NFL wrap: Rudolph knocked out in Steelers loss; Chiefs lose unbeaten record
After Pittsburgh quarterback Mason Rudolph was knocked unconscious by a head-high hit in the third quarter on Sunday, Justin Tucker made a 46-yard field goal in overtime to lift the Baltimore Ravens past the Steelers 26-23 on Sunday.
Baltimore (3-2) snapped a twogame skid when safety Marlon Humphrey stripped Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and recovered the fumble at the Pittsburgh 34. Tucker knocked through the winner four plays later. Lamar Jackson threw for 161 yards with a touchdown and three picks and also ran for a game-high 70 yards. Mark Ingram ran for a touchdown for the Ravens, who won in Pittsburgh (1-4) for the second straight season.
Rudolph threw for 131 yards and a score before suffering a concussion following a hit to the chin by Baltimore safety Earl Thomas. Backup Devlin Hodges played admirably in Rudolph’s place, throwing for 68 yards and directing a pair of scoring drives after Rudolph’s exit. James Conner ran for 55 yards and a touchdown for Pittsburgh.
In the day’s later kick-offs, the Green Bay Packers held off a late comeback from the Dallas Cowboys to win 34-24, while the Denver Broncos recorded their first victory of the season after they overcame the Los Angeles Chargers 20-13. On Sunday Night Football, the Indianapolis Colts defense was superb as they contained Patrick Mahomes, who appeared to be carrying a minor injury. The Colts won the game 19-13 to inflict the Chiefs’ first loss of the season.
Atlanta Falcons 32-53 Houston Texans
Deshaun Watson threw for a careerhigh 426 yards and tied his personal best with five touchdown passes, including three to Will Fuller to lead the Houston Texans to a 53-32 win over the Atlanta Falcons.
A week after scoring a season-low 10 points in a loss to Carolina, Watson and Houston’s offense bounced back on a day he was 28 of 33 and became the first player to top 400 yards passing against the Falcons since Week 16 of 2012. Houston’s beleaguered offensive line didn’t allow a sack on Sunday after giving up 18 through the first four games. Matt Ryan had 330 yards passing with three touchdowns and one interception for the Falcons, who lost their third straight game.
Jacksonville Jaguars 27-34 Carolina Panthers
Christian McCaffrey tied a career high with 237 yards from scrimmage and scored three touchdowns, Brian Burns returned a fumble 56 yards for a touchdown and had a strip-sack in the fourth quarter, and the Carolina Panthers held on to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 34-27 for their third straight win.
McCaffrey set a franchise record with an 84-yard TD run and scored on a five-yard run when he somersaulted into the end zone. He also caught an 18-yard TD pass from Kyle Allen before leaving with five minutes remaining after cramping up. But McCaffrey’s seldom-used replacement Reggie Bonnafon had a 59-yard touchdown run to put Carolina (3-2) up by seven with 3:34 left.
Carolina’s defense thwarted Jacksonville’s final two scoring drives when Burns sacked rookie Gardner Minshew to force a turnover and Luke Kuechly batted down a pass on the game’s final play.
Chicago Bears 21-24 Oakland Raiders
Josh Jacobs scored his second touchdown of the game with a leap from the two-yard line with 1:57 to play, capping a 97-yard drive that helped the Oakland Raiders rally after blowing a 17-point lead to beat the Chicago Bears 24-21.
The touchdown was part of a roller-coaster game that delighted the sellout crowd in London. The Raiders (3-2) broke out to a 17-0 halftime lead only to fall behind the Bears (3-2) in a mistake-filled third quarter. Then Oakland fumbled at the goal line when going in for the go-ahead score, needed a replay review to overturn a fumble on a successful fake punt on the game-winning drive and then intercepted Chicago backup Chase Daniel with 1:14 to go to seal the victory.
New England Patriots 33-7 Washington
Tom Brady picked apart Washington, helped the New England Patriots stay unbeaten and climbed past a former NFL star in the record book. Brady threw for 348 yards and three touchdowns, and the Patriots got another strong performance from their defense in a 33-7 rout of winless Washington.
Now in his 20th season, Brady whisked by Brett Favre into third place on the career list with 71,923 yards passing. The 42-year-old Brady now trails only Peyton Manning (71,940 yards) and Drew Brees (74,845). Brady also edged closer to Manning’s record 539 touchdown passes, connecting with Julian Edelman, Brandon Bolden and Ryan Izzo to bring his total to 527.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-31 New Orleans Saints
Teddy Bridgewater passed for 314 yards and four touchdowns and the New Orleans beat Tampa Bay 31-24 to keep Bridgewater unbeaten in three starts for the Saints this season.
With Bridgewater getting increasingly accustomed to playing for the injured Drew Brees, he had his best game yet for New Orleans (4-1) against a Tampa Bay defense that entered the game ranked second to last in the NFL against the pass. With chants of “Ted-dy! Ted-dy!” from the Superdome crowd, Bridgewater completed 26 of 34 passes, with his two touchdown throws to Michael Thomas and one each to Jared Cook and Ted Ginn Jr. Tampa Bay’s secondary struggled to stay with Thomas, who finished with 11 catches for 182 yards.
Minnesota Vikings 28-10 New York Giants
Kirk Cousins threw two touchdowns to Adam Thielen, Dalvin Cook ran for 132 yards and the Minnesota Vikings made life miserable for Daniel Jones and the New York Giants in every way possible.
The win came just a week after the Vikings (3-2) did little in a 16-6 loss to the Chicago Bears and Thielen insisted the team had to stop being one dimensional on offense, relying solely on the run. And that’s exactly what Minnesota did. They hit the Giants (2-3) with a bit of everything in ending the two-game winning streak Jones engineered since replacing Eli Manning at quarterback. The Vikings gained 490 yards on offense and took a knee inside the New York five to end the game. The Vikings defense limited New York to 211 yards, sacked Jones four times and hit him throughout the afternoon.
New York Jets 6-31 Philadelphia Eagles
Nate Gerry returned an interception for a score , Orlando Scandrick took a strip-sack the distance as the Philadelphia Eagles routed the New York Jets. The Eagles (3-2) smothered thirdstring quarterback Luke Falk and overwhelmed New York’s offense on a day Carson Wentz was ordinary. Wentz threw for 189 yards and one touchdown. Jordan Howard ran for 62 yards and one TD.
Sam Darnold missed his third straight game for the Jets (0-4) while he recovers from mononucleosis, so Falk made his second start after opening the season on New York’s practice squad. Falk threw two interceptions and was sacked nine times before leaving late in the game and being replaced by David Fales, who was re-signed by the Jets on Friday. Falk replaced Trevor Siemian Darnold’s original backup after he sustained a season-ending ankle injury in Week 2.
Arizona Cardinals 26-23 Cincinnati Bengals
The Cardinals got their first win under coach Kliff Kingsbury, over the
Cincinnati Bengals. In a matchup of winless teams, the Cardinals were a little bit better, with Kyler Murray, the No1 overall pick in this year’s draft, making the difference. Murray ran six