Saints top Chargers
NFL EXHIBITION
SAINTS 19, CHARGERS 17
CARSON, Calif. — Taysom Hill had 191 yards of offense and directed three second-half scoring drives to help the New Orleans Saints rally for a 19-17 exhibition victory over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday.
In a game where Philip Rivers and Drew Brees were sideline observers, Hill supplied most of the quarterback highlights.
The third-year, all-purpose player was 11 of 15 for 136 yards and a pair of touchdowns and ran for 55 yards. New Orleans trailed 17-3 at halftime.
Hill threw a 27-yard TD pass to Austin Carr with 3:10 remaining in the third quarter to bring the Saints (1-1) to 17-10.
He then directed an 11play, 69-yard drive midway through the fourth quarter that culminated in a 1-yard TD pass to Devine Ozigbo. The Saints went for 2, but Hill was sacked by Anthony Lanier II.
Following a Chargers punt, Hill drove the Saints into field goal range, where Will Lutz made a 28-yarder with 1:08 remaining.
Troymaine Pope returned a punt 81 yards and Andre Patton had 5 receptions for 62 yards for the Chargers (0-2).
The Chargers led 10-3 late in the second quarter when Pope ran back Thomas Morestead’s punt with three seconds remaining.
Pope — a second-year running back — found an opening up the left sideline and outran Dwayne Washington to the end zone.
Patton, who did not play in the Aug. 8 preseason opener at Arizona because of an injury, gave the Chargers a 7-3 lead with 5:32 remaining when he got past New Orleans cornerback P.J. Williams and hauled in a 26-yard pass from Cardale Jones to complete a 10-play, 98-yard drive.
VIKINGS 25, SEAHAWKS 19
MINNEAPOLIS — Rookie tight end Irv Smith Jr. and backup wide receiver Brandon Zylstra each had touchdown receptions for Minnesota, displaying depth and versatility in their passing game in a victory over Seattle.
Kirk Cousins led the starters for two drives, the last one yielding a chip-shot field goal by Dan Bailey, and finished 6 for 8 for 68 yards without a turnover.
Second-string quarterback Sean Mannion made up for an interception that safety DeShawn Shead returned 88 yards for a score by finding Smith with a short throw into the end zone just before halftime.
Then Kyle Sloter delivered the touchdown pass to Zylstra in the third quarter.
The first team took two turns for the Seahawks, too, and Russell Wilson went 6 for 9 for 82 yards without a turnover after sitting out the preseason opener. He had a 33-yard completion to Jaron Brown, who has a starting wide receiver spot for now following the retirement of Doug Baldwin.
SATURDAY’S LATE GAME COWBOYS 14, RAMS 10
HONOLULU — Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott completed all five of his pass attempts in his only series of work as the Cowboys came away with a victory over Los Angeles.
Prescott dropped back to pass seven times, completed passes to five different receivers, had one short completion negated by an ineligible lineman downfield penalty and was sacked once. His only drive covered 97 yards in 12 plays, took more than six minutes and culminated with Tony Pollard’s 14-yard touchdown run.
With starting quarterback Jared Goff among the large number of Rams’ starters who did not make the trip to Hawaii, Blake Bortles got the start and finished 7 of 11 for 62 yards. His 7-yard scoring pass to JoJo Natson capped Los Angeles’ second drive — which was extended by a fumbled punt return by Dallas return man Reggie Davis and recovered by rookie Jake Gervase.