Ravens end Saints streak

The Saints forced overtime when Garrett Hartley booted a 32-yard field goal with four seconds left on the clock but squandered their chance to steal the victory when Hartley failed with his next attempt from 29 yards.

"It's a tough loss. It was a hard fought game," said New Orleans coach Sean Payton. "When you turn it over like we did early on, we give up big plays and we fail to convert that kick in overtime like that, it's going to be tough to overcome those things."

It was the second straight win for the Falcons and the first loss in three games this season for the Saints, who won the Super Bowl for the first time in February and were making a habit of winning tight games with last-minute kicks.

Hartley put the Saints in last season's Super Bowl with an overtime winner against the Minnesota Vikings and kicked a late winner against the San Francisco 49ers last week but could not repeat the feat against the Falcons.

"It is easy to look at the kick and just point at that specific play in overtime, yet there was a reason we were in overtime," Payton said.

While the Saints suffered their first loss, the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers kept their perfect records intact with a pair of blowout victories while the Minnesota Vikings and Dallas Cowboys both chalked up their first wins.

Quarterback Matt Cassel threw three touchdowns as the Chiefs overturned a halftime deficit to overcome the struggling San Francisco 49ers31-10 and win their first three games of a season for the first time in seven years.

"We're going to enjoy this one but as I've said before and as coach (Todd Haley) continues to tell us, 'Hey, we're not satisfied at 3-0 and there's a long season left to go and we have 13 more games,'" Cassel said.

Charlie Batch, making his first start in three years, threw three touchdown passes in the first half as the Steelers handed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers their first loss of the season, 38-13.

"We came into a hostile environment versus an undefeated team and we did the job," Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said.

"Hats off to a lot of people but you really got to tip a hat to Charlie Batch. What he was able to do for us today. He played like a veteran ... he didn't blink."

The Vikings defeated the Detroit Lions 24-10 on the back of two touchdowns from Adrian Peterson, including one 80-yard run, while receiver Roy Williams scored two touchdowns in the Cowboys' 27-13 win over the Houston Texans.

"It's one game, it's a win," Vikings quarterback Brett Favre said. "It wasn't the prettiest of wins but it's a win."

Peyton Manning and Tom Brady also threw three touchdown passes each. Manning steered the Indianapolis Colts to a 27-13 win over the Denver Broncos while Brady, coming off last week's loss to the New York Jets, led the New England Patriots to a 38-30 win over the Buffalo Bills.

The Falcons trailed the Saints at the end of the first and third quarters and despite being pushed into overtime they maintained their composure to beat their NFC South rivals.

"This is a huge victory for us," Bryant said. "We have a lot of high expectations of ourselves and we fought the entire game to get us in position to win it at the end."