Freeman felled by ref, gets ejected and then sees his Falcons lose to Rams
Jared Goff threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, and the Los Angeles Rams returned to the site of last season’s Super Bowl loss to beat the reeling Atlanta Falcons 37-10 on Sunday. The Rams (4-3) snapped a three-game losing streak in the debut of cornerback Jalen Ramsey.
The Falcons (1-6) suffered their fifth straight loss and had quarterback Matt Ryan leave the game with an ankle injury. Ryan’s right leg bent awkwardly as he was sacked by Aaron Donald and fumbled early in the fourth quarter. Ryan’s injury was the latest and perhaps most damaging dose of bad news for the woeful Falcons. Coach Dan Quinn’s job security appears shaky at best as he quickly runs out of time to avoid a second straight losing season.
Atlanta’s frustrations showed in a third-quarter fight between running back Devonta Freeman and Donald that led to Freeman’s ejection. The two locked up after Ryan’s pass off Mohamed Sanu’s hands was intercepted by Cory Littleton deep in Atlanta territory with the Rams leading 20-3. Freeman had his hands on Donald’s facemask before throwing a punch at the much bigger Donald, which appeared to make little if any contact.
The umpire finally pulled Freeman away from Donald, taking Freeman to the ground in an apparent unintentional body slam before quickly helping Freeman to his feet. Each player drew unnecessary roughness penalties, and Freeman was tossed for throwing the punch.
In the day’s later kick-offs, Lamar Jackson rushed for 116 yards as the Baltimore Ravens beat the Seattle Seahawks 30-16; Ryan Tannehill celebrated after taking over as Tennessee Titans quarterback by beating the Los Angeles Chargers 23-20; and Teddy Bridgewater continued to stand-in successfully for Drew Brees as he led the New Orleans Saints past the Chicago Bears, 36-25.
Oakland Raiders 24-42 Green Bay Packers
Aaron Rodgers threw five touchdown passes as the Green Bay Packers capped their fifth home game in seven weeks with a 42-24 dismantling of the Oakland Raiders on Sunday. Green Bay improved to 6-1 under firstyear coach Matt LaFleur behind the biggest game of the season from Rodgers. When he hit Marquez Valdes-Scantling for a 74-yard touchdown midway through the fourth quarter, Rodgers had six total touchdowns compared to six incompletions and a perfect 158.3 passer rating. He wound up completing 25 of 31 passes for 429 yards. The Raiders (3-3), in the middle of a six-week stretch without a game in Oakland, were doomed by a porous pass defense and miserable red-zone offense.
San Francisco 49ers 9-0 Washington
Robbie Gould made field goals from 28, 22 and 29 yards to provide the only points in an ugly 9-0 win by the San Francisco 49ers over Washington in steady rain and driving wind to remain undefeated. It wasn’t pretty, but San Francisco are 6-0 for the third time in franchise history, and first since 1990. That 49ers team finished 14-2.
The Niners didn’t look like an unbeaten powerhouse in horrific conditions that made life difficult on quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and the entire offense. Garoppolo bounced back from a dreadful first half to finish a passable 12 of 21 for 151 yards passing.
Arizona Cardinals 27-21 New York Giants
Chase Edmonds rushed for career highs of 126 yards and three touchdowns, overshadowing the return of Giants star running back Saquon Barkley in the Arizona Cardinals’ 27-21 victory over New York.
The game was billed as a matchup of rookie quarterbacks Kyler Murray of the Cardinals (3-3-1) and Daniel Jones of the Giants (2-5), and both gave glimpses why they were the first and sixth overall choices in the draft, respectively.
But, Edmonds stole the show, scoring on runs of 20, 20 and 22 yards. The Cardinals defense also got four sacks and a forced fumble from Chandler Jones, Jordan Hicks had an interception and Patrick Peterson had a sack and forced fumble to seal the Cardinals’ third straight win. It’s the first time Arizona have won three consecutive games since 2015.
Minnesota Vikings 42-30 Detroit Lions
Kirk Cousins passed for 337 yards and four touchdowns and Dalvin Cook rushed for 142 yards and two touchdowns to offset four touchdown catches by Marvin Jones Jr as the Minnesota Vikings edged the host Detroit Lions.
Stefon Diggs caught seven passes for 142 yards for the Vikings (5-2). Matthew Stafford passed for 364 yards, and Jones caught 10 passes for 93 yards for Detroit (2-3-1).
Minnesota star receiver Adam Thielen left the game in the first quarter due to a hamstring injury after catching a touchdown pass. Detroit’s top running back, Kerryon Johnson, exited in the first half with a knee injury.
Houston Texans 23-30 Indianapolis Colts
Jacoby Brissett completed 26 of 39 passes for a career-high 326 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Colts to a 30-23 win over the Houston Texans in a battle for first in the AFC South.
The Texans (4-3) closed within 28-23 on a four-yard touchdown pass from Deshaun Watson to DeAndre Hopkins with 6:38 left. With under three minutes left and forced to punt from their own end zone, Houston elected to take a safety, conceding two points when punter Bryan Anger ran out of the back of the end zone to make it 30-23 with 2:44 remaining. Houston got the ball back at their own 36-yard line with 1:41 left, but Watson was intercepted by Darius Leonard with under a minute left.
Miami Dolphins 21-31 Buffalo Bills
Josh Allen fired a 20-yard, fourthquarter dart to John Brown for the go-ahead touchdown, leading the host Buffalo Bills to a 31-21 win over the winless Miami Dolphins. Buffalo (5-1) were favored by 17 points, the largest proBills spread since Jim Kelly was the quarterback in 1992. This is Buffalo’s best six-game start since 2008. The Dolphins (0-6) have lost nine straight games, dating to last season. No team in the NFL has a longer active losing streak.
Jacksonville Jaguars 27-17 Cincinnati Bengals
Gardner Minshew led a fourth-quarter touchdown drive that put Jacksonville ahead to stay, and Yannick Ngakoue returned an interception 23 yards to clinch a 27-17 victory over the winless Cincinnati Bengals.
The Jaguars (3-4) managed only field goals by still-perfect Josh Lambo until their rookie quarterback and their depleted defense made game-turning plays at the end. The win capped a week in which the Jaguars traded disgruntled cornerback Jalen Ramsey to the Rams for three draft picks. Their defense picked off Andy Dalton three times in the fourth quarter to put it away.
The wait goes on for first-year Bengals coach Zac Taylor, whose team fell to 0-7 for the first time in 11 years.