Henry leads Titans into AFC South leadwith rout of Colts
DerrickHenry carried the Tennessee Titans into the AFC South lead Sunday.
Nowthe defending rushing championwants to finishthe job with a division title and another deep playoff run.
Henry battered the NFL’s second-stingiest defense for 140 yards and three touchdowns in the first half, finished with 178 yards and led the Titans to a crucial 45-26 rout at Indianapolis (7-4).
The win gives Tennessee (8-3) sole possession of the division lead, a split in the two-game season series and a tie-breaking edge based on current division records of theteams. Henryalsopadded his lead as he chases a second straight rushing crown.
He has three straight 100yardgamesandeight consecutive road games with 100 or more yards, tying former Titans running back Chris Johnson for the second-longest streak since the 1970 merger. Only Hall of Famer Barry Sanders (10 in 1996-97) had a longer streak.
Vikings 28, Panthers 27: ChadBeebe caught a 10-yard touchdownpass with 46 seconds left for host Minnesota shortly after he muffed a punt that let Carolina pad its lead. Then Joey Slye missed a 54-yard field goal trywith 1 second remaining that preserved a victory by the Vikings.
Kirk Cousins went 34 for 45 for 307 yards and three scores for the Vikings (5-6), hitting Justin Jefferson his second touchdowngrabwith 5:38 to go and finding Beebe for the winner to punctuate a seven-play, 75-yard drive that took 65 seconds.
There were 38 points scored by both teams in a dizzying second half that
started with Panthers rookie Jeremy Chinn turning fumble recoveries into touchdown returns on consecutive plays from scrimmage.
Teddy Bridgewater hit RobbyAndersonfor a41-yard touchdownlate in thesecond quarter and went 19 for 36 for 267 yards.
After Beebe dropped his fair catch and Myles Hartsfield recovered at the 9, shortly before the two-minute warning, the Panthers (4-8) played it safe with a pair of running plays. Bridgewatermisfired for an open D.J. Moore on third down, and Slye — who had a short field goal blocked earlier — made a 21-yarder to push the lead to six points.
Dolphins 20, Jets 3: Ryan Fitzpatrick threwtwo touchdown passes while starting in place of the injured Tua Tagovailoa andvisitingMiami kept the New York winless.
Tagovailoa was inactive with a left thumb injury, so Fitzpatrick stepped in for Miami (7-4) against one of his many former teams.
He didn’t need to do too much against the lowly Jets (0-11).
Falcons 43, Raiders 6:
Deion Jones returned an interception 67 yards for a touchdown, MattRyanthrew a pairof short scoring passes, and host Atlanta dominated Derek Carr and bumbling Las Vegas.
The Raiders (6-5) lost their second in a row and looked verymuch like a pretender in theAFCplayoffrace, producing a listless, mistake-filled performance against an Atlanta (4-7) a team playing out the season under an interim coach.
Carr had a miserable day, fumbling the ball away three times in addition to delivering the pick that the Falcons linebacker returned for his fifth career TD.
Patriots20, Cardinals 17: Nick Folk kicked a 50-yard field goal as time expired, and host New England rallied in the second half.
James White rushed for twotouchdownsforthePatriots (5-6), who earned their seventh victory in their past eight meetings with the Cardinals (6-5). Itwas the second time this month that Folk hit a last-second game-winning field goal. His 51-yarder beat the Jets 30-27 on Nov. 9.
B i l l s 27, Chargers 17: Tre’Davious White’s fourth-quarter interception set up Tyler Bass’ 43-yard field goal, helping Buffalo hold off visiting Los Angeles.
Josh Allen threw for a touchdown and ran for another score for the AFC East-leading Bills (8-3), who hung on after nearly blowing an 18-point third-quarter lead. Receiver Cole Beasley also threwa touchdownpass.
Justin Herbert threw for 316 yards as the Chargers fell to 3-8.