NFL roundup: Eagles break losing skid with victory over Bills
Rookie Miles Sanders scored on a career-best 65-yard touchdown run and the Philadelphia Eagles snapped a two-game skid with a 31-13 win over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
Carson Wentz finished 17 of 24 for 172 yards and a touchdown passing in a game the Eagles blew open by scoring TDs 83 seconds apart spanning halftime.
Dallas Goedert scored on a 5-yard catch. Jordan Howard had a team-best 96 yards rushing and scored on a 3-yard run, and Boston Scott scored on a 4-yard run after Sanders left the game with a shoulder injury in the third quarter.
Linebacker Brandon Graham had one of the team’s four sacks, and also forced and recovered quarterback Josh Allen’s fumble, which led to Goedert scoring the go-ahead touchdown.
The Eagles improved to 4-4 in bouncing back from a 37-10 prime-time dud of a loss at Dallas last week, and amid questions the team lacked discipline. Cornerback Orlando Scandrick criticized Eagles leaders upon being released by the team. And offensive tackle Lane Johnson raised questions by suggesting Eagles players were showing up late for team meetings.
The Rams, after 10 days on the road while turning around a season tipping toward collapse, could not wait to hit the streets after a 24-10 defeat of Cincinnati in London.
The Bills (5-2) squandered an opportunity to open 6-1 for the first time since 1993, and failed to answer skeptics as to whether their hot start is a result of a soft schedule.
Buffalo has faced just one opponent — New England — that entered this weekend with a winning record. And the Bills were coming off a week in which they rallied from a five-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat the winless Miami Dolphins 31-21.
Green Bay 31, at Kansas City 24: Aaron Rodgers threw for 305 yards and three touchdowns, two of them to Aaron Jones on a big night for the Green Bay running back, and the Packers held off backup quarterback Matt Moore and Kansas City.
Jones, who briefly left with a shoulder injury, had seven catches for 159 yards and added 67 on the ground — a big chunk of them in the closing minutes, when the Packers (7-1) sealed the win. It was their first at Arrowhead Stadium since Nov. 4, 2007.
With reigning league MVP Patrick Mahomes out with a dislocated kneecap, Moore took the reins of the Chiefs’ high-powered offense and fared quite well. He threw for 267 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions in the ex-high school coach’s first NFL start in more than two years.
The Chiefs (5-3) hoped Mahomes could make a miraculous recovery 10 days after hurting his knee in Denver in time to play. But after he was limited in practice throughout the week, coach Andy Reid announced Friday that the franchise quarterback would be inactive for the game.
at New England 27, Cleveland 13: Tom Brady threw for 259 yards and two touchdown passes and Bill Belichick earned his 300th career NFL coaching victory in the Patriots’ win.
Belichick sits behind only Don Shula (347) and George Halas (324) on the NFL’s all-time win list.
The Patriots improved to 8-0 for the third time in team history and the first time since 2015, when they started 10-0. The Browns have lost three straight games.
Brady completed 20 of 36 passes, hitting Julian Edelman on eight of them for 78 yards and both TDs.
New England capitalized on three first-quarter turnovers by Cleveland to take a 17-0 lead. Running back Nick Chubb had back-to-back fumbles and quarterback Baker Mayfield had an interception.
at Houston 27, Oakland 24: Deshaun Watson threw for 279 yards and three touchdowns, including the go-ahead score in the fourth quarter to lift Houston to a win over Oakland.
There were about six minutes left when Watson evaded the rush and connected with Darren Fells on a 9-yard scoring toss to put Houston up 27-24 for its first lead of the game. Watson appeared to get kicked in the face on the play and remained on the turf for a few minutes and was tended to be trainers before getting to his feet and walking to the medical tent. But he was OK and returned on the next possession.
Houston (5-3) forced a punt on the next drive when Gareon Conley, who was traded to the Texans from Oakland this week, knocked down a pass to Tyrell Williams on third down.
Fells had 58 yards receiving and two touchdowns and DeAndre Hopkins grabbed 11 catches for 109 yards.
Derek Carr had 285 yards passing with three touchdowns as the Raiders (3-4) lost for the second week in a row.
Texans defensive end J.J. Watt left the game in the second quarter after suffering a shoulder injury and later announced on Twitter he won’t play again this season.
at Indianapolis 15, Denver 13: Adam Vinatieri made a 51-yard field goal with 22 seconds left Sunday to help the Colts rally for a victory.
The NFL’s career scoring leader overcame two earlier misses to keep Indy (5-2) atop the AFC South with its third straight victory.
Denver (2-6) has lost two in a row.
The difference this time was the Broncos settled for two short field goals on time-consuming drives in the first half. Brandon McManus made a 21-yarder to cap a 17-play drive that consumed nearly eight minutes and a 29-yarder on their next possession when the Broncos burned nearly 5{ minutes in 13 plays to make it 6-0.
Indy finally answered with Vinatieri’s 55-yard field goal that dropped over the crossbar to make it 6-3 at the half.
Denver took a 13-3 lead when Royce Freeman weaved his way through the Colts defense on a 4-yard score to make it 13-3.
at San Francisco 51, Carolina 13: Tevin Coleman scored three of his four touchdowns in the first half, rookie Nick Bosa had three sacks to go along with an acrobatic interception and the 49ers remained unbeaten with a win in their highest-scoring game in 26 years.
The Niners (7-0) are off to their best start since winning their first 10 games in 1990 but still faced questions because five of those first six victories came against teams that have losing records.
But San Francisco delivered perhaps its most complete performance of the season against the streaking Panthers (4-3), who had won four straight games and featured one of the league’s top defenses.
Jimmy Garoppolo and the offense had little trouble carving Carolina’s defense with 232 yards rushing and a pair of touchdown passes for San Francisco’s most prolific offensive game since beating Detroit 55-17 on Dec. 19, 1993. The Niners stellar defense did the rest.
Seattle 27, at Atlanta 20: Russell Wilson threw two touchdown passes to DK Metcalf, Chris Carson ran for 90 yards and a score, and the Seahawks beat the reeling Falcons.
Seattle led 24-0 at halftime as the Falcons offense floundered early in their first start without quarterback Matt Ryan in 10 years. Ryan’s streak of 154 consecutive regular-season starts ended as he was held out with a sprained right ankle.
The Falcons (1-7) have lost six straight games, leaving coach Dan Quinn’s status a hot topic as the team enters its bye week. Team owner Arthur Blank said after the game he will “take the next couple of weeks” before reaching a decision on Quinn’s future.
Wilson completed first-half touchdown passes of 4 and 2 yards to Metcalf. Carson had a 1-yard scoring run.
Seattle (6-2) improved to 4-0 on the road. Coach Pete Carroll said the team’s record halfway through the season ”isn’t the best it could have been, but it’s pretty darn good.”
at New Orleans 31, Arizona 9: Drew Brees passed for 373 yards and three touchdowns in his first game in more than five weeks since thumb surgery, and the Saints won their sixth straight with a victory over the Cardinals.
With few exceptions, Brees was accurate and looked composed even as his pass blocking collapsed, completing 34 of 43 passes.
He was intercepted once, by Patrick Peterson, but was not pressured before throwing that aggressive, risky pass down the left sideline, where fullback Zach Line was double-covered.
The Cardinals were unable to capitalize on that turnover early in the second half, however, and Brees made them pay by leading three touchdown drives after that, ending with passes to running back Latavius Murray, dynamic reserve QB and utility player Taysom Hill, and leading receiver Michael Thomas.
Cardinals rookie Kyler Murray completed 19 of 33 passes for 220 yards, but Arizona never found the end zone. Eight of his completions went to Christian Kirk for 79 yards in the receiver’s return from an ankle sprain. Arizona was held to 40 yards rushing and the Saints’ defense held a fifth-straight opponent below 260 total net yards.
at Detroit 31, New York Giants 26: Matthew Stafford threw a 41-yard flea flicker to Kenny Golladay to restore a double-digit lead the Lions needed to help them hold on for a win over the slumping Giants.
“That was a good one,” Stafford said. ”A great call.”
Detroit’s first-year offensive coordinator, Darrell Bevell, called for Stafford to pitch the ball to J.D. McKissic to the right and for the running back to throw a lateral back to the quarterback to connect downfield with Golladay.
“I was holding my breath on that one,” Lions coach Matt Patricia acknowledged.
Bevell used the same play with McKissic taking the pitch from Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson for a 38-yard touchdown Paul Richardson in a win over the Giants two years ago.
The Lions (3-3-1) enjoyed the feel-good moment as part of a much-needed win after losing three straight games and trading away safety and captain Quandre Diggs to Seattle days before the game.
at Tennessee 27, Tampa Bay 23: Ryan Tannehill threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Brown with 6:55 left, and the Titans rallied to beat the Bay Buccaneers for their second straight win.
Tennessee came in with the NFL’s No. 4 scoring defense, having not allowed more than 20 points in a game all season. The Buccaneers entered with the league’s fourth-best offense, averaging 28.8 points a game, and they became the first to top the mark.
The Titans (4-4) led 14-3 after turning a pair of first-quarter turnovers into two TD passes by Tannehill.
The Bucs (2-6) lost their third straight and fourth in five games despite Jameis Winston and Mike Evans putting the Bucs up 23-17 by connecting on a TD pass at the end of the first half and a second early in the third quarter. They wouldn’t score again despite outgaining Tennessee 389-246.
at Jacksonville 29, New York Jets 15: Sam Darnold threw three interceptions and was sacked a career-high eight times in the Jaguars’ victory over the Jets.
He was picked off twice in the fourth quarter, including one that set up Gardner Minshew’s game-sealing score to DJ Chark with a little more than 4 minutes to play.
“I know he saw a lot today,” said Jaguars defensive end Yannick Nkagoue, who notched two sacks. ”He saw corners picking the ball. He saw defensive linemen in his face. This is the standard and what we’re trying to embrace.”
Darnold completed 21 of 30 passes for 218 yards with two touchdowns — both to Ryan Griffin — but the turnovers and takedowns overshadowed all the positives.
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