Packers pick off Baker, Browns
GREEN BAY — Rasul Douglas and the Packers’ pass defense didn’t let the Browns spoil Aaron Rodgers’ milestone day.
Rodgers surpassed Brett Favre to become Green Bay’s all-time leader in touchdown passes, and the Packers intercepted Baker Mayfield four times in a 24-22 victory over the Browns on Saturday. Cleveland nearly came all the way back from a 12-point second-half deficit before Douglas’ second interception of the day sealed the game with 43 seconds left.
“We’ve got to do a better job of closing games out,” Rodgers said. “Our defense has closed out a lot of games, the last two weeks stopping that 2-point conversion (in a 31-30 victory at Baltimore) and Rasul coming up with that big pick. It’s nerve racking, but winning is difficult in this league.”
Rodgers went 24 of 34 for 202 yards with three touchdown passes to increase his career total to 445. Favre threw 508 touchdown passes during his Hall of Fame career, 442 of them with Green Bay.
But it was Green Bay’s defense that clinched this victory by sacking
Mayfield five times and forcing him into his first career four-interception performance. All three touchdowns by the Packers (12-3) came after Mayfield interceptions.
“It was just missed throws,” Mayfield said. “Uncharacteristic, and I hurt this team. That’s the most frustrating thing for me, because I thought our defense played tremendous against a really, really good offense. But when you turn the ball over on your own territory, in the red zone and around midfield and give them extra opportunities, they’re going to take advantage of it.”
Mayfield went 21 of 36 for 222 yards with two touchdowns as well as those four picks in his return from the reserve/COVID-19 list, which caused him to miss a 16-14 loss to the Raiders on Monday.
Nick Chubb ran for 126 yards and a touchdown to lead the Browns’ 219yard rushing effort that kept them in the game.
COLTS 22, CARDINALS 16
Carson Wentz threw a pair of touchdown passes, Jonathan Taylor ran for 108 yards and the banged-up Colts continued their late-season surge with a gritty victory over the Cardinals.
The Colts (9-6) have won three straight and six of their past seven. They earned the road win despite missing 2020 All-Pro linebacker Darius Leonard — who was put on the reserve/ COVID-19 list earlier Saturday — and four starting offensive linemen.
Wentz made the game’s biggest play midway through the fourth quarter, when he bounced around in the pocket for a few seconds before hitting Dezmon Patmon for a 14-yard touchdown on a perfectly placed ball in the back of the end zone. That gave the Colts a 22-13 lead.
The Cardinals (10-5) failed to clinch a playoff spot for a third straight week and are 3-5 since starting the season 7-0.
RAVENS DOWN 2 QBS
The Ravens put quarterback Tyler Huntley on the reserve/COVID-19 list Saturday, leaving them without their top two QBs for today’s showdown at Cincinnati for first place in the AFC North.
Lamar Jackson missed last week’s game with a sprained ankle, and the Ravens announced this weekend that he would not travel with the team. Huntley played well in Jackson’s place in last weekend’s loss to Green Bay, but now Josh Johnson is the team’s top healthy quarterback.