Cowboys back up guarantee, top Washington
Beating Washington looked far from a guarantee for the Dallas Cowboys after their big lead shrunk, but coach Mike McCarthy is plenty confident winning a close game is good for his team.
Micah Parsons sacked Taylor Heinicke twice and forced a fumble that was returned for a touchdown, helping the Cowboys make good on McCarthy’s “We’re going to win this game” guarantee by holding on to beat Washington 27-20 Sunday and snap their rival’s winning streak at four.
Dallas led 24-0 and 27-8 before Kyle Allen replaced Heinicke and led a 73yard TD drive and Cole Holcomb intercepted Dak Prescott and ran it back for a pick-6. Washington’s bid came to an end when Allen fumbled with 2:24 left.
“There’s so much value in those moments,” McCarthy said. “To get where we want to go, we need to thrive in those situations. Now we created some of it today, don’t get me wrong, but there’s still benefit in adversity football.”
The Cowboys staked themselves to such a big lead thanks to a big first-half showing by their defense.
Doran Armstrong recovered the fumble Parsons forced and returned it 37 yards for a TD, and Randy Gregory picked off Heinicke and forced Allen to fumble on a sack. Armstrong and his teammates celebrated his TD with some of the many Cowboys fans in attendance for what felt like a home game for the NFC East leaders.
Chiefs 48, Raiders 9: Patrick Mahomes threw his first two touchdown passes in nearly a month, Clyde Edwards-Helaire added two more scores on the ground, and the Kansas City Chiefs forced five turnovers in rolling to a record-setting victory over the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.
Derek Gore’s 51-yard TD run with 7:19 left in the fourth quarter allowed Kansas City to eclipse the largest margin of victory in a series that began in 1960 and has been played 126 times. The previous record was 35 points in 1964.
Tyrann Mathieu had an interception and fumble recovery, Mike Hughes returned another fumble 23 yards for a touchdown, and the reigning AFC champion Chiefs built a 35-0 first-half lead before cruising to their sixth consecutive win.
Browns 24, Ravens 22: Baker Mayfield threw two touchdown passes, Myles Garrett scored his first career TD and the Browns stayed in the thick of the playoff race.
The Ravens lost quarterback Lamar Jackson with an ankle injury.
Healthier than he’s been in weeks following Cleveland’s bye, Mayfield connected with Jarvis Landry and Austin Hooper on first-half scores as the Browns bounced back and beat the Ravens after losing to them 15 days ago.
Of course it helped that Jackson went out with a sprained right ankle sustained on the first play of the second quarter. The 2019 NFL MVP was unable to put any weight on the ankle.
Titans 20, Jaguars 0: The Tennessee Titans were on the other side of a turnover-fest by getting four interceptions in their first home shutout in more than two decades.
Rashaan Evans, Jayon Brown, Kristian Fulton and Buster Skrine picked off passes from rookie Trevor Lawrence, who hadn’t thrown multiple interceptions in a game since his NFL debut.
Tennessee dominated Jacksonville’s offensive line, sacking Lawrence three times and prompting four holding calls and a false start. All the interceptions were a direct result of pressure, but not blitzes.
The Titans had been on the other end of turnover-filled games their previous two times out, losing to Houston and New England thanks mostly to a combined nine turnovers.
Falcons 29, Panthers 21: Matt Ryan threw for 190 yards and a touchdown, Mykal Walker returned an interception of Cam Newton 66 yards for a touchdown and the Falcons continued to play well on the road.
Cordarrelle Patterson ran for 58 yards and a touchdown for the Falcons, who improved to 6-2 away from Mercedes-Benz Stadium and kept their playoff hopes alive.
Seahawks 33, Texans 13: Russell Wilson threw for 260 yards and two touchdowns and the Seahawks won consecutive games for the first time this season.
Seattle coach Pete Carroll earned his 150th regular-season win a week after the Seahawks beat San Francisco 30-23. He did it in front of a sparse crowd that appeared to have more Seattle fans than Houston followers. Neon green shirts peppered the stands and chants of ‘Seahawks, Seahawks,’ echoed through the stadium.
Broncos 30, Lions 10: Denver honored the memory of Demaryius Thomas with tributes, decals and a walloping of Detroit on Sunday.
Running backs Javonte Williams and Melvin Gordon each scored a pair of touchdowns and Dre’Mont Jones had a monster game that included two sacks of Jared Goff.
The Broncos took the field with just 10 men in honor of Thomas. The Lions declined the delay of game penalty. The Broncos then recorded just their second opening-drive touchdown in 29 games with Williams scoring from 5 yards out, carrying safeties Dean Marlowe and Jalen Elliott across the goal line with him.
49ers 26, Bengals 23 (OT): Jimmy Garoppolo threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Aiyuk and San Francisco beat Cincinnati in overtime.
Garoppolo completed five passes in the OT drive, including a pair to tight end George Kittle, who was again San Francisco’s offensive star.
On the final play, Aiyuk dove to the pylon and was initially ruled short, but a replay gave him the touchdown and San Francisco a critical win.
Evan McPherson hit a 41-yard field goal in the opening possession of overtime to give the Bengals a brief lead, their first of the day.
Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow earlier found Ja’Marr Chase for two fourth-quarter touchdowns to claw back from a 20-6 deficit and tie the game with 1:19 left.