Cowboys end Minnesota’s winning streak
MINNEAPOLIS — Tony Pollard had two touchdown catches for Dallas with a career-high 189 yards from scrimmage, and the Cowboys sacked Kirk Cousins a career-high seven times in a 40-3 victory over Minnesota on Sunday that slammed the Vikings' seven-game winning streak to a screeching halt.
Dak Prescott was flawless at quarterback, Ezekiel Elliott rushed for two scores in his return from injury and Brett Maher made four field goals. The Cowboys (7-3) didn't punt until their eighth possession, and the defense was just as good. Micah Parsons and Dorance Armstrong had two sacks apiece in the fifthlargest loss ever for the Vikings — and the biggest road win in Cowboys history.
The Vikings (8-2) have been the king of the comebacks in an NFL season featuring the smallest average winning margin in 90 years, none more remarkable than last week at Buffalo when they turned a 17-point deficit late in the third quarter into an overtime victory.
Parsons promised Prescott and the offense this week the Cowboys would never again lose a 14-point fourth-quarter lead like they did last week for the first time in franchise history when they fell in overtime at Green Bay.
Eagles 17, Colts 16: Jalen Hurts ran for an 8-yard touchdown with 1:20 remaining and Philadelphia rallied past Indianapolis. Coming off their first loss of the season, the Eagles (9-1) trailed 13-3 in the fourth quarter. Hurts threw for a touchdown early in the period to get Philly within three.
Hurts was 18-for-25 with 190 yards through the air and rushed 16 times for 86 yards as the Eagles won their seventh straight road game.
Indianapolis (4-6-1) never trailed until Hurts' scoring run. Interim coach Jeff Saturday evened his record at 1-1 since taking over for the fired Frank Reich.
Falcons 27, Bears 24: Younghoe Koo made a tiebreaking 53-yard field goal with less than two minutes to play and Atlanta overcame another impressive game from Chicago's Justin Fields. Marcus Mariota ran and threw for touchdowns for Atlanta (5-6), which pulled within one-half game of Tampa Bay on the Buccaneers' bye week.
Fields ran for 85 yards with a touchdown, but the Bears (3-8) suffered their fourth consecutive loss and sixth of seven.
Atlanta running back Cordarrelle Patterson set the NFL record with his ninth career kickoff return for a touchdown. His 103-yard return in the second quarter broke a tie with Joshua Cribbs and Leon Washington.
Ravens 13, Panthers 3: Lamar Jackson ran for a 1-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter and Baltimore forced three late Carolina turnovers. Justin Tucker kicked two field goals, including a tiebreaking 37-yarder with 8:27 remaining. Then Marcus Peters forced a fumble by Shi Smith, giving the Ravens the ball at the Carolina 31. Baltimore (7-3) took advantage of a short field, finally reaching the end zone on Jackson's run with 7:16 to play.
Marlon Humphrey, who recovered Smith's fumble, later added an interception. Jason PierrePaul also picked off a pass in the final minute.
Baker Mayfield threw for 196 yards for the Panthers (3-8). D'Onta Foreman was held to 24 yards on 11 carries.
Saints 27, Rams 20: Andy Dalton passed for three touchdowns, Mathew Stafford left the field
to be evaluated for a concussion in the second half and New Orleans beat reeling Los Angeles.
Stafford's departure from the game came two days after he'd been cleared to return from the NFL's concussion protocol.
Stafford was effective in the first half, after which the Rams led 14-10, and he left the game having completed 11 of 18 passes for 159 yards and two touchdowns.
He was replaced by Bryce Perkins, who led the Rams to a field goal on his first series, but struggled thereafter. The defending champion Rams (3-7) have lost four straight.
Dalton's performance validated a decision by the Saints (4-7) to stick with him during a twogame skid. He completed 21 of 25 passes for 260 yards, including a 53-yard touchdown pass deep down the middle of the field to Chris Olave to make it 24-14 late in the third quarter.
Commanders 23, Texans 10: Taylor Heinicke threw for 191 yards, Kendall Fuller returned an interception for a touchdown, and Washington rolled past Houston. Heinicke, who started a fifth straight game for the injured Carson Wentz, had another solid performance to help the Commanders (6-5) build on last week's victory over Philadelphia and win their fifth of six.
Davis Mills threw two interceptions and Houston mustered a season-low 148 yards of offense as the Texans (1-8-1) lost their fifth straight and remained the NFL's only one-win team. The Texans were outgained 246-5 in the first half, their fewest net yards in a half in franchise history.
Bengals 37, Steelers 30: Joe Burrow threw four touchdown passes, three to backup running back Samaje Perine, and the Bengals rallied past the Steelers.
The Bengals (6-4) won for the fourth time in five games by relying heavily on Perine, who thrived with starter Joe Mixon missing the second half after going into the NFL's concussion protocol. Burrow completed 24 of 39 passes for 355 yards on the day he became the third-fastest player in NFL history to reach 10,000 career yards passing. Perine ran for 30 yards and caught four passes for 52 yards, racing into the end zone three times while the defenders in charge of covering him gave chase in vain.
Raiders 22, Broncos 16 (OT): Derek Carr hit a wide-open Davante Adams with a 35-yard touchdown pass on the third play of overtime, powering the Raiders over the Broncos.
The Raiders (3-7) never led in regulation but sent the game into OT when Daniel Carlson kicked a 25-yard field goal with 16 seconds left after a crucial blunder by Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson. The Broncos (3-7) were clinging to a 16-13 lead at the two-minute warning but Wilson rolled right on third-and-10 from his own 34 and instead of sliding to burn more time, he pulled up and fired out of bounds.
That saved crucial seconds for the Raiders, who didn't have any timeouts left and got the ball back with 1:43 left instead of about a minute.