Tucker’s OT field goal lifts Ravens over Steelers
PITTSBURGH (AP) — After Pittsburgh quarterback Mason Rudolph was knocked unconscious by a head-high hit in the third quarter Sunday, Justin Tucker made a 46-yard field goal in overtime to lift the Baltimore Ravens past the Steelers 26-23.
Baltimore (3-2) snapped a two-game skid when safety Marlon Humphrey stripped Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and recovered the fumble at the Pittsburgh 34. Tucker knocked through the winner four plays later. He also forced overtime with a field goal 14 seconds from the end of regulation.
Lamar Jackson threw for 161 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions and also ran for a game-high 70 yards. Mark Ingram ran for a touchdown for the Ravens, who won in Pittsburgh (1-4) for the second straight season.
Rudolph threw for 131 yards and a score before suffering a concussion following a hit to the chin by Baltimore safety Earl Thomas. Backup Devlin Hodges played admirably in Rudolph’s place, throwing for 68 yards and directing a pair of scoring drives after Rudolph’s exit. James Conner ran for 55 yards and a touchdown for Pittsburgh.
RAIDERS 24, BEARS 21
LONDON (AP) — Josh Jacobs scored his second touchdown of the game with a leap from the 2-yard line with 1:57 to play, capping a 97-yard drive that helped the Raiders rally after blowing a 17-point lead.
The touchdown was part of a roller-coaster game that delighted the sellout crowd in London. The Raiders (3-2) broke out to a 17-0 halftime lead only to fall behind the Bears (3-2) in a mistake-filled third quarter.
Then Oakland fumbled at the goal line when going in for the go-ahead score, needed a replay review to overturn a fumble on a successful fake punt on the winning drive, then intercepted Chicago backup Chase Daniel with 1:14 to go to seal the victory.
It sure didn’t come easy, but made Oakland’s weeklong stay in London a successful one, ended by a satisfying victory in the Raiders’ first game against the Bears since dealing star edge rusher Khalil Mack to Chicago before last season.
That trade has come under heavy scrutiny as Mack led the Bears to the playoffs last year while the Raiders struggled. But Oakland came out ahead this day, with Mack’s only big play coming when he recovered a botched pitch by Derek Carr that sparked Chicago’s third-quarter comeback.
The Bears turned that turnover into a 1-yard run by David Montgomery and got two TD passes from Daniel to Allen Robinson in the third quarter to take a 21-17 lead.
SAINTS 31, BUCCANEERS 24
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Teddy Bridgewater passed for 314 yards and four touchdowns to remain unbeaten in three starts for the Saints this season.
With Bridgewater getting increasingly accustomed to playing for the injured Drew Brees, he had his best game yet for New Orleans (4-1) against a Tampa Bay defense that entered the game ranked second to last in the NFL against the pass.
With inspiring chants of “Ted-dy! Ted-dy!” from the Superdome crowd, Bridgewater completed 26 of 34 passes, with his two touchdown throws to Michael Thomas and one each to Jared Cook and Ted Ginn Jr.
Tampa Bay’s secondary struggled to stay with Thomas, who finished with 11 catches for 182 yards.
Bridgewater, who began playing in Week 2 after Brees’ first-quarter thumb injury in a loss to the Rams, had not completed a pass as long as 30 yards in his first 11 quarters of play this season.
That changed in the first quarter against the Bucs (2-3) with a 34-yard completion to Thomas. Bridgewater later hit Thomas for a 42-yarder early in the second half, setting up his 33-yard scoring strike to Ginn.
Bucs QB Jameis Winston saw his production drop dramatically from his triumphant 385-yard, four-TD performance against the Rams in Week 4. He was 15 of 27 for 204 yards and two touchdowns to Chris Godwin. But Winston could not connect with receiver Mike Evans, who was Winston’s intended target just three times and did not have a catch.
LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — Tom Brady picked apart the lowly Redskins, helped the Patriots stay unbeaten and climbed past a former NFL star in the record book.
Brady threw for 348 yards and three touchdowns, and the Patriots got another strong performance from their defense.
Now in his 20th season, Brady whisked by Brett Favre into third place on the career list with 71,923 yards passing. The 42-year-old Brady now trails only Peyton Manning (71,940 yards) and Drew Brees (74,845).
Brady also edged closer to Manning’s record 539 touchdown passes, connecting with Julian Edelman, Brandon Bolden and Ryan Izzo to bring his total to 527. Shrugging off four sacks, Brady completed 28 of 42 passes — including a 15-yarder to Edelman in the third quarter to eclipse Favre.
This is the fifth time in franchise history that New England has started the season 5-0, and only the second time since 2007.
Playing for the first time since breaking his leg against Philadelphia last December, Redskins quarterback Colt McCoy went 18 for 27 for 119 yards and an interception. McCoy began the season behind Case Keenum and rookie Dwayne Haskins Jr., but got the start over the injured Keenum and inexperienced Haskins for the Redskins (0-5).
McCoy was sacked six times, marking the first time in franchise history New England has four straight games with at least five sacks. In addition, the Patriots completed a fifth consecutive game without allowing a touchdown pass, the first team to pull off that feat since the 1988 Cleveland Browns.
The defeat kept the pressure on Redskins coach Jay Gruden, whose job status appears to be tenuous in the wake of his team’s 0-5 start. Gruden is 35-49-1 over five-plus seasons with Washington.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Christian McCaffrey tied a career high with 237 yards from scrimmage and scored three touchdowns, Brian Burns returned a fumble 56 yards for a touchdown and had a strip-sack in the fourth quarter.
McCaffrey set a franchise record with an 84-yard TD run and scored on a 5-yard run when he somersaulted into the end zone. He also caught an 18-yard TD pass from Kyle Allen before leaving with five minutes remaining after cramping.
But McCaffrey’s seldom-used replacement Reggie Bonnafon had a 59-yard touchdown run to put Carolina (3-2) up by seven with 3:34 left.
Carolina’s defense thwarted Jacksonville’s final two scoring drives when Burns sacked rookie Gardner Minshew to force a turnover and Luke Kuechly batted down a pass on the game’s final play.
Minshew finished 26 of 45 for 374 yards with two touchdowns and one interception for the Jaguars (2-3). Leonard Fournette had 23 carries for 108 yards and a score.
BLLS 14, TITANS 7
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Josh Allen threw for 219 yards and two touchdowns as Buffalo won a defensive showdown for its third straight win in this series.
The Bills (4-1) now have won three consecutive games away from Buffalo for the first time since 2004, though so many Buffalo fans traveled here it felt much more like a home game. It’s also the first time they’ve started a season perfect through three road games since 1993.
This game featured two of the NFL’s stingiest defenses, with the Titans fourth giving up 15.5 points, and the Bills fifth, allowing 15.8 points a game. Jordan Phillips had a career-high three sacks — by halftime — as Buffalo sacked Marcus Mariota five times even with three-time Pro Bowl left tackle Taylor Lewan back from his four-game suspension for performance enhancers.
The Titans (2-3) sacked Allen four times only to lose their third in four games on a day replacement kicker Cairo Santos missed three field goals and had a fourth blocked.
CINCINNATI (AP) — Rookie Kyler Murray ran for a touchdown and led the Cardinals on a drive to Zane Gonzalez’s 31-yard field goal on the final play as the Cardinals got their first win under coach Kliff Kingsbury.
In a matchup of winless teams, the Cardinals (1-3-1) were a little bit better, with their Heisman Trophy winner making the difference. Murray ran 6 yards for Arizona’s first touchdown and saved the Cardinals after a late defensive collapse. Andy Dalton threw a pair of touchdown passes that tied it 23-23 with 2:00 to go.
That’s when Murray took the game into his hands.
He completed a 24-yard pass to David Johnson and scrambled 24 yards to get in range for Gonzalez’s fourth field goal. Murray ran for a career-high 93 yards and completed 20 of 32 passes for 253 yards without an interception.
Bengals coach Zac Taylor will have to wait at least one more week for that first win, his Bengals at 0-5 for the first time since 2008.
HOUSTON (AP) — Deshaun Watson threw for a career-high 426 yards and tied his personal best with five touchdown passes, including three to Will Fuller.
A week after scoring a season-low 10 points in a loss to Carolina, Watson and Houston’s offense bounced back on a day he was 28 of 33 and became the first player to top 400 yards passing against the Falcons since Week 16 of 2012.
Fuller had a career-best 217 yards receiving, Darren Fells had two touchdown grabs for the Texans (3-2) and Carlos Hyde added a rushing TD.
Houston’s beleaguered offensive line didn’t allow a sack on Sunday after giving up 18 through the first four games.
Matt Ryan had 330 yards passing with three touchdowns and one interception for the Falcons (1-4), who lost their third straight game.
It was Watson’s first meeting with the Falcons after the Georgia native worked as a ball boy for the team all four years of high school. Watson shared a moment with Falcons owner Arthur Blank on the field before the game. Blank started the program at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hall County that allowed Watson the opportunity to work for the Falcons as a teenager.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Nate Gerry returned an interception for a score and Orlando Scandrick took a strip-sack the distance.
The Eagles (3-2) smothered third-string quarterback Luke Falk and overwhelmed New York’s offense on a day Carson Wentz was ordinary. Wentz threw for 189 yards and one touchdown. Jordan Howard ran for 62 yards and one TD.
Sam Darnold missed his third straight game for the Jets (0-4) while he recovers from mononucleosis, so Falk made his second start after opening the season on New York’s practice squad. Falk threw two interceptions and was sacked nine times before leaving late in the game and being replaced by David Fales, who was re-signed by the Jets on Friday. Falk replaced Trevor Siemian — Darnold’s original backup — after he sustained a season-ending ankle injury in Week 2.
Gerry gave the Eagles a 14-0 lead in the first quarter when he jumped in front of Falk’s fourth-down pass and returned it 51 yards.
Scandrick, playing his first game with the Eagles, had two sacks on corner blitzes. He stole the ball from Falk on the second one and ran it back 44 yards to make it 31-6 in the fourth quarter.
Brandon Graham had a career-high three of Philadelphia’s 10 sacks after he only had four last season.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Kirk Cousins threw two touchdown passes to Adam Thielen, Dalvin Cook ran for 132 yards and the Vikings made life miserable for Daniel Jones.
The win came just a week after the Vikings (3-2) did little in a 16-6 loss to the Chicago Bears and Thielen insisted the team had to stop being one dimensional on offense, relying solely on the run.
And that’s exactly what Minnesota did. It hit the Giants (2-3) with a bit of everything — pass, run and the defense — in ending the two-game winning streak Jones engineered since replacing Eli Manning at quarterback. The Vikings gained 490 yards on offense.
The defense limited New York to 211 yards, sacked Jones four times and hit him countless other times. That defense also chipped in with a safety when linebacker Anthony Barr tackled Jon Hilliman in the end zone after New York recovered Cook’s fumble at the 1.
Cousins completed 22 of 27 for a season-high 306 yards and had touchdown passes of 15 and 9 yards to Thielen. The receiver, who complained after a two-catch, 6-yard game against Chicago, finished with seven catches for 130 yards.
