CLEVELAND, United States (AFP) - Ben Roethlisberger became the first National Football League quarterback to win his first seven starts, catching a ride on "The Bus" into the American football history books here.
Jerome "The Bus" Bettis ran 29 times for 103 yards and scored on runs of one and five yards to ignite the Steelers' attack in a 24-10 victory over Cleveland that featured a pre-game fight which led to a pair of ejections.
"We came into a hostile environment and prevailed," Roethlisberger said. "It feels great."
Pittsburgh's defense forced four turnovers and together with Bettis were so dominant that "Big Ben", who completed 10-of-16 passes for 134 yards, had to do little to break the rookie win record he shared with 1970 Steeler Mike Kruczek.
"He does an excellent job," Cleveland quarterback Jeff Garcia said. "He has excellent poise. For a big man, he moves exceptionally well. You can't say enough about the kid."
Browns running back William Green and Steelers linebacker Joey Porter were ejected for fighting during a pre-game warmup session on the field.
Passions were already intense because Browns defensive lineman Gerard Warren earlier in the week said, "Kill the head and the body is dead," regarding Roethlisberger's record bid.
"I don't think it's ever good to add fuel to the fire," Garcia said.
Reigning Super Bowl champion New England matched Pittsburgh with the NFL's best record at 8-1 as Tom Brady completed 12-of-19 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns in the first half and the Patriots ripped Buffalo 29-6.
Corey Dillon ran 26 times for 151 yards and receiver Troy Brown switched to defense and intercepted Drew Bledsoe, one of three pickoffs for the ex-Patriot passer as New England dominated on defense for a 23rd win in the past 24 games.
Green Bay and St. Louis each grabbed a share of division leads by beating the club ahead of them.
Brett Favre and Daunte Culpepper each threw four touchdown passes but Favre led Green Bay on a 71-second drive to Ryan Longwell's game-ending 33-yard field goal to give the Packers a 34-31 home victory over Minnesota.
Culpepper completed 27-of-44 throws for 363 yards while Favre went 20-of-29 for 236 yards.
Favre, making his 198th consecutive start, extended his streak of games with at least one touchdown pass to 34, 13 shy of Johnny Unitas' 44-year-old record. Green Bay's fourth victory in a row left both clubs 5-4 atop the NFC North.
"One and four is a much different feeling than we have here," Favre said. "We played nearly flawless football and we still almost got beat."
St. Louis' Marshall Faulk rushed 18 times for 139 yards to spark the Rams past Seattle 23-12, leaving both clubs 5-4 atop the NFC West.
"We got into a good rhythm and they never really stopped us," Faulk said.
Indianapolis and Jacksonville stayed even atop the AFC South with victories. The Colts routed visiting Houston 49-14 while Jacksonville outlasted Detroit 23-17 in over-time.
Peyton Manning threw for 320 yards and five touchdowns, including two each to Dallas Clark and Brandon Stokley. Manning's third five-touchdown game tied an NFL record and his 31 touchdowns through nine games have him on pace to break Dan Marino's one-season record of 48 set in 1984.
"The offense came out and got points early and we kept the momentum going," Manning said. "Just the total points is what I'm happy about.
"(Records) aren't something we're conscious about. We don't come out trying to throw five touchdowns. We're just executing the offense. We're just doing an excellent job putting it in the end zone."
David Garrard threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Smith after 5:28 of over-time to give thre Jaguars a victory. Jacksonville had four prior triumphs in the final seconds of regulation play this season.
Two other games went to over-time. Visiting Baltimore beat the New York Jets 20-17 on Matt Stover's 42-yard field goal 7:25 into the extra period.
Defensive lineman Adewale Ogunleye made a rare game-winning safety to lift Chicago over Tennessee 19-17. Ogunleye forced a fumble from quarterback Billy Volek. Blocker Fred Miller recovered but Ogunleye tackled him in the end zone for the victory. The only other NFL sudden-death safety win came 15 years ago.
In other games, Atlanta beat Tampa Bay 24-14, New Orleans downed Kansas City 27-20, Arizona beat the New York Giants 17-14, Cincinnati beat Washington 17-10 and Carolina defeated San Francisco 37-27. Philadelphia and Dallas meet Monday.
11/15/2004 - 07:58 GMT - AFP