Colts continue to surprise with Eastern title win

The Oakland Raiders provided the big surprise of the weekend; the Indianapolis Colts are the big surprise of the season.

The Raiders brought down the high-flying Tampa Bay Buccaneers 45-0 on Sunday. And the Colts held off the Washington Redskins 23-21 to clinch the American Conference Eastern Division title for the first time in 12 years.

As befits the last season of the century, the last have turned into first-placed teams and the meek have inherited the NFL. On Sunday the Colts, picked by most to finish bottom of the league's toughest division, won their 10th successive game.

Payton Manning, the star quarterback son of a star quarterback, came through a bruising and difficult game to complete 23 of his 37 passes for two touchdowns.

"It's been a fast turnaround," he said. "It's definitely come faster than we expected. We knew we'd be a better football team this year, but we didn't know we'd be this good."

The Buccaneers did not know they could be this bad. Their usually stingy defence was ripped apart by the Raiders' Napoleon Kaufman and Tyrone Wheatley, who each ran for more than 100 yards and two touchdowns.

"They had our number," said the Bucs' defensive end Chidi Ahanotu. "It's as simple as that."

Tampa Bay still lead the NFC Central and can clinch a play-off place with a home win over Green Bay next week.

"Santa: we've been bad!" read a banner at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium. The Eagles are one of the worst teams in the league, but they still proved too good for the slumping New England Patriots.

"I want to throw up," said the Patriots' Chad Eaton after a 24-9 loss eliminated them from playoff contention. "It's embarrassing to get beat by a team as bad as that."

Orlando Brown, a six foot, seven inch, 25-stone offensive tackle, was ejected for attacking a referee during the Cleveland Browns' 24-14 home loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. He shoved Jeff Triplette to the ground after being hit in the face by the referee's penalty flag.