GREEN BAY- - It's easy for the Carolina Panthers to focus on the results these days after another key victory with a dicey ending.
"It felt great how we played because we stopped them at the end," defensive end Kony Ealy said. "But we have to learn how to put our foot down on their throats."
Cam Newton threw three touchdown passes and ran for another as the unbeaten Panthers (8-0) held off the Green Bay Packers 37-29.
This one was not secured until linebacker Thomas Davis made an interception on a fourth-down play near the goal line after the Packers (6-2) threatened to wipe out a 23-point deficit in the last eight minutes.
Davis intercepted Aaron Rodgers' fourth-and-goal pass from the 4-yard line after the two-minute warning. Wide receiver Randall Cobb was open, but Rodgers missed him under heavy duress from defensive tackle Kawann Short. Rodgers had four touchdown passes and was sacked five times.
"I just made the catch, but it was fourth down anyway," Davis said. "I cannot stress enough how much (Short) meant going in there and making it happen."
The Panthers continued the best start in franchise history with their second victory in less than a week after recovering in overtime to defeat the Indianapolis Colts on Monday night.
"We let another team come back on us," Davis said. "That was because of Aaron Rodgers."
Green Bay lost consecutive games for the first time since November 2013 to fall into a first-place NFC North tie with the Vikings (6-2).
"It's going to hurt a little bit, obviously," Packers wide receiver Davante Adams said. "That's not the type of game that we are capable of playing, but we just have to look past it at this point."
Newton, who completed 15 of 30 passes for 297 yards with one interception, turned in several clutch plays, particularly in the first three quarters.
"He can scramble around and up in the pocket and he can produce a lot of plays," Packers cornerback Demarious Randall said.
Randall intercepted Newton with 3:38 remaining, putting the Packers at the Carolina 22 and trialing by eight.
But Green Bay could not convert on fourth-and-goal when Rodgers threw the ball up in desperation.
"You feel pretty good with our defense on the field," Carolina tight end Greg Olsen said. "They did enough."
Rodgers ended up 25 of 48 for 369 yards.
PARIS- - Novak Djokovic's already brilliant season took on another dimension on Sunday when the world number one became the first man to win six Masters titles in a calendar year by dismissing Andy Murray 6-2 6-4 in Paris.
The Serbian won three of the four grand slam titles -- Australian Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open -- and has already made sure he will finish 2015 as number one in the ATP rankings. He heads into the Nov. 15-22 World Tour finals in London beaming with confidence, having won his last 22 matches.
"I am obviously very proud and very happy to win this title again, it's a great tournament and all the best players in the world were here," Djokovic said at the court side.
Djokovic, the first man with four Bercy titles and also the first to win three in succession, was in another league against a sorry Murray, the second seed.
The Scot struggled to find his range early on, sending a few shots long and Djokovic broke to love for 2-1.
Murray had a few tricks up his sleeve, trying to mix it up with drop shots, but Djokovic had too much poise and pace and he stole his opponent's serve again as he took advantage of some sloppy errors.
Murray raised his game in the second set after dropping his serve early on. He went to the net to level for 2-2 and in the sixth game he managed to lead 30-0 on Djokovic's serve.
That was as close as he came to an upset as Djokovic won the game and put the Olympic champion on the back foot again in the following game, breaking for 4-3 when Murray sent a forehand long.
Djokovic ended a quick final on his first match point when Murray returned wide.
Djokovic played in all the Masters finals this season, winning the first three in Indian Wells, Miami and Monte Carlo, then prevailing in Rome and Shanghai.
He faltered at the last hurdle in Cincinnati and Montreal, where he was defeated by Murray. He did not take part in the Madrid Masters.
PARIS-- Novak Djokovic beat Tomas Berdych 7-6 (3) 7-6 (8) in the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters on Friday to claim his 20th consecutive win and stay on course for an unprecedented third title in a row at the event.
Both players conceded only one break point as all games went to serve and the world number one prevailed on his second match point to set up a semi-final meeting with fourth seed Stan Wawrinka or 14-times grand slam champion Rafa Nadal.
A day after his serve was less than perfect against Gilles Simon, Djokovic was extremely accurate with his delivery and played better on the key points to see off Czech Berdych, the 2005 champion.
The Serb now has a 20-2 win-loss record against Berdych who has been beaten in all their 16 matches on a hard court.
Earlier, Andy Murray reached the last four for the first time when he saw off local favourite Richard Gasquet 7-6 (7) 3-6 6-3.
The world number three allowed the French 10th seed to come back into the contest when he was let down by his first serve in the second set but regained his momentum.
Murray next plays Spain's David Ferrer who downed big- serving John Isner 6-3 6-7 (6) 6-2, with the American finishing the match exhausted.
Briton Murray got off to a strong start, breaking in the second game on his way to a 3-0 lead.
Gasquet, however, remained aggressive, took his chances and was rewarded with a break of serve in the seventh game as his opponent grew cautious.
The Frenchman, backed by a partisan Bercy crowd, went 5-3 up in the tiebreak and at 6-5 Murray saved a set point with a superb sliced passing shot before going on to clinch the opener.
Murray was forced on to the back foot in the second set and managed only six winners, compared to 20 in the opener, as Gasquet levelled.
The Olympic and twice grand slam champion struggled on serve and allowed his opponent to break for 2-1 in the decider but quickly got back on track.
Murray stole Gasquet's serve before breaking again for a 5-3 advantage and then wrapping up victory.
MOHALI, India-- Cheteshwar Pujara's unbeaten 63 gave India a firm hold on the opening test against South Africa after off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin picked up his 13th five-wicket haul to restrict the touring side to 184 on the second day on Friday.
Pujara compiled his seventh half-century in tests to lead India to 125 for two at stumps, an overall lead of 142 in the low-scoring match.
He added 86 for the second wicket with Murali Vijay (47), who fell to an acrobatic catch at short leg by substitute fielder Temba Bavuma, after opener Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed for his second duck of the match to Vernon Philander.
India captain Virat Kohli was unbeaten on 11.
Dale Steyn, the world's number one bowler, was troubled by a tight groin and did not take the field as a precaution in a blow to South Africa's hopes of restricting India to a low total in the second innings.
AB de Villiers struggled initially but made a swashbuckling 63 off 83 balls to top score for his side, who conceded a first-innings lead of 17.
Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, returning to the test arena for the first time in almost 15 months, took three wickets while leg-spinner Amit Mishra picked up the other two.
South Africa, who resumed on 28-2 after dismissing the hosts for 201, appeared set for a first-innings lead through a stubborn third-wicket stand of 76 between Dean Elgar (37) and captain Hashim Amla (43) before Ashwin struck.
The 29-year-old, who had dismissed Stiaan van Zyl the previous evening, sent back Elgar after the opening batsman had kept India at bay for 75 minutes along with Amla.
Kohli opted not to open with Ashwin and Jadeja, who looked the most likely to pick up wickets on a Mohali pitch offering plenty of assistance to the spin bowlers, but soon found success once he did turn to them.
Elgar survived some nervous moments until he attempted a rash slog-sweep against Ashwin, with the ball taking a top edge and falling into the hands of Jadeja at short third man.
Amla looked unperturbed and displayed a solid technique against the Indian slow bowlers before he fell in a freakish way to the off-spinner.
The right-hander danced down the track but missed the ball, which hit wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha's chest to drop on the off-stump with Amla short of his crease.
Ashwin also dismissed wicketkeeper Dane Vilas (1) in the same over for his fourth wicket, after the batsman top-edged a sweep for Jadeja to complete a tumbling catch at short fine leg.
De Villiers survived a confident appeal for caught behind off Jadeja before he had opened his account and after a few more loud leg before appeals against him were turned down, the 31-year-old finally edged the left-arm spinner to Kohli.
However, he was given not out after replays showed the bowler had marginally overstepped during the delivery.
De Villiers then went on the attack and completed his 37th fifty in tests before getting bowled by a beautiful delivery from Mishra.
CINCINNATI - Cincinnati tight end Tyler Eifert caught three touchdown passes from quarterback Andy Dalton as the Bengals remained unbeaten with a 31-10 victory over the Cleveland Browns at Paul Brown Stadium.
Cincinnati improved to 8-0 for the first time in franchise history.
Dalton came in 3-7 in his career in prime-time games but delivered a steady performance, going 21 of 27 for 263 yards and three touchdowns.
Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel started in place of injured Josh McCown and played well in spots, passing for 168 yards and a touchdown.
But Cincinnati's defense sacked him three times in the second half, during which the Browns (2-7) managed just 32 total yards.
Cincinnati figured to run the ball against the worst rush defense in the league, and they had 154 yards on the ground, led by Gio Bernard's 71.
On Cleveland's first possession of the third quarter, Manziel appeared to have gained 13 yards on third-and-12 from his own 10-yard line.
But a Cincinnati challenge overturned the spot.
The Bengals converted that decision into three points when a 28-yard field goal by Mike Nugent gave them a 17-10 lead.
The clinching touchdown came early in the fourth quarter when receiver Mohamed Sanu scored on a 25-yard reverse making the score 24-10.
