Bengals rout Ravens to claim AFC North lead
BALTIMORE >> Joe Burrow threw for a career-high 416 yards and three touchdowns, including a pivotal 82-yarder to rookie Ja’Marr Chase in the third quarter, and the Cincinnati Bengals won their AFC North showdown against the Baltimore Ravens in style, pulling away in the second half for a 41-17 victory Sunday.
The Bengals (5-2) drew even with the Ravens (5-2) atop the division, a sign that Burrow and Chase might be ahead of schedule in turning around this struggling franchise. The former LSU teammates were too much for Baltimore to handle, and Cincinnati’s offense moved the ball pretty easily from the middle of the second quarter on.
Chase had eight catches for 201 yards, easily the most productive performance of his impressive debut season. He broke Speedy Thomas’ franchise rookie record of 177 yards receiving, set in a 1969 game at Denver.
Lamar Jackson threw for 257 yards and ran for 88, but he was sacked five times as the Ravens had their five-game winning streak snapped. Jackson found Marquise Brown for a 39-yard touchdown in the third quarter that put Baltimore up 17-13, but the Ravens’ only lead of the game was brief.
Burrow needed only four plays to put Cincinnati back in front on a 32-yard strike to C.J. Uzomah. After a Baltimore punt, he connected with Chase on his long TD to make it a 10-point lead. Chase came into the week with a league-best five catches of 40 yards or longer. On this one, he spun past a couple potential tacklers in the middle of the field, and then nobody was going to catch him.
The Bengals snapped a five-game losing streak against the Ravens. Baltimore’s three most recent wins in the series were by a combined score of 114-19.
The Ravens have started a season 5-1 four times, but never 6-1.
TITANS 27, CHIEFS 3 >> Ryan Tannehill threw for 270 yards and a touchdown, and he also ran for a score in the second victory in six days for the Titans (5-2) over teams that played for the AFC championship in January.
They edged Buffalo 3431 on Monday night and followed that by simply dominating the two-time defending AFC champs as they jumped to a 27-0 halftime lead.
The Chiefs (3-4) have lost two of three and dropped to 1-4 in the AFC this season. They also were held to their fewest points since a 38-3 loss to Denver on Dec. 30, 2012.
This was the first time Patrick Mahomes had trailed by 27 at halftime and the third-largest halftime deficit for the Chiefs since 1991. It was the worst since the Chiefs trailed Pittsburgh 29-0 at the half on Oct. 2, 2016.
PACKERS 24, WASHINGTON 10>> Aaron Rodgers threw three touchdown passes and Green Bay earned a sixth consecutive victory.
Washington outgained Green Bay 430-304 but had had five scoreless trips inside the Packers 30-yard line, including back-to-back series that ended inside the 5. Before Sunday, Packers opponents had scored touchdowns every time they reached the red zone.
The Packers (6-1) haven’t lost since falling 38-3 to New Orleans on the season’s opening Sunday. Green Bay now enters the toughest stretch of its schedule with games at Arizona on Thursday night and at Kansas City on Nov. 7. PATRIOTS 54, JETS 13 >> Mac Jones threw two touchdown passes in his first 300-yard game, Damien Harris and J.J. Taylor ran for two TDs each and the Patriots won for the first time at home this season.
The 54 points are the most allowed by the Jets since losing 55-21 at New England on Oct. 29, 1978. It is the fourth-most points ever allowed by New York.
The Patriots earned their 12th straight victory and sixth consecutive season sweep over the Jets, who played most of the game without rookie quarterback Zach Wilson after the second overall draft pick left in the second quarter with a knee injury.
FALCONS 30, DOLPHINS 28 >>
Matt Ryan passed for 336 yards, nearly half of them going to rookie tight end Kyle Pitts, and Younghoe Koo made a 36-yard field goal as time expired.
Pitts had seven catches for 163 yards, the last 28 of those on a sideline route with just under 2:00 left to get the Falcons into field goal range. Koo’s third field goal of the game saved Atlanta after the Falcons wasted a 13-point fourthquarter lead.
Calvin Ridley and Russell Gage caught touchdown passes for the Falcons (3-3). Ryan completed 25 of 40 passes.
GIANTS 25, PANTHERS 3 >>
Daniel Jones threw a 5-yard touchdown pass and made a spectacular one-handed 16-yard catch on the game’s only meaningful touchdown drive.
Jones’ touchdown pass went to Dante Pettis and survived a very long replay review in helping the Giants (2-5) hand Carolina (3-4) its fourth straight loss with star running back Christian McCaffrey sidelined.
Pettis coincidently threw the slightly overthrown pass on the flea flicker which Jones caught with the finger tips of his throwing hand. Jones finished 23 of 33 for 203 yards and had six carries for 30 yards.
RAIDERS 33, EAGLES 22 >>
Derek Carr threw for 323 yards, completing 31 of 34 pass attempts with one touchdown, and Las Vegas defeated Philadelphia.
The Raiders (5-2) outgained Philadelphia 443358 in a dominating performance that saw Las Vegas score on five straight possessions after its first series ended with Carr being intercepted inside the Eagles 5-yard line.
It was Las Vegas’ second straight win since former coach Jon Gruden resigned Oct. 11 because of offensive emails he sent before being hired in 2018.
CARDINALS 31, TEXANS 5 >>
DeAndre Hopkins caught a touchdown pass against his former team, Zach Ertz caught a touchdown pass for his new team and the Cardinals scored 31 unanswered points.
The Cardinals remained the NFL’s only undefeated team and improved to 7-0 for the first time since 1974. The Texans (1-6) — who looked totally overmatched for three quarters — have lost six straight games.
BUCCANEERS 38, BEARS 3 >>
Tom Brady became the first player to throw 600 career touchdown passes, and the Buccaneers have the best seven-game start in franchise history.
The defending Super Bowl champions won their fourth straight game, improving to 6-1 and avenging one of their five regular-season losses from a year ago, with Brady completing 20 of 36 passes for 211 yards.