Eagles rout Broncos to keep NFL’s best record
PHILADELPHIA — Carson Wentz tossed four touchdown passes, Corey Clement had three scores, and the Philadelphia Eagles routed the Denver Broncos 51-23 on Sunday.
The Eagles (8-1) dismantled the league’s top-ranked defence, racking up 419 yards, to win their seventh straight game and head into a bye week with the best record in the NFL.
Brock Osweiler couldn’t get the Broncos (3-5) on track in his first start since rejoining the team in September. He threw two interceptions. Denver has lost four in a row and five of six.
Wentz was 15 of 27 for 199 yards before giving way to Nick Foles. He has three four-TD performances in the last five weeks.
Clement had two TD runs and one TD catch, and newcomer Jay Ajayi ran for 77 yards and one score.
The Eagles hadn’t scored 50 points since a 54-11 victory over the Bears on Dec. 22, 2013.
JAGUARS 23, BENGALS 7
With A.J. Green and Jalen Ramsey ejected for fighting, Jaydon Mickens delivered the knockout blow by returning a punt 63 yards for a touchdown.
The Jaguars (5-3) won consecutive games for the first time in 13 months and were victorious at EverBank Field for the first time since last December.
Blake Bortles threw for 259 yards and a touchdown in another efficient performance. Marqise Lee had his first TD reception of the season and responded by punting the ball into the stands.
But most of the talk will centre on Green and Ramsey.
The perennial Pro Bowl receiver retaliated against the trash-talking cornerback in a violent way late in the first half. After Ramsey knocked Green to the ground at the end of a running play, Green grabbed Ramsey around the neck and slammed him to the ground. Green then delivered numerous punches to Ramsey’s helmet — never the smartest idea — and put another MMA-style choke hold on Ramsey. It was the kind of aggressive attack that could lead to a suspension.
Players from both sidelines rushed the field, pushing, pulling, shoving, screaming and looking like they would brawl.
Coaches and officials stepped in and prevented a melee. Green and Ramsey were ejected, a decision that prompted loud objections from Jacksonville’s coaching booth next to the press box. Jaguars executive Tom Coughlin and general manager Dave Caldwell were in the box.
SAINTS 30, BUCS 10
The Saints extended their winning streak to six when Drew Brees completed 81.2 per cent of his passes for 263 yards and two touchdowns.
The Buccaneers came in hoping to stem a four-game skid, but instead were not just beaten, but beaten up. Quarterback Jameis Winston left with shoulder soreness after the first half. Starting defensive end William Gholston was carted off the field with a neck injury. And tensions boiled over when Winston, after he had left the game, appeared to instigate a scuffle along the sideline.
Brees’ touchdowns went for 33 yards to Alvin Kamara and 36 yards to Ted Ginn. Kamara, who also scored on a 6-yard run, did most of the work on his TD reception, thrilling the Superdome crowd with a waving, tackle-slipping run after his short catch.
The Saints also scored on Justin Hardee’s blocked punt, which Hardee recovered in stride and returned for a touchdown.
The scuffle erupted in the third quarter and appeared to be ignited when Winston vigorously pressed his finger into the back of Lattimore’s helmet during a deadball period between a failed thirddown pass and a punt. Lattimore turned and shoved Winston, after which receiver Mike Evans levelled Lattimore from behind. Saints defensive back De’Vante Harris then came charging into the melee to defend Lattimore. As the scuffle was broken up, Saints coach Sean Payton marched halfway across the field, gesturing angrily at the Tampa Bay bench before officials chased him back to the Saints’ sideline.
The score was 30-3 at the time. Evans was called for unnecessary roughness. There were no ejections.
PANTHERS 20, FALCONS 17
Cam Newton ran for 86 yards and a touchdown and the Panthers stormed back from an early 10-point deficit, then held on.
The Panthers spotted the Falcons 10 points before Newton and the ground game got rolling. Carolina ran for 201 yards, including a career-high 66 and a touchdown from rookie Christian McCaffrey.
The win kept the Panthers (6-3) a half-game behind the Saints in the NFC South. Atlanta is 4-4.
Devin Funchess had 86 yards on five catches in his first game as Carolina’s No. 1 receiver after the team traded Kelvin Benjamin earlier in the week.
Matt Ryan, last year’s NFL MVP, threw for 313 yards and two touchdowns and had one costly firsthalf interception for the defending NFC champions.
With six catches for 118 yards, Julio Jones became the first receiver to surpass 100 yards receiving against the Panthers this season.
RAMS 51, GIANTS 17
Jared Goff set career highs with four touchdown throws and 311 yards passing and Todd Gurley ran for two more scores for the surprising Rams.
The win was the fifth in six games for the Rams, whose 6-2 start is the franchise’s best since 2001, when the club, then in St. Louis, went 14-2 in the regular season and eventually lost to the Patriots in the Super Bowl.
Los Angeles did everything right in remaining unbeaten in four road games, five if a “home” win in London is included. The Rams’ highpowered offence showed no rust coming off the bye, scoring on eight of their first nine possessions. The defence forced three turnovers that the offence turned into 17 points and the special teams blocked a third-quarter punt that Gurley converted into his second TD.
Greg Zuerlein added three field goals.
Eli Manning (20 of 36 for 220) threw two touchdown passes and became the seventh NFL quarterback to reach the 50,000-mark with his completion of a garbagetime pass to Sterling Shepard in the fourth quarter.
The loss dropped the Giants to 1-7, and it certainly has to put coach Ben McAdoo’s future in question just one year after he led the team to the playoffs.
TITANS 23, RAVENS 20
Marcus Mariota threw for 218 yards and two touchdowns, and the Titans got their third straight victory.
Derrick Henry ran for a 1-yard TD. Safety Kevin Byard also intercepted two passes, giving the second-year pro five picks over his past two games.
The Titans (5-3) sacked Joe Flacco twice and scored 13 points off Byard’s first interception and a shanked punt to stay atop the AFC South.
The Ravens (4-5) have lost three of four going into their bye, but they outgained Tennessee 341257.
Flacco tried to rally the Ravens with two TD passes in the final 8:56, the last a 1-yard pass to Mike Wallace with 46 seconds left. But Justin Tucker’s onside kick attempt didn’t travel 10 yards, skittering almost sideways off the tee before being recovered by Titans
linebacker Daren Bates.
COLTS 20, TEXANS 14
T.Y. Hilton had 175 yards receiving with two touchdowns to help the Colts halt a three-game skid by beating a Texans team that struggled without Deshaun Watson.
Jacoby Brissett threw for 308 yards filling in for Andrew Luck, who was placed on injured reserve Thursday and will miss the season after having shoulder surgery in January. Watson’s stellar season ended that day, too, when the rookie tore the anterior cruciate ligament in one of his knees in practice. Tom Savage, benched in the opener for Watson, couldn’t move the offence for most of the game, but threw a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to get Houston within six.
The Texans had a chance to win it late, but Savage was sacked by Jabaal Sheard and fumbled as time ran out. With Watson running the offence, the Texans (3-5) had set a franchise record by scoring 30 or more points in five straight games. On Sunday, with Watson relegated to an extra coach on the bench, this Houston offence sputtered.