Ravens defense thwarts Herbert for easy victory
Lamar Jackson threw for 167 yards and a touchdown, and the host Baltimore Ravens (5-1) frustrated Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers in a 34-6 victory Sunday.
A week after scoring 47 points in a win over Cleveland, the Chargers (4-2) came up empty on their first five possessions and were held under 16 points for only the second time since drafting Herbert before last season.
The Ravens completely controlled this matchup of division leaders. Each of Baltimore’s three veteran running backs — Latavius Murray, Le’Veon Bell and Devonta Freeman — scored a touchdown.
Jackson went 19 of 27 with two interceptions. Herbert was 22 of 39 for 195 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Vikings 34, Panthers 28 (OT): Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins completed a 27-yard touchdown pass to K.J. Osborn on the first possession of overtime to beat host Charlotte. Cousins threw for 373 yards and three touchdowns against the league’s topranked pass defense, Dalvin Cook ran for 140 yards and a score and the Vikings (3-3) finally solved their second-half offensive woes. Adam Thielen had a number of big catches, finishing with 11 receptions for 126 yards and a touchdown. The Vikings (3-3) had not scored a second-half touchdown in their previous four games, but Cook broke the streak with a 16-yard touchdown run to give the Vikings the lead and Cousins added a 5-yard touchdown pass to Thielen.
Cowboys 35, Patriots 29 (OT):
Dak Prescott threw 35-yard touchdown pass to CeeDee Lamb in overtime, and Dallas survived a wild finish to beat host New England, their first win over Bill Belichick’s Patriots (2-4). Dallas hadn’t won at New England since 1987 and was 0-5 against Belichick. The Cowboys (5-1) have won five straight, their longest winning streak since 2016. The Cowboys led 17-14 entering the fourth quarter, and that’s when the fun began. The teams traded five scores in the period, three in the final 2 minutes.
Raiders 34, Broncos Derek Carr sliced up the Denver defense for 341 yards and two touchdowns, Maxx Crosby made three sacks and visiting Las Vegas started the post-Jon Gruden era with a thrashing of the bewildered Broncos. The Raiders (4-2) gave longtime special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia a win in his debut as interim head coach and offensive coordinator Greg Olson was masterful in his first play-calling duties for Las Vegas since Carr’s rookie season in 2014.
Colts 31, Texans 3:
Carson Wentz threw two touchdown passes, Jonathan Taylor ran for two more and the host Indianapolis defense held up. Indy rebounded from an embarrassing fourthquarter collapse at Baltimore by winning for the second time in three weeks. The Colts (2-4) can now move within one game of the AFC South lead — if Buffalo beats Tennessee on Monday. Houston (1-5) has lost five straight overall and six of the last seven against the Colts.
Packers 24, Bears 14:
Aaron Rodgers threw for two touchdowns and ran for another as the visiting Packers (5-1) beat the Bears (3-3) for the 20th time in 23 games counting the playoffs and improved to 22-5 with Rodgers as the starter against Chicago. Rodgers shook off a sluggish start, throwing a 1-yard touchdown to Allen Lazard in the second quarter and a 12-yarder to Aaron Jones in the third, making it
17-7. Rodgers put away the Bears after Justin Fields threw a 5-yard touchdown to Darnell Mooney, cutting the lead to three with 8:44 left. He scored from the 6 to cap a 75-yard drive, bumping the lead back up to 10.
Rams 38, Giants 11:
Matthew Stafford threw three of his four touchdown passes in a 28-point second quarter for visiting Los Angeles. Stafford connected with prime target Cooper Kupp on scoring passes of 3 and 13 yards. He also found Robert Woods for a 15-yard score and running back Darrell Henderson on a 25-yarder. Stafford, who has 16 TD passes in six games, finished 22 of 28 for 251 yards in threeplus quarters. The Rams (5-1) took advantage of two short fields provided by their defense for easy TDs in breaking the game open early against New York (1-5).
Bengals 34, Lions 11:
Joe Burrow tied a career high with three touchdown passes, helping the Bengals (4-2) equal last year’s number of wins and double their victories from 2019 during coach Zac Taylor’s debut season. Detroit (0-6) could not rally as it did in closely contested setbacks against San Francisco, Baltimore and Minnesota, failing to score until Austin Seibert made a
35-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter.