Stafford leads Rams to victory at Colts
INDIANAPOLIS – Matthew Stafford led Los Angeles on two late scoring drives and Matt Gay made a tiebreaking 38-yard field goal with 2:23 to play Sunday, giving the Rams a 27-24 victory.
The Rams have won three straight in this series and have taken all five road openers under coach Sean Mcvay.
Stafford wasn’t as proficient as he was in the season-opening victory over Chicago but he did play well – even after appearing to hit his right thumb on the helmet of Colts defensive tackle Deforest Buckner in the first half. He did not miss a play. He finished 19 of 30 for 278 yards, two TD passes and one interception.
Cooper Kupp caught nine passes for 163 yards and two scores for the Rams (2-0).
The Colts are 0-2 for the first time in coach Frank Reich’s four-year tenure and now face a daunting three-game road trip.
Bears 20, Bengals 17: Justin Fields played the second half after Andy Dalton exited with a knee injury against his former team, and the rookie quarterback used Chicago’s stellar defensive performance to direct a victory over Joe Burrow and visiting Cincinnati.
Roquan Smith returned an interception 53 yards for his first career touchdown, one of three straight picks thrown by Burrow during the decisive stretch in Chicago’s first win of the season.
Fields took over on Chicago’s final drive of the second quarter after getting in on a handful of plays prior to that.
49ers 17, Eagles 11: Jimmy Garoppolo threw one touchdown pass and ran in for a score, leading San Francisco over host Philadelphia.
Nick Bosa had two sacks and San Francisco’s stingy defense shut down Jalen Hurts a week after Philadelphia dominated Atlanta in a 32-6 win.
Hurts completed just 12 of 23 passes for 190 yards. He ran for 82 yards, including a 1-yard TD in the fourth quarter.
The 49ers (2-0) return home after practicing all week at The Greenbrier resort in West Virginia with a pair of road wins on the East Coast to open the season.
The Eagles (1-1) got a reality check in coach Nick Sirianni’s first home game.
Browns 31, Texans 21: Baker Mayfield came back after hurting his left shoulder to throw a touchdown pass and run for a TD, leading host Cleveland past Houston, which was in it until starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor got hurt.
Nick Chubb had a 26-yard touchdown run for the Browns (1-1), who bounced back from a Week 1 loss at Kansas City to thrill their first capacity home crowd since 2019.
Mayfield went 10 for 10 after a first-half interception – and injuring his nonthrowing shoulder while making the tackle on the play –- and finished 19 of 21 for 213 yards. Chubb had 95 yards on 11 carries.
The Texans (1-1) were tied at halftime and moving the ball with ease before losing Taylor to a hamstring injury.
Broncos 23, Jaguars 13: Courtland Sutton’s career day helped visiting Denver hand the Jaguars a 17th consecutive loss.
Sutton finished with nine catches for 159 yards, including a shoe-string grab in the third quarter that surely rates among his best plays in four seasons. In Denver’s first game without Jerry Jeudy (ankle), Sutton showed he can be Teddy Bridgewater’s go-to guy.
Sutton had nearly half of Bridgewater’s 328 yards passing. Bridgewater completed 26 of 34 passes, with TD tosses to Tim Patrick and Noah Fant, and played mistake-free football for the second straight week.
Patriots 25, Jets 6: Mac Jones was smart and efficient, Damien Harris and James White had touchdown runs and New England took advantage of a nightmarish outing by Zach Wilson in a road win.
With the spotlight on the Mac vs. Zach matchup of rookie first-round quarterbacks, it was Jones who shined as Wilson was intercepted four times – twice by J.C. Jackson.
Jones, the No. 15 overall pick in the draft, went 22 of 30 for 186 yards for the
Patriots (1-1) a week after going 29 for 39 for 281 yards and a touchdown in a loss to Miami. Sunday’s numbers were more than good enough for New England to beat New York for the 11th straight game.
Especially with Wilson throwing the ball to the wrong team in the home opener for the Jets (0-2), who have lost 11 straight in September.
Panthers 26, Saints 7: Sam Darnold threw for 305 yards and two touchdowns, and the Carolina defense turned in another strong performance at home.
Darnold improved to 2-0 as Panthers starter, connecting on TDS to Brandon Zylstra and D.J. Moore as Carolina jumped to a 17-0 lead by outgaining the Saints 274-65 in the first half.
Christian Mccaffrey added 137 yards from scrimmage and scored his first touchdown of the season as the Panthers defeated the Saints for only the second time in the last 10 tries.
Jameis Winston, who threw five TD passes in a 38-3 win over the Green Bay Packers in the season opener, was held to 111 yards passing, intercepted twice and sacked four times.
Bills 35, Dolphins 0: Josh Allen threw two touchdown passes, Zach Moss ran for two scores and the visiting Bills knocked out Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa early with a rib injury.
Devin Singletary rushed for 82 yards and another touchdown for the Bills. Buffalo has won six consecutive games in the series, doing so by an average of 20 points per game. This marks only the second time the Bills have won six in a row against the Dolphins.
Raiders 26, Steelers 17: Derek Carr threw for 382 yards and two touchdowns, including a pretty 61-yard strike to Henry Ruggs midway through the fourth quarter, as visiting Las Vegas won.
Carr completed 28 of 37 passes against a Pittsburgh defense that finished the game without a handful of starters, including All-pro outside linebacker T.J. Watt, who exited in the second quarter with a groin injury and did not return.