Tampa, Fla. ? The Carolina Panthers don’t want to get ahead of themselves.

Five straight victories have propelled them to a 6-2 record and a tie for first place in the NFC South midway through the season, but coach John Fox and his players feel it’s important to keep their strong start in perspective.

“It’s like how nobody remembers halftime scores. Same way with this season,” Fox said after Sunday’s 34-14 domination of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“What does being 6-2 mean?” defensive tackle Brentson Buckner added. “It means we can still go 6-10.”

Not the way the Panthers have played since stumbling out of the gate in September by losing two of their first three games. Lately, they’ve looked more and more like the championship contenders many expected them to be.

Stephen Davis ran for two touchdowns, Steve Smith caught his ninth TD pass, and Chris Gamble scored on a 61-yard interception return to key the team’s fifth straight victory in its bitter division rivalry with Tampa Bay.

Carolina wide receiver Steve Smith (89) beats Tampa Bay cornerback Ronde Barber to the end zone to score on a fourth-quarter touchdown. The Panthers beat the Bucs, 34-14, Sunday in Tampa, Fla.

Since the NFC South was formed in 2002, four of seven games between the teams have been decided by seven or fewer points. The last two have been blowouts, but Smith said that didn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things.

“All we do is come out here and make plays. Every week is different,” the speedy receiver said. “The thing they have that we don’t have is a championship, and that’s what we’re trying to get.”

The Bucs (5-3) lost for the third time in four games, falling out of a first-place tie with Carolina and Atlanta.

“We just got beat by a better team today,” Tampa Bay’s Chris Simms said. “I’m not going to make any excuses.”

Smith scored on a 35-yard pass from Jake Delhomme in the fourth quarter, while Carolina’s defense forced four turnovers and sacked Simms five times to ruin the young quarterback’s second start of the season.

Davis scored on a four-yard run that defensive end Mike Rucker set up by recovering Carnell “Cadillac” Williams’ fumble. Rucker also sacked Simms to force a third-quarter fumble that led to one of John Kasay’s two field goals for the Panthers.

Delhomme’s 61-yard completion to Ricky Proehl was the big play in a five-play, 90-yard drive that Davis finished with a one-yard run that put Carolina up 17-7 in the second quarter. Smith’s TD made it 34-7 and gave the speedy receiver his sixth 100-yard game of the season.

Smith, coming off an 11-catch, 201-yard performance against Minnesota, finished with five receptions for 106 yards.

“They won because they made more plays. I didn’t think they outmanned us,” Bucs defensive tackle Anthony McFarland said. “What’s disappointing for us is we had an opportunity to make a statement and we didn’t do it.”

Simms completed 25 of 41 passes for 259 yards and two interceptions. He threw a 50-yard TD pass to Joey Galloway in the second quarter, and Mike Alstott added a 1-yard TD run in the fourth quarter for Tampa Bay.

Falcons 17, Dolphins 10

Miami – Michael Vick led four drives of more than 70 yards, and Keion Carpenter’s interception stopped a scoring threat with less than three minutes left to help Atlanta beat Miami for its third victory a row.

Vick went 22-for-31 for a season-high 228 yards and added 38 yards on eight rushes. The Falcons (6-2) converted 11 of 17 third-down situations, while the Dolphins (3-5) were 0-for-9.

But Miami had a chance at overtime until Carpenter made a diving interception of a third-down pass by Gus Frerotte after the Dolphins had reached the Falcons eight-yard line.

Chargers 31, Jets 26

East Rutherford, N.J. – LaDainian Tomlinson scored a career-high four touchdowns – three rushing, one receiving – and San Diego needed every one of them to hold off pesky Brooks Bollinger and New York.

Heading into the game, Tomlinson had the same number of touchdown passes (three) as Jets quarterbacks. Bollinger changed all that with a furious charge. Replacing an ineffective Vinny Testaverde late in the third quarter, Bollinger threw two touchdown passes to make it a game.

The scoring passes were the first through the air for the Jets (2-6) since Week Two against the Dolphins.

Tomlinson had 25 carries for 107 yards for the Chargers (5-4), while Drew Brees was 20-of-27 for 270 yards, one touchdown and one interception, and Antonio Gates added eight catches for 132 yards.

Jaguars 21, Texans 14

Jacksonville, Fla. – Byron Leftwich directed two long scoring drives in the fourth quarter to rally Jacksonville over injury-riddled Houston.

Jacksonville (5-3) also tied the NFL record for consecutive games played without scoring 30 or more points. The Jags matched Cleveland’s mark of 58 games set between 1995 and 2002 (the Browns didn’t field a team in 1996-98).

Jacksonville trailed 7-0 at halftime and 14-7 in the fourth quarter before waking up from a first-half stupor. Leftwich directed scoring drives of 80 and 82 yards in the final quarter.

Bengals 21, Ravens 9

Baltimore – Carson Palmer threw two touchdown passes, Rudi Johnson ran for 97 yards and a score, and Cincinnati kept Baltimore out of the end zone.

The Bengals (7-2) were nursing a 14-6 lead before Palmer capped a 91-yard drive with a three-yard TD pass to Chris Henry with 6:05 to go. That was enough of a cushion to dispatch the Ravens, whose lone points came on three field goals by Matt Stover.

Vikings 27, Lions 14

Minneapolis – Brad Johnson took over at quarterback and helped jump-start the Minnesota offense. Joey Harrington returned as Detroit’s starter to far less favorable results.

Johnson passed for 136 yards and two touchdowns in relief of the injured Daunte Culpepper, Michael Bennett rushed 18 times for 106 yards, and the Vikings beat the Lions to create a tie for second place in the punchless NFC North.

Bennett and Nate Burleson caught second-quarter scores from Johnson, sandwiched around rookie Ciatrick Fason’s first career TD on a three-yard run.

Browns 20, Titans 14

Cleveland – Reuben Droughns, arrested earlier in the week on a drunken-driving charge, rushed for 116 yards and caught a crucial third-down pass for 51 yards, powering Cleveland over Tennessee.

Following his arrest, the 27-year-old Droughns expressed deep regret for his mistake and letting down his teammates and Cleveland’s fans, who by the fourth quarter were chanting “Reu-ben, Reu-ben” with the Browns comfortably ahead.

Droughns added four receptions for 73 yards, but he spent most of the final six minutes in the locker room being treated for leg cramps.

Redskins 17, Eagles 10

Landover, Md. – With or without Terrell Owens, the Eagles are losing and in danger of slipping out of the playoff race.

The Eagles (4-4) fell to sole possession of last place in the NFC East because of their anemic running game and an offense that produced only one touchdown. The Redskins, rebounding from the worst loss of coach Joe Gibbs’ career, rode a more balanced attack and touchdown runs by Mike Sellers and Clinton Portis.

The day was filled with off-field Eagles news: Owens, suspended indefinitely for comments he made about the organization and Donovan McNabb, was involved in a locker-room fight with former teammate Hugh Douglas last week; and running back Brian Westbrook, pining for a new contract since training camp, was given a five-year extension.

But Westbrook gained only 24 yards in 17 carries, more evidence why Philadelphia entered the game with an unseemly imbalance of passing the ball a league-high 72 percent of the time.

Steelers 20, Packers 10

Green Bay, Wis. – Troy Polamalu returned Brett Favre’s fumble 77 yards for a touchdown, and Tyrone Carter’s interception set up the offense’s only touchdown in Pittsburgh’s win over Green Bay.

The Steelers (6-2) became the first team since the 1989-90 San Francisco 49ers and the fourth team overall to win 11 straight road games. And they did it without quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (knee) and running back Jerome Bettis (thigh), who were joined on the sideline in the second half by starting tailback Willie Parker, who turned his left ankle.

Bears 20, Saints 17

Baton Rouge, La. – Adrian Peterson and Cedric Benson combined for 137 yards on 20 carries and a touchdown in place of the injured Thomas Jones, and Robbie Gould hit the winning field goal with 6 seconds to go for Chicago.

Kyle Orton set up the clincher with a 22-yard, third-down completion on a sideline route to Muhsin Muhammad at the 10-yard line. That allowed Chicago (5-3) to run the clock down to 10 seconds before lining up for the winning kick.

Saints owner Tom Benson stayed away from Baton Rouge as promised after complaining that security was inadequate to protect him from angry fans. A number of fans stayed away, too. The crowd was announced at 32,637, dwarfed by LSU’s 93,000-seat Tiger Stadium.

Giants 24, 49ers 6

San Francisco – Eli Manning passed for 251 yards and a touchdown, Brandon Jacobs rushed for two short fourth-quarter scores, and New York yielded just 138 total yards to beat San Francisco.

Plaxico Burress had five catches for 79 yards in the third straight victory for the Giants (6-2), who maintained their lead in the NFC East by suffocating the 49ers’ offense, which hasn’t scored a touchdown in its last 13 quarters at home.

Seahawks 33, Cardinals 19

Tempe, Ariz. – Shaun Alexander gained 173 yards on 23 carries, including touchdown runs of 88 and 14 yards, and Seattle won its fourth in a row by beating Arizona.

The 88-yard run, on the first play of the second half, tied the franchise record Alexander set against Oakland on Nov. 11, 2001. In the last three games against Arizona, Alexander gained 467 yards and scored nine touchdowns.

Neil Rackers kicked field goals of 23, 31, 50 and 44 for the Cardinals (2-6) and is 26-for-26 this season.