Hurts strengthens MVP bid as Eagles romp
PHILADELPHIA — A.J. Brown pulled out a towel and wagged his finger at the goal post before he swatted the structure three times. The hard feelings didn’t last. Brown hugged the goal post and let bygones by bygones. In case the allegory was missed during Brown’s celebration for Philadelphia against his former team, the goal post in this instance stood in for the Tennessee Titans.
“Today, I’m going to have to give you this whooping,” Brown said with a laugh. “But I still love you, though.”
The Titans might not reciprocate the love after their former receiver torched them with eight catches for 119 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday. Looking Brown’s way early and often, Jalen Hurts strengthened his MVP bid by throwing for 380 yards and three touchdowns and running for another score as Philadelphia beat Tennessee 35-10.
Hurts has led the Eagles to an 11-1 start, their first time with that record since 2004 and the fourth time in franchise history. The 1949 Eagles won the NFL championship. The 1980 and 2004 teams lost in the Super Bowl.
The Eagles look every bit like a team that can win the Super Bowl.
Bengals 27, Chiefs 24: Joe Burrow threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score, Samaje Perine rushed for a season-high 106 yards
and the Bengals beat the Chiefs on Sunday in their first meeting since the Bengals prevailed in last
season’s AFC championship game.
Patrick Mahomes and Chiefs lost their chance to avenge two losses to Burrow and Cincinnati last season. The Bengals beat the Chiefs last Jan. 2 to clinch the AFC North title, then won four weeks later in overtime to reach the Super Bowl for the first time in 33 years.
With the Chiefs leading 24-20, Cincinnati linebacker Germaine Pratt stripped Trave Kelce after a catch and recovered the fumble.
Burrow, working from his own 47, then completed six of seven passes for 53 yards, finishing the drive with an 8-yard TD pass to backup running back Chris Evans that gave the Bengals the lead with 8:54 remaining.
The subsequent Chiefs drive was snuffed out when Joseph Ossai sacked Mahomes, and Harrison Butker missed a 55-yard field-goal attempt.
49ers 33, Dolphins 17: Rookie Brock Purdy threw two touchdown passes after replacing Jimmy Garoppolo — who suffered a broken left foot that will end his season — and San Francisco used another dominant defensive performance to beat Miami for its fifth straight win.
The 49ers (8-4) allowed a 75-yard touchdown pass to Trent Sherfield on the opening play from scrimmage but little else until the fourth quarter against a high-powered attack for Miami (8-4) that had scored at least 30 points in four straight.
Seahawks 27, Rams 23: DK Metcalf caught an 8-yard touchdown pass from Geno Smith with 36 seconds to play, and Seattle overcame an inspired performance by Bobby Wagner to beat spiraling Los Angeles.
Smith passed for a career-high 367 yards and threw three TD passes for the Seahawks (7-5), who barely snapped their two-game skid with 438 yards of offense against a Rams defense missing Aaron Donald.
Raiders 27, Chargers 20: Derek Carr completed two long touchdown passes to Davante Adams in the third quarter to rally Las Vegas past Los Angeles.
Josh Jacobs rushed for 144 yards and a touchdown, and the Raiders (5-7) improved to 5-1 when he has 100 or more yards. Jacobs has 1,303 yards this season, the most in Raiders history through 12 games. Las Vegas sacked Justin Herbert five times, won its third straight and split its season series with the Chargers (6-6).
Ravens 10, Broncos 9: Tyler Huntley capped a 91-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run with 28 seconds remaining, and Baltimore overcame Lamar Jackson’s injury to beat Denver.
Jackson left after the first quarter with an injured knee, and the Broncos mostly shut down Baltimore after that. But on their final possession, the Ravens drove 16 plays, aided by a couple big Denver penalties. Huntley converted on fourthand-2 from the Denver 18 with a short run, then Kenyan Drake caught a 13-yard pass.
Browns 27, Texans 14: Deshaun Watson had a sloppy performance in his first game in 700 days, but a punt return for a touchdown by Donovan Peoples-Jones and two defensive TDs were enough for Cleveland to beat lowly Houston.
In the same stadium where he played his previous game, a rusty Watson threw for 131 yards with an interception in his debut for the Browns (5-7) against his former team in his return after serving an 11-game NFL suspension for sexual misconduct allegations.
The Browns trailed 5-0 early but a 76-yard punt return by Peoples-Jones put them on top in the second quarter and Denzel Ward’s 4-yard fumble return for a score pushed the lead to 14-5 early in the third quarter.
Watson was 12 of 22 and finished with a 53.4 QB rating, the lowest of his career.
Packers 28, Bears 19: Aaron Rodgers led three fourth-quarter scoring drives, receiver Christian Watson took an end-around 46 yards for a touchdown in the closing minutes, and Green Bay rallied to beat Chicago.
The Packers (5-8) looked like they were on their way to another loss after dropping seven of eight, trailing 19-10 through three quarters. But they made enough plays down the stretch to come away with their eighth straight win over the Bears (3-10), who lost their sixth straight.
Lions 40, Jaguars 14: Jamaal Williams ran for his 14th touchdown this season and Detroit routed Jacksonville. The Lions (5-7) scored on all five of their drives in the first half to take a 17-point lead, and then on their first three possessions of the second half to pull away.
Steelers 19, Falcons 16: Kenny Pickett tossed a 17-yard touchdown pass to Connor Heyward, Matthew Wright kicked four field goals and Pittsburgh held off Atlanta.
Coming off a Monday night victory at Indianapolis, the Steelers (5-7) won two straight games for the first time during what’s been a tough rebuilding year.