American Football: Careless Favre plays the Detroit sinner

The Green Bay Packers, strong favourites to retain their Super Bowl title before the season started, suffered their second defeat of the season when they lost 26-15 in Detroit.

Brett Favre, the Packers quarterback, was intercepted three times, with Regi Brown returning one 45 yards for a touchdown. Barry Sanders, Detroit's brilliant running-back, ran for 139 yards, to pass Franco Harris on the all-time rushing list and now has a career total of 12,280 yards.

The Pack's defeat leaves the NFC Central's other Bay team, Tampa Bay, in firm control of the division. However, the Buccaneers left it left before beating the Arizona Cardinals 19-18 and they would have lost had Arizona's Kevin Butler not missed a 47-yard field goal at the end of the game.

The Washington Redskins remained unbeaten at their new home, the Jack Kent Cooke Stadium, beating the previously undefeated Jacksonville Jaguars 24-12.

The Redskins, winners of three Super Bowls between 1983 and 1992 but without a play-off appearance since, trounced the AFC Central leaders as their quarterback Gus Frerotte threw for 244 yards and three touchdowns, two of them to the wide receiver Leslie Shepherd.

In a crucial AFC West match-up the Kansas City Chiefs claimed their fourth straight victory, 20-17 in overtime over Seattle at Arrowhead Stadium. Kansas City's Jerome Woods intercepted a Seahawks pass in overtime and returned it to midfield, and Pete Stoyanovich booted the game-winning 41-yard field goal with just one minute and 56 seconds remaining in the extra period.

Another AFC West team won for the second time when San Diego put a dampener on the Baltimore Ravens' bright start to the season, winning 21-17 in southern California. Stan Humphries threw for 358 yards and connected with Tony Martin for three scores to snap Baltimore's three-game winning streak.

Pittsburgh bounced back from last week's defeat in Jacksonville with a 37-24 win over Tennessee at Three Rivers Stadium. Their quarterback Kordell Stewart rushed for two touchdowns and threw for another.

The two New York teams have both struggled in recent years, but both won: the Giants beating New Orleans, while the Jets defeated Cincinnati.