NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE ROUNDUP / WEEK 5
Ravens 26, Steelers 23 (OT)
After Pittsburgh quarterback Mason Rudolph was knocked unconscious by a head-high hit in the third quarter Sunday, Justin Tucker made a 46-yard field goal in overtime to lift the Baltimore Ravens past the Steelers. Baltimore (3-2) snapped a two-game 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. He also forced overtime with a field goal 14 seconds from the end of regulation. Lamar Jackson threw for 161 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions 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.
Eagles 31, Jets 6
Nate Gerry returned an interception for a score and Orlando Scandrick took a strip-sack the distance. The Eagles (3-2) smothered third-string 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. Gerry gave the Eagles a 14-0 lead in the first quarter when he jumped in front of Falk's fourth-down pass and returned it 51 yards. Scandrick, playing his first game with the Eagles, had two sacks on corner blitzes. He stole the ball from Falk on the second one and ran it back 44 yards to make it 31-6 in the fourth quarter. Brandon Graham had a career-high three of Philadelphia's 10 sacks after he only had four last season.
Packers 34, Cowboys 24
Aaron Rodgers looked quite comfortable at the home of the Dallas Cowboys — again. Green Bay's star quarterback kept his team moving to a big early lead with more dazzling plays at AT&T Stadium, Aaron Jones scored a career-high four touchdowns and the Packers bounced back from their first loss by hanging on for a victory over the Cowboys. Rodgers zipped a sidearm throw to Robert Tonyan to fix one broken play, flipped a left-hander to Tra Carson to rescue another, and helped Green Bay improve to 5-0 inside the retractable-roof stadium where the two-time MVP's first win was the 2011 Super Bowl. The first three Green Bay wins over the Cowboys at their 10-year-old stadium were all dramatic, highlighted by Rodgers' improbable 35-yard completion to Jared Cook to set up a winning field goal on the final play of a 34-31 divisional-round playoff win three years ago. Not quite the same drama this time after the Packers (4-1) built a 31-3 lead, although Dak Prescott (463 yards passing) and Amari Cooper (226 yards receiving) set career highs trying to keep things interesting in the fourth quarter.
Raiders 24, Bears 21
Josh Jacobs scored his second touchdown of the game with a leap from the 2-yard line with 1:57 to play, capping a 97-yard drive that helped the Raiders rally after blowing a 17-point lead. 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 winning drive, then intercepted Chicago backup Chase Daniel with 1:14 to go to seal the victory. It sure didn't come easy, but made Oakland's weeklong stay in London a successful one, ended by a satisfying victory in the Raiders' first game against the Bears since dealing star edge rusher Khalil Mack to Chicago before last season. That trade has come under heavy scrutiny as Mack led the Bears to the playoffs last year while the Raiders struggled. But Oakland came out ahead this day, with Mack's only big play coming when he recovered a botched pitch by Derek Carr that sparked Chicago's third-quarter comeback. The Bears turned that turnover into a 1-yard run by David Montgomery and got two TD passes from Daniel to Allen Robinson in the third quarter to take a 21-17 lead.
Saints 31, Buccaneers 24
Teddy Bridgewater passed for 314 yards and four touchdowns to remain 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 inspiring 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. Bridgewater, who began playing in Week 2 after Brees' first-quarter thumb injury in a loss to the Rams, had not completed a pass as long as 30 yards in his first 11 quarters of play this season. That changed in the first quarter against the Bucs (2-3) with a 34-yard completion to Thomas. Bridgewater later hit Thomas for a 42-yarder early in the second half, setting up his 33-yard scoring strike to Ginn. Bucs QB Jameis Winston saw his production drop dramatically from his triumphant 385-yard, four-TD performance against the Rams in Week 4. He was 15 of 27 for 204 yards and two touchdowns to Chris Godwin. But Winston could not connect with receiver Mike Evans, who was Winston's intended target just three times and did not have a catch.
Panthers 34, Jaguars 27
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. McCaffrey set a franchise record with an 84yard TD run and scored on a 5-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. 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.