The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Purdy easy win for 49ers over Jags
Texans, Browns and Vikings manage to carve out victories.
Brock Purdy threw three touchdown passes, including a 66-yarder to George Kittle, as the San Francisco 49ers seemingly fixed all their woes with a cross-country trip and a 34-3 drubbing of the Jacksonville Jaguars that ended a three-game skid Sunday.
Deebo Samuel returned from a three-game absence and had a 23-yard scoring run for the 49ers (6-3), who stopped Jacksonville’s fivegame winning streak and reestablished themselves as a Super Bowl contender following a bye week.
San Francisco dominated both lines of scrimmage and controlled the game from the opening drive. The Niners ran for 147 yards against one of the league’s top run defenses and sacked Trevor Lawrence five times. Nick Bosa was a menace all game, and newly acquired defensive end Chase Young got in on one of the sacks.
The Jaguars (6-3)looked nothing like a legit playoff contender. They had a five-possession stretch in which they fumbled, kicked a field goal, threw an interception, fumbled and threw another interception. Lawrence was responsible for three of the team’s four turnovers. It was Jacksonville’s worst home loss since a 45-10 blowout to the Los Angeles Chargers in 2019.
Kittle finished with three catches for 116 yards. Christian Mccaffrey finished with 142 total yards, but his streak of consecutive games with a TD ended at 17 games, including the playoffs. He was tied with Lenny Moore for the NFL record, and the Niners tried to get him the mark by giving him the ball or targeting him on five consecutive plays in a 31-point game while other starters had been removed.
Purdy completed 19 of 26 passes for 296 yards, giving way to Sam Darnold in the fourth with a 148.9 QB rating. Purdy’s first TD pass was a shaky one to Brandon Aiyuk into double coverage, but he was
much better the rest of the game.
After scoring 17 points in each of their three losses, San Fran topped the 30-point mark for the sixth time this season — most in the NFL.
Texans 30, (at) Bengals 27: C.J. Stroud directed a last-minute, game-winning drive for the second straight week, finishing with 356 yards passing for Houston.
With the game tied at 27 and 1:33 remaining, Stroud moved the Texans 55 yards in six plays to set up a 38-yard field goal by Matt Ammendola as time expired. Ammendola had been signed Tuesday because Ka’imi Fairbairn suffered a quadriceps injury a week earlier.
Stroud connected with Dalton Schultz for 25 yards and Noah Brown for 22 yards on the decisive drive. Brown finished with seven catches for a season-high 172 yards, and Devin Singletary rushed for 150 yards and a touchdown on 30 carries.
Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow threw for 357 yards and two touchdowns but was intercepted twice in the fourth quarter. Still, he rallied the
Bengals from a 20-7 third-quarter deficit and kept them in striking distance late.
Browns 33, (at) Ravens 31: Dustin Hopkins kicked a 40-yard field goal as time expired to cap a furious Cleveland rally in the fourth quarter, and the visiting Browns edged Baltimore. Cleveland (6-3) trailed 31-17 before Deshaun Watson delivered the type of victory the Browns have been waiting for from their high-priced quarterback.
Watson threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Moore with 8:57 remaining. Then one of Lamar Jackson’s passes caromed high into the air and was picked off by Greg Newsome II, and he returned the interception 34 yards for a TD just 41 seconds later.
The Ravens stayed ahead 31-30 because Hopkins missed the extra point, but Cleveland got the ball back and drove 58 yards for the winning kick. The key play was a 17-yard pass to Amari Cooper on second-and-19 that got the drive back on track.
Baltimore (7-3) had a four-game winning streak snapped, and the victory by Cleveland (6-3) tightened the race in the AFC North significantly. The Browns pulled within a half-game of the Ravens in the standings.
(At) Vikings 27, Saints 19: Joshua Dobbs kept Minnesota’s injury-thinned offense on track in his first start, throwing for a career-high 268 yards and two touchdowns to help the Vikings build a 24-point halftime lead and hold on to beat New Orleans for their fifth straight victory.
T.J. Hockenson outgained the Saints by himself in the first half with 10 catches for 128 yards and a score for the Vikings (6-4), who stalled out after the hot start and turned to Mekhi Blackmon and Byron Murphy for fourth-quarter interceptions of downfield heaves by Jameis Winston that ended consecutive Saints possessions. Winston’s throw into a crowd in the end zone on the final play was knocked down.
After Derek Carr was forced out in the third quarter with a concussion and a shoulder injury, Winston entered with a 27-3 deficit and delivered touchdown passes to Chris Olave and A.T. Perry on highlight-reel, high-degree-of-difficulty catches in the end zone over Murphy. Alvin Kamara contributed the vital 2-point conversion runs, and the Saints (5-5) were poised to pull off a remarkable comeback.
(At) Steelers 23, Packers 19: Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris combined for 183 yards rushing and two touchdowns, Chris Boswell kicked three field goals and Pittsburgh (6-3) won its ninth straight game decided by eight points or less.
Jordan Love completed 21 of 40 for 289 yards and two touchdowns, but the Packers (3-6) were unable to back up last week’s victory over the Rams despite outgaining the Steelers 399-324.
(At) Buccaneers 20, Titans 6: Baker Mayfield threw for 278 yards and two touchdowns to help Tampa Bay stop a four-game losing streak. Rachaad White turned a first-quarter screen pass into a 43-yard TD. Mike Evans redeemed himself from dropping a pass in the end zone with a 22-yard scoring catch and finished with six receptions for 143 yards for the Bucs (4-5).
A week after yielding five TD passes and an NFL rookie-record 470 yards through the air to Houston’s C.J. Stroud, the Bucs’ defense fared much better against another first-year quarterback, Will Levis, who was sacked four times and intercepted once while failing to get his team into the end zone. Tennessee (3-6) lost for the fourth time in five games.
Colts 10, Patriots 6: Jonathan Taylor ran for a first-quarter touchdown and Mac Jones threw a crucial interception in the fourth quarter as Indianapolis held on for a win over New England in Frankfurt, Germany. Indianapolis had not scored fewer than 20 points in any of its first nine games this season. Half of that total was still enough to beat the Patriots’ misfiring offense.