Colts rally to stay atop AFC South
Colts 15, Broncos 13: Adam Vinatieri made a 51-yard field goal with 22 seconds left to help the host Indianapolis Colts (5-2) rally for a victory over Denver (2-6).
The NFL’s career scoring leader overcame two earlier misses to keep Indy atop the AFC South with its third straight victory.
Denver has lost two in a row. Packers 31, Chiefs 24: Aaron Rodgers threw for 305 yards and three touchdowns, two of them to Aaron Jones on a big night for the Green Bay running back, and the Packers held off backup quarterback Matt Moore and Kansas City.
Jones, who briefly left with a shoulder injury, had seven catches for 159 yards and added 67 on the ground – a big chunk of them in the closing minutes, when the Packers (7-1) sealed the win.
Lions 31, Giants 26: Matthew Stafford threw two of his three touchdown passes to Kenny Golladay and the host Detroit Lions (3-3-1) snapped a three-game losing streak with a victory over the slumping New York Giants (2-6).
The Lions took a two-TD lead in the first quarter and Stafford’s 41-yard flea flicker to Golladay early in the fourth put them ahead by 12 points.
New York turned the ball over on downs at the Lions 39 with 6:25 and at their 14 with 3:27 left, but it had another chance to come back.
Eagles 31, Bills 13: Rookie Miles Sanders scored on a career-best 65-yard touchdown run and the Philadelphia Eagles (4-4) snapped a two-game skid with a win over the host Buffalo Bills (5-2).
Carson Wentz finished 17 of 24 for 172 and a touchdown passing in a game the Eagles blew open by scoring TDs 83 seconds apart spanning halftime.
Jaguars 29, Jets 15: Sam Darnold went from seeing ghosts to seeing teal. Darnold was sacked a career-high eight times and threw three interceptions, and the host Jacksonville Jaguars (4-4) beat the New York Jets (1-6).
He was picked off twice in the fourth quarter, including one that set up Gardner Minshew’s game-sealing score to DJ Chark with a little more than 4 minutes to play. Minshew completed 22 of 34 passes for 279 yards and three touchdowns. He scrambled for another 32 yards.
Chargers 17, Bears 16: Chicago kicker Eddy Pineiro missed a 41-yard field goal as time expired and the Los Angeles Chargers (3-5) hung on to beat host Chicago (3-4).
The Bears took over at their 35 with 1:33 remaining and had a chance to win it after driving all the way to the 21. Chicago had quarterback Mitchell Trubisky take a knee with about 40 seconds left rather than try to get closer to the goal line. And Pineiro, who hit an upright on a miss earlier, hooked the potential winner wide left as time expired.
Seahawks 27, Falcons 20: Russell Wilson threw two touchdown passes to DK Metcalf, Chris Carson ran for 90 yards and a score, and the visiting Seattle Seahawks (6-2) beat the reeling Atlanta Falcons (1-7).
Seattle led 24-0 at halftime as the Falcons offense floundered early in their first start without quarterback Matt Ryan in 10 years. Ryan’s streak of 154 consecutive regular-season starts ended as he was held out with a sprained right ankle.
Titans 27, Buccaneers 23: Ryan Tannehill threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Brown with 6:55 left, and the host Tennessee Titans (4-4) rallied to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-6).
Tennessee came in with the NFL’s No. 4 scoring defense, having not allowed more than 20 points in a game all season. The Buccaneers entered with the league’s fourth-best offense, averaging 28.8 points a game, and they became the first to top the mark.
The Titans led 14-3 after turning a pair of first-quarter turnovers into two TD passes by Tannehill.
Rams 24, Bengals 10: Wide receiver Cooper Kupp caught seven passes for a career-best 220 yards, Jared Goff threw for two touchdowns and the Los Angeles Rams (5-3) beat the winless Cincinnati Bengals (0-8) to make for another successful trip to London.
Kupp caught a 65-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter on a double reverse flea-flicker from Goff, and the duo teamed up for a 40-yarder shortly after halftime to set up another score at Wembley Stadium.
Goff went 17 of 31 for 372 yards, 273 of which came in the first half. Kupp had 165 receiving yards by halftime.
Texans 27, Raiders 24: Deshaun Watson threw for 279 yards and three touchdowns, including the go-ahead score in the fourth quarter to lift the host Houston Texans (5-3) to a win over the Oakland Raiders (3-4).
There were about 6½ minutes left when Watson evaded the rush and connected with Darren Fells on a 9-yard scoring toss to put Houston up 27-24 for its first lead of the game.
Watson appeared to get kicked in the face on the play and remained on the turf for a few minutes and was tended to be trainers before getting to his feet and walking to the medical tent.
But he was OK and returned on the next possession.
Patriots 27, Browns 13: Tom Brady threw for 259 yards and two touchdown passes and Bill Belichick earned his 300th career NFL coaching victory, and the host Patriots (8-0) beat the Cleveland Browns (2-5).
Belichick sits behind only Don Shula (347) and George Halas (324) on the NFL’s all-time win list.
The Patriots improved to 8-0 for the third time in team history and the first time since 2015, when they started 10-0. The Browns have lost three straight games.
Brady completed 20 of 36 passes, hitting Julian Edelman on eight of them for 78 yards and both TDs.
49ers 51, Panthers 13: Tevin Coleman scored three of his four touchdowns in the first half, rookie Nick Bosa had three sacks to go along with an acrobatic interception and the host San Francisco 49ers (7-0) remained unbeaten with a victory over the Carolina Panthers (4-3) in their highest-scoring game in 26 years.
The Niners are off to their best start since winning their first 10 games in 1990 but still faced questions because five of those first six victories came against teams that have losing records.