saints coach Sean Payton said. "He just consistently has been able to get positive yards, but there’s some things we’ve got to get corrected. That’s somewhat to be expected. Certainly coming where he’s coming from is a big step up."

Drew Brees set the tone for New Orleans (2-1) with 240 yards passing, including touchdowns to Devery Henderson and Robert Meachem.

Philip Rivers led two touchdown drives for the Chargers (1-2). His 167 yards passing included a 9-yard TD toss to Malcom Floyd. Antonio Gates caught five passes for 66 yards.

"We had a lot of success early and drove the ball well," Gates said. "We accomplished exactly what we had to tonight."

The Saints had a scare when starting middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma went down with a right groin injury early in the third quarter. He jogged off the field on his own and the severity of his injury was not immediately clear.

Brees was 18 of 27 and looked sharp for the most part, though his longest completion, a 46-yard touchdown to Henderson, looked like and ill-advised throw into coverage that was nearly intercepted.

Cornerback Antoine Cason saw the pass all the way, got inside position and went up for the interception near the goal line, but Henderson swiped from behind to break up the play and wound up tipping the ball to himself in the end zone.

The Chargers are hoping Cason, a 2008 first-round draft pick, can help fill the void left when the Chargers traded Antonio Cromartie to the New York Jets. Cason had a rough night against Brees and the Saints’ high-powered offense, though.

He was victimized on New Orleans’ second score when he anticipated a throw to the corner of the end zone, only to have Meachem cut underneath for an easy 15-yard catch to make it 14-7.

Brees’ highlights including a 21-yard pass down the middle to Jeremy Shockey and a heady backhanded flip to Reggie Bush in the flat for a 38-yard gain that set up Garrett Hartley’s 40-yard field goal in the last minute of the first half. Bush wound up with seven receptions for 70 yards. Marques Colston had 55 yards on four catches.

San Diego’s first-team offense put together two scoring drives in the first half. The Chargers opened the game with a balanced, 12-play, 82-yard touchdown drive. Jacob Hester capped it with a powerful 6-yard run on which he stretched across the goal line. Rivers was 5 of 6 for 44 yards on the drive, while first-round draft choice Ryan Mathews gained 32 yards on five carries, highlighted by a 16-yard run.

"Coming out on the first drive, it was as good as it gets," said Rivers, who finished 16 of 27. "We are playing against a good team out there, at their home. I really think we got what we wanted to get out of it."

Journeyman Billy Volek replaced Rivers in the third quarter and was intercepted by Usama Young on a deep pass. He was later intercepted by Leigh Torrence, who went the other way for an 87-yard score in the final seconds.

Former Tulane quarterback Patrick Ramsey backed up Brees and was 10 of 18 for 191 yards and one TD.

The Saints, who have led the NFL in offense in three of the past four seasons, finished with 552 yards.

NOTES: Payton did not have any updates on Vilma’s condition, but Vilma wrote, "I’ll be fine," on his Twitter account. ... Saints reserve offensive tackle Zach Strief hurt his right knee, but the severity was not immediately known. ... Hartley was perfect on field goal attempts of 40, 27 and 35 yards. ... Volek was 9 of 21 for 97 yards. ... Mathews finished with 43 yards on 13 carries.

Sputtering Eagles score late, beat Chiefs 20-17

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — This was one of those preseason games that sent both teams home with plenty to work on.

Mike Kafka’s 18-yard pass to Riley Cooper in the closing seconds boosted the Philadelphia Eagles past Kansas City 20-17 on Friday night, making Todd Haley 0-7 in preseason games as the Chiefs’ head coach.

But the quarterback picked to replace Philadelphia’s Donovan McNabb sputtered much of the night. And the Chiefs’ first five possessions produced a lost fumble, an interception, two three-and-outs and one first down.

"That wasn’t quite as sharp as we’d like it, that’s for sure," said Eagles quarterback Kevin Kolb. "There are a lot of details we need to clean up so there needs to be some special attention to it starting with myself."

Kolb was 11 for 25 for 103 yards. He got sacked four times and threw an interception and had a rating of just 39.2 — not exactly reminiscent of McNabb, the departed six-time Pro Bowler.

"Everybody had a little piece of that pie there," said coach Andy Reid. "We will all learn some things from it and do better the next time."

Chiefs rookie linebacker Cameron Sheffield was immobilized and had to be taken away on a cart after a helmet-to-helmet tackle on Mike Bell left him motionless on the field. Haley declined to discuss Sheffield’s status but one player said he was moving.

It’s the second straight week the Chiefs have had a player removed like that on a cart. Last week it was cornerback Maurice Leggett, whose injuries are now said not to be career-threatening.

"Our thoughts, prayers are with Cameron Sheffield," said Haley. "That’s two of those situations in two weeks. Right now I don’t have any information I feel comfortable in giving because again, there’s a lot of people out there that are family and friends of Cameron’s. I don’t want to say anything that ends up being wrong."

Reid said wide receiver DeSean Jackson had a neck strain and was taken out "for precautionary measures." He also said defensive end Trent Cole had a sprained ankle and would have an MRI Sunday morning.

In addition, Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles did not come back onto the field after seeming to hurt his shoulder or arm near the half. The Chiefs had no comment on him.

Kafka, a rookie out of Northwestern, led the Philadelphia reserves on an 8-play, 80-yard drive against the Chiefs backups to pull out the win. Cooper, a rookie receiver out of Florida, made a nice catch of the perfectly thrown pass into the end zone.

"It was good to finish the game like we did," said Reid. "It was good for the two’s to get in there and do what they did. We have plenty of work to do with the ones but there were some good things."

The Chiefs got two sacks apiece from linebackers Demorrio Williams and Andy Studebaker, who’s been battling veteran Mike Vrabel for a chance to start.

"I didn’t feel like myself at the start off," said Williams. "But once it got kind of leveled off, I feel like I played pretty good. Their first drive, they hit us for a touchdown. I’m a run-stopping guy, and by them doing that, I put that on myself."

Charles fumbled on the Chiefs’ first play and Cole recovered on the Chiefs’ 22. On the second play, LeSean McCoy went up the middle for the touchdown. That would be the Eagles’ last TD until the final minutes of the game.

The Eagles (2-1) and Chiefs (0-3) both played most of their starters well into the third quarter. The Chiefs will have one more chance, against Green Bay next week, to give Haley a preseason victory before heading into a regular season

"We knew that was a good, fast, physical team for a long time and we’d have our work cut out for us and we needed to start fast, match or exceed their tempo and physicality," said Haley. "I don’t know that it could start a lot worse than it did, both offensively and defensively. But I think what I feel good about now is this group of players starting with the defense, they slugged it out."

KC appeared to be stopped on its sixth possession but a delay-of-game penalty kept the offense on the field and Matt Cassel wound up hitting Dwayne Bowe with a 4-yard scoring pass. Thomas Jones scored on an 11-yard run in the third period. Cassel was 14 for 23 for 85 yards.

Kolb, pressured out of the pocket, made an off-balance and ill-advised throw down the field in the third quarter. The ball hung up and rookie safety Kendrick Lewis made a leaping interception and returned the ball 26 yards to the 26, setting up Jones’ TD.

-- Doug Tucker

Stout defense helps Falcons beat Dolphins 16-6

MIAMI (AP) — The Atlanta Falcons were stout against the run, dug in on third down and came up with a big interception. Coach Mike Smith will take more of the same in the regular season.

Atlanta gave up only a field goal while Miami starting quarterback Chad Henne was in the game and beat the Dolphins 16-6 on Friday night.

Middle linebacker Curtis Lofton led the Falcons’ defensive charge with 11 tackles, two for losses. Erik Coleman intercepted a pass in the end zone, and the Dolphins converted only one of nine third- and fourth-down situations with Henne, who played one series into the third quarter.

"Our defense played well," Smith said. "We were getting off the field, and you’ve got to do that to limit your exposure on defense."

Lawrence Sidbury had a sack, two quarterback hits and a tackle for a loss. The Falcons (2-1) are hoping for defensive improvement after ranking 23rd in the NFL last year in yards allowed per play despite a 9-7 record.

"We wanted to come out and set a tone, and we did a good job of that," Lofton said. "We’ve got two weeks left to do some fine-tuning. It’s like a car — you’ve got to keep fine-tuning it so it will run pretty."

Atlanta’s Matt Ryan threw his first touchdown pass of the exhibition season. He led scoring drives of 60 and 54 yards, the second of which took more than seven minutes.

Ryan played one series into the third quarter and finished 13 of 26 for 103 yards, with one interception. He helped the Falcons convert eight of 14 third-down situations against Miami (2-1).

"I liked what I saw tonight from all three phases," Smith said. "We played effectively and with a lot of energy."

Michael Turner was a workhorse for Atlanta in the first half, rushing 47 yards in 16 carries. He lost a fumble.

Henne went 10 of 22 for 123 yards with one interception, and at least three of his passes were dropped.

"We weren’t efficient," Henne said. "Overall it was sloppy. We really need to get better. Time is running out for us."

Henne and Brandon Marshall hooked up for completions of 26 and 20 yards in the final 45 seconds of the first half, giving the Dolphins a first down at the 7. But linebacker Mike Peterson tipped a second-down pass, and Coleman intercepted it in the end zone.

"Mike Peterson did a great job of getting back in coverage and getting a hand on the ball," Coleman said. "When it went up in the air, I had to have it."

Miami’s Ronnie Brown ran for only 9 yards in eight carries, two out of the wildcat. Ricky Williams carried four times for 5 yards.

"They were better than we were up front physically," Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said. "We played sloppy, inconsistent — at times did some decent things, but couldn’t finish. There was something always unexecuted."

The Falcons converted three third-down situations on their second possession before Ryan hit Roddy White for an 18-yard score. White later beat Sean Smith on a deep route, but Ryan overthrew him near the goal line.

Smith did not start because he violated a team rule, Sparano said.

Falcons backup quarterback Chris Redman led a 71-yard drive on his first series and capped it with a 5-yard touchdown throw to Brian Finneran. Redman went 5 of 8 for 56 yards.

Dolphins backup Chad Pennington went 7 of 14 for 62 yards and led them to a field goal.

Atlanta’s first-teamers had two turnovers, both in the first half. Cornerback Vontae Davis forced Turner’s fumble, and Dolphins newcomer Karlos Dansby recovered, while Ryan was intercepted by Yeremiah Bell.

Davis made seven tackles, one for a loss, and three passes defended.

Dan Carpenter kicked a 53-yard field goal on Miami’s first possession, and hit a 35-yarder in the second half. Matt Bryant made a 26-yarder for the Falcons.

Cornerback Dunta Robinson, the Falcons’ major offseason acquisition, did not play because of a lingering hamstring injury. Defensive tackle Peria Jerry, the 2008 first-round draft pick who missed most of his rookie season with a knee injury, made his 2010 debut and had a quarterback hit.

Miami third-string tight end Joey Haynos left the game with a foot injury, and receiver Brian Hartline hurt his left hip.

-- Steven Wine

Sanchez, Jets offense struggle in loss to Redskins

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Mark Sanchez and the New York Jets' offense started slow and sputtered often. Again.

Washington's Albert Haynesworth hasn't been happy with his situation, either. But it appeared the big defensive lineman was calling a bit of a truce with coach Mike Shanahan after the Redskins' 16-11 victory over Jets in a snoozer Friday night.

"I'm going over for dinner to his house, probably tonight," Haynesworth said. "We'll sit, have a cigar and talk. What I said last week is behind me. I don't even remember what I said."

Haynesworth, who missed numerous practices because of a failed conditioning test, a sore knee and then an illness, said Shanahan underplayed his medical condition.

Reports said Haynesworth was suffering from a muscle condition called rhabdomyolysis, but Shanahan told AOL Fanhouse last Sunday he was "not aware of that." Shanahan had given various reasons for Haynesworth's inability to practice, eventually attributing it to a headache.

Haynesworth complained about being out with the backups in the third quarter of Washington's 23-3 loss to Baltimore last week. He was on the field with the starters late in the opening quarter of this one.

"That's what they wanted to do this week, so I practiced a lot at end to get a feel for it," said Haynesworth, who entered the game with about 2 minutes left in the first quarter and finished with one tackle. "I still got a lot of work to do."

So do the Jets, whose late touchdown was only their second in three preseason games.

"We know nothing's going to come easy," wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery said. "This is going to be a stepping stone for us."

Far from the explosive offense many of the Jets predict they'll be, New York struggled until Sanchez connected with Dustin Keller for a 10-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

"We're not overwhelmingly pleased," Sanchez said, "but at the same time, I'm glad we got the chance in the second half to put together a nice little drive, play into the fourth quarter and score."

New running back LaDainian Tomlinson downplayed the Jets' offensive woes.

"I think one thing people need to understand is we've been very vanilla this preseason," said Tomlinson, who had 86 yards on 11 carries. "We won't really gameplan until the season starts, so we're doing fine."

Larry Johnson, competing with Clinton Portis and Willie Parker for a spot in the backfield for the Redskins (2-1), caught a screen pass from Richard Bartel and rumbled 15 yards for the winning score with 2:13 left.

"It's always good to win, so I feel good on that aspect," wide receiver Santana Moss said.

Looking to rebound from a poor performance against Carolina last weekend, the Jets (1-2) were hurt by four turnovers and missed opportunities.

"You're not going to win too many games, if any games, if you turn the ball over four times," Jets coach Rex Ryan said. "That was the critical stat that jumps out."

Ryan could hardly be confident in his offense after another preseason clunker. Sanchez finished 13 of 21 for 139 yards and an interception in just over three quarters for the Jets.

Rex Grossman started for the injured Donovan McNabb for Washington, and went 8 of 16 for 111 yards. Without McNabb, who missed the game with a sprained left ankle, the Redskins' first-team offense couldn't do much against the Jets' starters on defense, but Washington still led in the fourth quarter.

"He was good, calm and collected," Redskins center Casey Rabach said of Grossman. "He managed the ball really well and he made some really good throws. Obviously, there were some drops here and there."

After Graham Gano's third field goal of the game gave Washington a 9-5 lead with 6:46 left in the third quarter, Sanchez and the offense were given one more chance to get something going.

This time, they delivered. Finally.

Sanchez completed three third-down passes — a situation the Jets were only 1 of 7 until that point. On third-and-9 from the 20, Tomlinson caught a 9-yard pass for a first down to end the third quarter.

After Shonn Greene's 1-yard run, Sanchez found Keller over the middle, and the tight end stretched the ball over the goal line to give New York the 11-9 lead with 14:18 left — but Nick Folk clunked the extra point attempt off the left upright.

"That's Ripley's," Ryan said. "That's a believe-it-or-not right there."

Sanchez got the Jets down to the Redskins 13 midway through the second quarter, but made a bad throw intended for Keller that was intercepted by DeAngelo Hall.

"It was kind of a matchup zone," Hall said. "I was able to read the quarterback's eyes. I saw that was the route he wanted. I was able to come off the fade route and jump the tight end."

Washington took advantage, converting the turnover into points with Gano's 42-yard field goal with 5:10 left that made it 6-3.

"It's just frustrating when you turn the ball over like that," Ryan said. "It just kills you."

Right after the 2-minute warning, Grossman couldn't handle a shotgun snap that tipped off his hands and bounced into the end zone. The Redskins quarterback kicked the ball out of the back of the end zone for a safety — making it a 6-5.

Notes: Jets LB Calvin Pace suffered a foot injury and Ryan said he will likely miss a few weeks. ... Folk attempted a 62-yard field goal, but was a few yards short just before halftime. ... Johnson had 42 yards on nine carries, while Parker got the start and had eight rushes for 16 yards.

-- Dennis Waszak Jr.

Second-year receivers highlight Battle of the Bay

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Ever since the Oakland Raiders surprised everyone by taking Darrius Heyward-Bey ahead of Michael Crabtree in last year's draft it was inevitable that the two receivers would be compared throughout their careers.