Henry batters Colts in battle for first place
Derrick Henry carried the Tennessee Titans into the AFC South lead Sunday.
Henry battered the NFL’s second-stingiest defense by rushing for 178 yards and three touchdowns, leading the Titans to a 45-26 rout at Indianapolis.
“I just had to go out there and get north and south and finish runs and finish forward, get to the end zone” he said.
Tennessee has sole possession of the division lead over Indy, a split in the season series and the current tiebreaking edge based on the teams’ division records.
Henry made all the difference in this one. He did the heavy lifting with 27 carries, breaking tackles, eluding defenders and occasionally dragging along those who tried to bring him down.
With the Colts defense down three key starters — Pro Bowl defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, starting linebacker Bobby Okereke and defensive end Denico Autry — Henry set the tone quickly. He touched the ball six times in Tennessee’s first 10 plays, including a 12-yard run for a 7-0 lead.
“We just we did not execute,” Colts coach Frank Reich said. “In big games, it’s about doing the little things right. We didn’t do that.”
Indy tied the score with an 11-yard pass from Philip Rivers to Trey Burton, but Ryan Tannehill made it 14-7 with a 69-yard scoring pass to A.J. Brown. Indy answered with Jacoby Brissett’s 1-yard TD run, and then Henry went back to work.
The NFL rushing leader scored on a
1-yard run midway through the second quarter, and then added an 11-yard TD run to make it 28-14. He played the perfect decoy to free Tannehill for a 1-yard TD run to give the Titans a 35-14 halftime lead.
Minnesota 28, Carolina 27: Chad Beebe caught a 10-yard touchdown pass with 46 seconds left for Minnesota shortly after he muffed a punt that let Carolina pad its lead. Then Joey Slye missed a 54-yard field goal try with 1 second remaining, preserving the Vikings’ victory.
Kirk Cousins went 34 for 45 for 307 yards and three scores for the Vikings (5-6), hitting Justin Jefferson for his second touchdown grab with 5:38 to go and finding Beebe for the winner to punctuate a seven-play, 75-yard drive that took 65 seconds.
There were 38 points scored by both teams in a dizzying second half that started with Panthers rookie Jeremy Chinn turning fumble recoveries into touchdown returns on consecutive plays from scrimmage. Sixty-nine seconds into the third quarter, the Panthers (4-8) suddenly were up 21-10.
Atlanta 43, Las Vegas 6: Deion Jones returned an interception 67 yards for a touchdown, Matt Ryan threw a pair of short scoring passes, and Atlanta Falcons thoroughly dominated Derek Carr and bumbling Las Vegas.
The Raiders (6-5) lost their second in a row and looked very much like a pretender in the AFC playoff race, producing a listless, mistake-filled performance against an Atlanta team that’s playing out the season under an interim coach.
Carr had a miserable day, fumbling the ball away three times in addition to delivering the pick that the Falcons linebacker returned for his fifth career TD.
Cleveland 27, Jacksonville 25: Baker Mayfield took advantage of his best game-day weather in a month, throwing two touchdown passes as Cleveland beat Jacksonville to remain squarely in the AFC playoff picture.
Mayfield connected with Jarvis Landry and
Austin Hooper for scores, ending a three-game drought without a passing TD. Mayfield nearly had two more, but he inexplicably missed wide-open Rashard Higgins in the end zone in the second quarter, then watched Harrison Bryant drop another early in the fourth.
New Orleans 31, Denver 3: Taysom Hill’s two touchdown runs led the Saints past the Broncos, who were thrust into a quarterback quandary when their passers failed to wear masks as mandated by the NFL’s COVID-19 protocols.
In a grind-it-out slugfest like from pro football’s early days, the Saints (9-2) won their second straight game with Hill subbing for the injured Drew Brees. Hill wasn’t nearly as sharp as a week earlier against the Falcons, when he completed 18 of 23 passes for 233 yards and a 108.9 passer rating.
This time, he was 9 of 16 for 78 yards, no touchdowns, an interception and a paltry passer rating of 43.2. He also ran 10 times for 44 yards.
Kansas City 27, Tampa Bay 24: Patrick Mahomes threw for 462 yards and three touchdowns to outplay Tom Brady and lead the Chiefs over the Buccaneers.
Tyreek Hill scored on receptions of 75, 44 and 20 yards, backflipping into the end zone on his second TD, and finishing with 13 catches for 269 yards — the last an 8-yard catch on third-and-7 to give Mahomes an opportunity to run out the clock.
The Chiefs (10-1) won their sixth straight game and clinched their seventh 10-win season in eight years under coach Andy Reid.
San Francisco 23, L.A. Rams 20: Robbie Gould made a 42-yard field goal as time expired, and the 49ers snapped a three-game losing streak.
Nick Mullens passed for 253 yards and led two late scoring drives in his first victory as a starter since September for the defending NFC champion Niners (5-6), who stoked their flickering playoff hopes and became the first team to beat the Rams (7-4) at new SoFi Stadium.
After a game largely dominated by defense, Gould hit a 44-yard field goal with 3:11 left before San Francisco stopped Los Angeles near midfield. Fullback Kyle Juszczyk converted a fourth-and-1 with 28 seconds to play during a 56-yard drive in the final 2:10 to set up Gould, who nailed his third field goal of the day after a Rams offside call moved him 5 yards closer.