Myers’ foot, Darnold’s arm keep Jets flying
Jason Myers kicked a franchise-record seven field goals, Sam Darnold threw two touchdown passes, and the New York Jets held on to beat the Indianapolis Colts, 42-34, yesterday in East Rutherford, N.J., to win consecutive games for the first time in more than a year.
Morris Claiborne returned the first of three interceptions thrown by Andrew Luck for a touchdown as the Jets moved to .500 by taking advantage of mistakes by the short-handed Colts, who lost their fourth straight.
With Joe Namath and the 1968 Super Bowl-winning team celebrating its 50th anniversary, Darnold was 24-of-30 for 280 yards, with TD throws to Terrelle Pryor and Chris Herndon and an interception to give New York its first back-toback victories since taking three in a row in Weeks 3-5 last season.
Myers hit field goals from 30, 48, 32, 37, 45, 37 and 45 yards to break the Jets record previously held by Jim Turner (1968) — the kicker for the Super Bowl champions — and Bobby Howfield (1972).
Steelers 28, Bengals 21 — James Conner ran for 111 yards and a pair of touchdowns on the eve of Le’Veon Bell’s possible return, and Antonio Brown turned a short pass into a 31-yard touchdown with 10 seconds left as Pittsburgh pulled off another improbable comeback in Cincinnati.
Falcons 34, Buccaneers 29 — Matt Ryan threw for 354 yards and three touchdowns as host Atlanta snapped a three-game losing streak, holding off Tampa Bay in Jameis Winston’s return as the starting quarterback.
Texans 19, Bills 14 — Johnathan Joseph’s 28-yard interception return for a touchdown with 1:23 remaining lifted Houston past visiting Buffalo.
Vikings 27, Cardinals 17 — Latavius Murray helped Minnesota revive its running attack with 155 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries, wearing down Arizona in Minneapolis.
Seahawks 27, Raiders 3 — Russell Wilson threw for three touchdowns, including one off a botched snap in the second quarter as Seattle beat Oakland in London. Seahawks played to a vociferously supportive crowd — a London-record 84,922 were in attendance — despite the Raiders being the designated home team.
Redskins 23, Panthers 17 — Josh Norman bounced back from his prime-time benching by intercepting former teammate Cam Newton and forcing a fumble as Washington held off Carolina in Landover, Md.
Chargers 38, Browns 14 — Philip Rivers threw two touchdown passes to Tyrell Williams — the veteran quarterback threw a block — and Melvin Gordon had three TD runs as Los Angeles banged around rookie Baker Mayfield and host Cleveland.
Ravens 21, Titans 0 — Baltimore piled up a franchiserecord 11 sacks in the rain as Tennessee lost its second straight and was shut out in Nashville, Tenn., for the first time since moving into Nissan Stadium in 1999. Za’Darious Smith had three sacks and Patrick Onwuasor had two for the Ravens, who had six sacks by halftime. They finished a sack off the NFL record for a game, shared by five teams.
Rams 23, Broncos 20 — Todd Gurley rushed for a career-high 208 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries as Los Angeles celebrated defensive coordinator Wade Phillips’ homecoming in Denver.
Cowboys 40, Jaguars 7 — Dak Prescott threw two touchdown passes to Cole Beasley to spark the previously punchless Dallas passing game and rushed for a career-high 82 yards in a one-sided win over Jacksonville in Arlington, Texas.