COWBOYS 35, PATRIOTS 29 OT
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Dak Prescott threw 35-yard touchdown pass to CeeDee Lamb in overtime, and the Dallas Cowboys survived a wild finish to beat New England 35-29 on Sunday, their first win over Bill Belichick’s Patriots.
Dallas hadn’t won at New England since 1987 and was 0-5 against Belichick. The Cowboys (5-1) have won five straight, their longest winning streak since 2016.
The Cowboys led 17-14 entering the fourth quarter, and that’s when the fun began. The teams traded five scores in the period, three in the final 2 1/2 minutes.
New England (2-4) was clinging to a 21-20 lead when sensational Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs intercepted Mac Jones and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown — his seventh pick and second pick-six of the season — to put Dallas ahead 26-20. On the next play from scrimmage, Jones hit Kendrick Bourne for a 75-yard score. Jones hooked up with Jakobi Meyers for the 2-point conversion.
But Prescott led the Cowboys on a 40-yard drive and Greg Zuerlein’s 49-yard field goal sent it to overtime. Dallas ended it after New England punted on its first possession as the Patriots dropped to 0-4 at home for the first time in Belichick’s 22 years as coach.
RAIDERS 34, BRONCOS 24
DENVER (AP) — Derek Carr sliced up the Denver defense for 341 yards and two touchdowns, Maxx Crosby made three sacks and the Raiders started the post-Jon Gruden era with a victory.
The Raiders (4-2) gave longtime special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia a win in his debut as interim head coach and offensive coordinator Greg Olson was masterful in his first play-calling duties for Las Vegas since Carr’s rookie season in 2014.
The Raiders began by ending an 11-game streak without a score on their opening drive. They never let up, burning the Broncos’ beleaguered secondary that couldn’t keep up with Carr and his targets.
Nor could Denver’s deficient offense keep pace. Teddy Bridgewater threw a season-high three interceptions and lost a fumble, negating his 334 yards passing and three TDs.
The Broncos (3-3) lost their third consecutive game, but the other defeats came at the hands of Ravens and Steelers and their veteran head coaches John Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin. This one had to sting coach Vic Fangio, whose Broncos have a short week before a Thursday night game at Cleveland with the possibility they’ll fall below .500 just 25 days after starting 3-0.
The Raiders appeared to have a season on the brink after Gruden resigned Monday night when it was revealed emails he sent before being hired in 2018 contained racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments directed at several people in the NFL. But the Raiders didn’t seem one bit bothered by the chaos as they moved into a tie atop the AFC West with the Chargers.
STEELERS 23, SEAHAWKS 20
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Chris Boswell hit a 36-yard field goal with 2:50 left in overtime to give Pittsburgh a win over Seattle.
Boswell’s third field goal of the game came three plays after Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt forced Seattle quarterback Geno Smith to fumble deep in Seahawks territory. Pittsburgh inside linebacker Devin Bush scooped it up to give the Steelers possession. Two snaps to center the ball in the middle of the field set up Boswell to win it.
Pittsburgh (3-3) won its second straight thanks in large part to Watt, who collected two of his team’s five sacks and helped the defense right itself after a third-quarter soon let the Seahawks rally from a 14-point halftime deficit.
Ben Roethlisberger threw for 229 yards and a touchdown and rookie running back Najee Harris added 83 yards rushing and caught his second scoring toss of the season. Eric Ebron scored the third rushing touchdown of his career.
Smith, starting in place of injured Russell Wilson, completed 23 of 32 passes for 209 yards and a touchdown in his first start in nearly four years. Alex Collins ran for 101 yards while filling in for injured starter Chris Carson, but Smith’s late miscue dropped Seattle to 2-4.
The Seahawks played the final 3:10 of regulation and overtime without linebacker Darrell Taylor, who left on a stretcher and was taken to the hospital with an undisclosed injury. Taylor was on the ground for more than 10 minutes while being attended to by medical staff. NBC reported Taylor had movement and feeling in all of his extremities.
Boswell hit a 52-yard field goal with 1:29 to go in regulation to put Pittsburgh in front 20-17. Seattle’s Jason Myers kicked a 43-yard field goal as time expired to force OT.
RAVENS 34, CHARGERS 6
BALTIMORE (AP) — Lamar Jackson threw for 167 yards and a touchdown for Baltimore.
A week after scoring 47 points in a win over Cleveland, the Chargers (4-2) came up empty on their first five possessions and were held under 16 points for only the second time since drafting Herbert before last season.
The Ravens completely controlled this matchup of division leaders. Each of Baltimore’s three veteran running backs — Latavius Murray, Le’Veon Bell and Devonta Freeman — scored a touchdown.
Jackson went 19 of 27 with two interceptions. Herbert was 22 of 39 for 195 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Although the much-anticipated clash between these two talented quarterbacks didn’t live up to expectations, Baltimore (5-1) won with a total team effort.
CARDINALS 37, BROWNS 14
CLEVELAND (AP) — Kyler Murray threw four touchdown passes as the Cardinals remained the NFL’s only unbeaten team and continued their best start since 1974.
The Cardinals (6-0) built a 20-0 lead in the first half and kept their perfect record intact despite not having coach Kliff Kingsbury or star linebacker Chandler Jones, who both tested positive for COVID-19 this week.
Murray connected with DeAndre Hopkins for two TDs, and Arizona’s shifty quarterback came up with a clutch play whenever the Cardinals needed one.
The Browns (3-3) have lost two straight under coach Kevin Stefanski for the first time and Cleveland has bigger concerns, most notably to a growing list of major injuries. The latest was to running back Kareem Hunt, carted to the locker room in the fourth quarter with a calf injury.
Cleveland was already missing star running back Nick Chubb (calf) and the Browns, who host Denver on Thursday night, played without both their starting offensive tackles.
Also, quarterback Baker Mayfield appeared to reinjure his left shoulder and wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. briefly left with a shoulder issue. Mayfield committed three turnovers: two fumbles and an interception.
JAGUARS 23, DOLPHINS 20
LONDON (AP) — The Jaguars ended their 20-game losing streak when Matthew Wright kicked a 53-yard field goal as time expired.
Trevor Lawrence connected on a short slant pass to Laviska Shenault Jr. and the Jags (1-5) called a timeout with 1 second remaining after the Dolphins (1-5) gambled on a fourth-and-1 from their 46 and came up short.
Lawrence threw for 319 yards and a touchdown as he and coach Urban Meyer finally earned their first NFL victories — even if it required a trip to Europe to get it done in a “home” game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The Dolphins lost their fifth consecutive game, spoiling the return of Tua Tagovailoa, who made his first start in a month. The second-year quarterback threw two touchdown passes to Jaylen Waddle.
Before Sunday, the Jags hadn’t won a game since beating Indianapolis 27-20 in the 2020 season opener. The 20-game losing streak is the second longest in the Super Bowl era.
VIKINGS 34, PANTHERS 28, OT
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Kirk Cousins completed a 27-yard touchdown pass to K.J. Osborn on the first possession of overtime.
Cousins threw for 373 yards and three touchdowns against the league’s top-ranked pass defense, Dalvin Cook ran for 140 yards and a score and the Vikings finally solved their second-half offensive woes. Adam Thielen had a number of big catches, finishing with 11 receptions for 126 yards and a touchdown.
The Vikings (3-3) had not scored a second-half touchdown in their previous four games, but Cook broke the streak with a 16-yard touchdown run to give the Vikings the lead and Cousins added a 5-yard touchdown pass to Thielen.
But two missed field goals by Greg Joseph kept the Panthers (3-3) in it.
Sam Darnold finished 17 of 41 for 207 yards with one touchdown and two turnovers and nearly pulled off a wild comeback.
After Joseph missed a 50-yard field goal, Zane Gonzalez connected on a short field goal to cut the lead to 8. Darnold hit Ian Thomas down the seam for a 41-yard gain on fourth-and-10 from the Carolina 4. Darnold capped the drive with a 7-yard TD pass to Robby Anderson and threw a shovel pass to Tommy Tremble for the 2-point conversion to tie the game at 28 with 42 seconds left.
COLTS 31, TEXANS 3
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Carson Wentz threw two touchdown passes, Jonathan Taylor ran for two more and the Indianapolis defense held up.
Indy rebounded from an embarrassing fourth-quarter collapse at Baltimore by winning for the second time in three weeks. The Colts (2-4) can now move within one game of the AFC South lead — if Buffalo beats Tennessee on Monday.
Houston (1-5) has lost five straight overall and six of the last seven against the Colts.
And this one changed quickly in the second half — in the exact opposite direction of the Monday night fiasco.
Two-time All-Pro linebacker Darius Leonard picked off rookie quarterback Davis Mills on Houston’s first play of the third quarter. Wentz capitalized two plays later with a 28-yard TD pass to Mo Alie-Cox to make it 17-3.
Taylor started Indy’s next series with an 83-yard run and capped it with a 4-yard TD rush to make it 24-3, and the reeling Texans spent the rest of the game futilely playing catch-up and getting nowhere.
CHIEFS 31, WASHINGTON 13
LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 397 yards and engineered three second-half touchdown drives to compensate for a pair of interceptions.
After throwing two picks before halftime, Mahomes connected with Tyreek Hill on a 2-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter. He put the game out of reach with a 24-yarder to Demarcus Robinson with 3:14 left in the fourth period. In between, new starting running back Darrel Williams rushed for his second TD of the game to help Kansas City (3-3) avoid what would have been an embarrassing loss.
The defense also finally played its part, holding an opponent under 29 points for the first time this season, forcing a fumble and picking off Taylor Heinicke to seal the win. Washington (2-4) finished with 276 yards and its lowest points total of the season.
Unlike losses to the Ravens, Chargers and Bills, the KC offense made up for the giveaways. The Chiefs had touchdown drives of 95, 68, 45 and 96 yards.
Mahomes finished 32 of 47, and rushed for 31 yards along the way.
PACKERS 24, BEARS 14
CHICAGO (AP) — Aaron Rodgers threw for two touchdowns and ran for another as the Packers (5-1) beat the Bears (3-3) for the 20th time in 23 games counting the playoffs and improved to 22-5 with Rodgers as the starter against Chicago.
Rodgers shook off a sluggish start, throwing a 1-yard touchdown to Allen Lazard in the second quarter and a 12-yarder to Aaron Jones in the third, making it 17-7.
Rodgers put away the Bears after Justin Fields threw a 5-yard touchdown to Darnell Mooney, cutting the lead to three with 8:44 left. He scored from the 6 to cap a 75-yard drive, bumping the lead back up to 10. He then turned toward the crowd and yelled, “I still own you! I still own you!”
Davante Adams caught four passes for 89 yards. Aaron Jones ran for 76 yards and caught four passes for 34, helping the Packers remain unbeaten since a season-opening 38-3 loss to New Orleans in Jacksonville.
RAMS 38, GIANTS 11
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Matthew Stafford threw three of his four touchdown passes in a 28-point second quarter. Stafford connected with prime target Cooper Kupp on scoring passes of 3 and 13 yards. He also found Robert Woods for a 15-yard score and running back Darrell Henderson on a 25-yarder.
Stafford, who has 16 TD passes in six games, finished 22 of 28 for 251 yards in three-plus quarters. The Rams (5-1) took advantage of two short fields provided by their defense for easy TDs in breaking the game open early against New York (1-5).
Kupp, who was tied for second in the league with 37 catches entering the game, added nine more receptions for 130 yards. Safety Taylor Rapp had two interceptions to account for half of Los Angeles’ four takeaways.
A week after sustaining a concussion in a loss to Dallas, Daniel Jones started at quarterback for the Giants. He led the offense to a 27-yard field goal by Graham Gano on the opening series, but the Rams picked him off three times and recovered a fumble on a strip-sack by Ogbonnia Okoronkwo.
BENGALS 34, LIONS 11
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Burrow tied a career high with three touchdown passes, helping the Bengals (4-2) equal last year’s number of wins and double their victories from 2019 during coach Zac Taylor’s debut season.
Detroit (0-6) could not rally as it did in closely contested setbacks against San Francisco, Baltimore and Minnesota, failing to score until Austin Seibert made a 35-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter. The Lions are the NFL’s only winless team under first-year coach Dan Campbell. They have lost 10 straight going back to last season for the league’s longest active losing streak.
Burrow finished 19 of 29 for 271 yards, including a 24-yard touchdown pass to rookie running back Chris Evans on the game’s opening drive. He threw a short pass to Joe Mixon on fourth down that the running back turned into a 40-yard score in the second half to give Cincinnati a 17-0 lead. The second-year quarterback tossed a 2-yard touchdown to C.J. Uzomah early in the fourth, putting the Bengals ahead 27-0.
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