STREAKING LIONS KNOCK OFF SAINTS
new orleans» Matthew Stafford passed for 341 yards and two touchdowns, and the Lions beat the Saints 28-13 on Sunday.
Golden Tate exploited a coverage breakdown on third-and-long for a 66-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter when Detroit was clinging to a six-point lead. The Lions, who have won seven of eight, dominated statistically, but four opportunities inside the New Orleans 20 ended with Matt Prater field goals, allowing the Saints to stay close until the fourth quarter.
This time, however, the Lions pulled away for their most comfortable victory of the season after seven previous victory margins of one to seven points.
The Lions also became the first team in 60 Saints home games to stop Drew Brees from completing a touchdown pass, although tight end Coby Fleener had a pass bounce off his hands at the goal line. Brees finished 31-of-44 for 326 yards and was intercepted three times.
SUNDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
Andy Dalton threw a pair of touchdown passes and Cincinnati finally got its depleted offense moving without receiver A.J. Green, and the Bengals sent the Eagles to their most lopsided loss of the season, 32-14. Dalton had completions of 50, 44, 29, 23 and 21 yards as the Bengals scored on each of their first six possessions. … Carson Palmer threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns, David Johnson scored twice and the Cardinals held on to beat the Redskins 31-23. The loss by the Redskins clinched a playoff spot for the 11-1 Cowboys. Palmer’s 25-yard touchdown pass to Johnson with 11:09 to play put Arizona ahead 24-20, the fourth lead change of the second half. After a Washington field goal, Palmer’s 42-yard touchdown pass to J.J. Nelson with 1:56 left gave the Cardinals a 31-23 lead. Washington drove to the Arizona 28-yard line before Patrick Peterson’s interception of Kirk Cousins’ pass with 41 seconds left sealed the victory. … Jordan Howard ran for 117 yards and a career-high three touchdowns and the Bears handed San Francisco its 11th straight loss, beating the 49ers 26-6 in the snow. … Jameis Winston threw a goahead, 12-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Brate midway through the fourth quarter and Keith Tandy intercepted Philip Rivers in the end zone with 2:56 left to give the Buccaneers their fourth straight victory, 28-21 against the Chargers. Rivers had the Chargers on the move in the final minutes before Tandy got in front of a pass to Dontrelle Inman and picked it off. Tandy’s momentum carried him into the end zone, giving the Bucs the ball on their 20. Then they ran out the clock. … Aaron Rodgers threw for 209 yards and two touchdowns, and the Packers pulled away from the Texans with two fourth-quarter touchdowns for a 21-13 win to get back to .500. Brock Osweiler connected with DeAndre Hopkins for a 44-yard touchdown pass with 1:51 left to get Houston within eight. The Texans had one last shot after the Packers failed to run out the clock. But Osweiler’s last-ditch, pass-and-lateral play from Houston’s 12 with four seconds left failed. … Ben Roethlisberger passed for 289 yards and two touchdowns, Le’Veon Bell rolled up 182 yards of total offense and the Steelers’ resurgent defense harassed Eli Manning into a flurry of mistakes in a 24-14 win over the Giants. Antonio Brown edged Odell Beckham Jr. in their personal showdown, catching six passes for 54 yards and an acrobatic scoring grab at the back of the end zone. Manning completed just 24-of-39 passes for 195 yards with two touchdowns and two picks in the red zone. … Thomas Rawls ran for 103 yards and two touchdowns in the first half, Tyler Lockett took a reverse 75 yards for a score to open the second half and the Seahawks routed the Panthers 40-7. Another prime-time game in Seattle was clouded with odd story lines right from the outset when Carolina quarterback Cam Newton was benched for the first play, only to watch backup Derek Anderson throw an interception. It was the start of miserable night for Carolina and a laugher that moved Seattle one step closer to the NFC West title. The Associated Press