Vinatieri atones for misses as Colts rally
INDIANAPOLIS – Adam Vinatieri made a 51-yard field goal with 22 seconds left to help the Colts rally for a 15-13 victory over the Broncos on Sunday.
The NFL’s career scoring leader overcame two earlier misses to keep Indy (5-2) atop the AFC South with its third straight victory. Denver (2-6) has lost two in a row.
The difference this time was the Broncos settled for two short field goals on time-consuming drives in the first half. Brandon McManus made a 21-yarder to cap a 17-play drive that consumed nearly eight minutes and a 29-yarder on their next possession when the Broncos burned nearly 5½ minutes in 13 plays to make it 6-0.
49ers 51, Panthers 13: Tevin Coleman scored three of his four TDs in the first half, rookie Nick Bosa had three sacks to go along with an acrobatic interception and San Francisco remained unbeaten with its highest-scoring game in 26 years.
The Niners (7-0) are off to their best start since winning their first 10 games in 1990 but still faced questions because five of those first six victories came against teams that have losing records.
But San Francisco delivered perhaps its most complete performance of the season against the streaking Panthers (4-3), who had won four straight games and featured one of the league’s top defenses.
Jimmy Garoppolo and the offense had little trouble carving Carolina’s defense with 232 yards rushing and a pair of touchdown passes for San Francisco’s most prolific offensive game since beating Detroit 55-17 on Dec. 19, 1993. The Niners stellar defense did the rest.
San Francisco intercepted three passes from Kyle Allen, who came into the game with no interceptions on 153 career attempts while winning his first five starts in place of injured starter Cam Newton. They also had seven sacks.
Patriots 27, Browns 13: Tom Brady threw for 259 yards and two TD passes and Bill Belichick earned his 300th NFL coaching victory in the Patriots’ win.
Belichick sits behind only Don Shula (347) and George Halas (324) on the NFL’s win list.
The Patriots improved to 8-0 for the third time in team history and the first
time since 2015, when they started 10-0. The Browns have lost three straight games.
Brady completed 20 of 36 passes, hitting Julian Edelman on eight of them for 78 yards and both TDs.
New England capitalized on three first-quarter turnovers by Cleveland to take a 17-0 lead. Running back Nick Chubb had back-to-back fumbles and quarterback Baker Mayfield had an interception.
Texans 27, Raiders 24: Deshaun Watson threw for 279 yards and three TDs, including the go-ahead score in the fourth quarter to lift Houston.
There were about 6½ minutes left when Watson evaded the rush and connected with Darren Fells on a 9-yard scoring toss to put Houston up 27-24 for its first lead of the game. Watson appeared to get kicked in the face on the play and remained on the turf for a few minutes and was tended to be trainers before getting to his feet and walking to the medical tent. But he was OK and returned on the next possession.
Houston (5-3) forced a punt on the next drive when Gareon Conley, who was traded to the Texans from Oakland this week, knocked down a pass to Tyrell Williams on third down.
Derek Carr had 285 yards passing with three TDs as the Raiders (3-4) lost for the second week in a row.
Chargers 17, Bears 16: Chicago kicker Eddy Pineiro missed a 41-yard field goal attempt as time expired and Los Angeles hung on for the win.
The Bears (3-4) took over at their 35 with 1:33 remaining and had a chance to win it after driving to the 21. Chicago had quarterback Mitchell Trubisky take a knee with about 40 seconds left rather than try to get closer to the goal line. Pineiro, who hit an upright on a miss earlier, hooked the potential winner wide left as time expired.
That allowed the Chargers (3-5) to snap a three-game losing streak and avoid their first 0-4 October since 2000, while the Bears dropped their third in a row.
Philip Rivers threw an 11-yard TD pass to Austin Ekeler in the fourth quarter for the go-ahead score with just over eight minutes left.
Eagles 31, Bills 13: Rookie Miles Sanders scored on a career-best 65-yard touchdown run and Philadelphia snapped a two-game skid with a win over Buffalo (5-2). Carson Wentz finished 17 of 24 for 172 and a touchdown passing in a game the Eagles (4-4) blew open by scoring TDs 83 seconds apart spanning halftime. Linebacker Brandon Graham had one of the team’s four sacks and forced and recovered quarterback Josh Allen’s fumble, which led to Dallas Goedert scoring the go-ahead touchdown.
Titans 27, Buccaneers 23: Ryan Tannehill threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Brown with 6:55 left, and Tennessee rallied to beat Tampa Bay for its second straight win. The Titans (4-4) led 14-3 after turning two first-quarter turnovers into two TD passes by Tannehill. The Bucs (2-6) lost their third straight and fourth in five games despite Jameis Winston and Mike Evans putting the Bucs up 23-17 by connecting on a TD pass at the end of the first half and a second early in the third quarter.
Rams 24, Bengals 10: Wide receiver Cooper Kupp caught seven passes for a career-best 220 yards, Jared Goff threw for two TDs and Los Angeles (5-3) beat Cincinnati (0-8). Kupp caught a 65-yard TD pass in the second quarter on a double reverse flea-flicker from Goff, and the duo teamed up for a 40-yarder shortly after halftime to set up another score at Wembley Stadium in London.
Seahawks 27, Falcons 20: Russell Wilson threw two touchdown passes to DK Metcalf, Chris Carson ran for 90 yards and a score, and Seattle (6-2) beat reeling Atlanta (1-7). Seattle led 24-0 at halftime as the Falcons’ offense floundered early in their first start without quarterback Matt Ryan in 10 years. Ryan’s streak of 154 consecutive regular season starts ended as he was held out with a sprained right ankle.
Jaguars 29, Jets 15: Sam Darnold went from seeing ghosts to seeing teal. Darnold was sacked a career-high eight times and threw three interceptions by Jacksonville (4-4). He was picked off twice in the fourth quarter, including one that set up Gardner Minshew’s game-sealing score to DJ Chark with a little more than four minutes to play. The Jets (1-6) managed 208 yards.
Lions 31, Giants 26: Matthew Stafford threw two of his three touchdown passes to Kenny Golladay and Detroit (3-3-1) snapped a three-game losing streak with a victory over slumping New York (2-6). The Lions (3-3-1) took a twoTD lead in the first quarter and Stafford’s 41-yard flea flicker to Golladay early in the fourth put them ahead by 12 points.