Case Keenum threw touchdowns to four different receivers to build a big lead, and the NFC North-leading Minnesota Vikings won their fifth in a row against Washington 38-30 despite two second-half interceptions.
With Teddy Bridgewater active for the first time since January 2016 after a devastating knee injury, Keenum was 21 of 29 for 304 yards and TD passes to Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen, David Morgan and Jarius Wright. He was picked off on consecutive throws by DJ Swearinger. Thielen had eight catches for a season-high 166 yards.
A day after being called up from the practice squad, second-year Washington receiver Maurice Harris came up with a highlight-reel grab: a diving, one-handed catch for a touchdown on the opening drive. The 36-yard play originally was ruled an incompletion, but Washington challenged and the call was reversed on replay review.
New England Patriots 41-16 Denver Broncos
The New England Patriots aren’t quite the unbeaten team that some predicted they would be this season but they have now won five in a row and were in ominous form coming off their bye week. The Denver Broncos were the victims on Sunday as the Pats travelled to Colorado and came away with a 41-16 win. Tom Brady threw for three touchdowns and was comfortable enough for Brian Hoyer to come on and toss a few passes. Denver are now a worrying 3-6 and Brock Osweiler does not look like a starting quarterback.
Dallas Cowboys 7-27 Atlanta Falcons
Adrian Clayborn set an Atlanta record with six sacks, Matt Ryan threw a pair of short touchdown passes and the Falcons romped to a 27-7 victory over the Dallas Cowboys, who looked anemic offensively in their first game without suspended running back Ezekiel Elliott.
Ryan hooked up with Justin Hardy on a three-yard pass for Atlanta’s first offensive touchdown in the third quarter this season. Early in the fourth, Ryan put the game away for the Falcons (5-4) by tossing one to Austin Hooper for a one-yard score.
Houston Texans 7-33 Los Angeles Rams
Robert Woods caught two of Jared Goff’s three touchdown passes during a dominant third quarter, and the surging Los Angeles Rams returned after a month away from home for their fourth straight victory, 33-7 over the depleted Houston Texans.
After struggling to a 9-7 lead during a quiet first half for the NFL’s highest-scoring team, the Rams (7-2) ran away with a series of big throws by Goff, who passed for a career-high 355 yards.
New York Giants 21-31 San Francisco 49ers
CJ Beathard threw for 288 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a third score to lead the San Francisco 49ers to their first win of the season with a 31-21 victory over the New York Giants.
Beathard connected on an 83-yard TD to Marquise Goodwin and a 47-yarder to Garrett Celek in the second quarter as the 49ers (1-9) took advantage of another listless effort by the Giants (1-8) to win for the first time under coach Kyle Shanahan.
Pittsburgh Steelers 20-17 Indianapolis Colts
Ben Roethlisberger’s 32-yard completion to Antonio Brown with 35 seconds set up a 33-yard field goal from Chris Boswell as time expired Sunday, giving Pittsburgh a 20-17 come-from-behind win at Indianapolis.
The Steelers (7-2) have won four straight overall and five in a row in the series. But it sure wasn’t easy as the Colts (3-7) held Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell in check. Pittsburgh needed two second-half TD passes from Roethlisberger to fight its way out of a 17-3 third-quarter deficit. And Roethlisberger reverted to his traditional form on the Steelers’ final possession.
“Big Ben is Big Ben and he finds guys, and we’ve got him in second-and-long and he finds a guy, and then he scrambles around and finds Antonio Brown,” Colts coach Chuck Pagano said. “That’s what he does.”
The two-time Super Bowl champion methodically marched the Steelers 70 yards in the final 3 minutes, 10 seconds to give Pittsburgh its only lead. Roethlisberger was 19 of 31 for 236 yards with one interception. Bell had 26 carries for 80 yards and Brown, the league’s leading receiver, caught three passes for 47 yards.
New Orleans Saints 47-10 Buffalo Bills
Mark Ingram scored a career-best three touchdowns and the New Orleans Saints won their seventh straight game by plowing through a porous Buffalo Bills defense in a 47-10 rout.
Alvin Kamara also had a three-yard touchdown rushing as the Saints blew the game open by scoring five times on their first six possessions, not including a one-play series to close the first half. Ingram finished with 131 yards rushing by scoring twice from three yards, and another on a one-yard plunge. The Saints finished with 298 yards rushing and 32 first downs.
Green Bay Packers 23-16 Chicago Bears
Brett Hundley threw for 212 yards and a touchdown, Nick Perry had three sacks and the Green Packers beat the Chicago Bears 23-16 to snap a three-game losing streak.
Hundley, starting his third game for an injured Aaron Rodgers, threw a 17-yard touchdown to Davante Adams to make it 23-13 with 5:29 to play, and the Packers (5-4) hung on to beat the Bears (3-6) for the eighth time in nine games. Chicago’s Mitchell Trubisky threw for a career-high 297 yards. He hit Josh Bellamy for a 46-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, but the Bears dropped their second in a row after winning back-to-back games.
The win was Green Bay’s first since a narrow victory at Dallas on 8 October. A week later, Rodgers got driven to the turf by the Vikings’ Anthony Barr in a loss at Minnesota week and the Packers haven’t been the same since then.
Cleveland Browns 24-38 Detroit Lions
Matthew Stafford lofted a 29-yard, tiebreaking touchdown to Eric Ebron early in the fourth quarter and the Detroit Lions went on to beat the winless Cleveland Browns. The Lions (5-4) rallied from first- and second-half deficits to earn consecutive victories for the first time since winning the first two games this season.
The Browns, who fell to 0-9 on the season, led 10-0 early in the game for their first double-digit lead of the season, and were up 24-17 in the third after Deshone Kizer led two consecutive touchdown drives. Detroit are the only franchise to have a 0-16 season, when they went winless in 2008.
Los Angeles Chargers 17-20 Jacksonville Jaguars
Josh Lambo kicked a 30-yard field goal with 3:12 remaining in overtime, lifting the Jacksonville Jaguars to a 20-17 victory against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Lambo’s kick was tipped at the line of scrimmage and still cleared the crossbar. The former soccer player ran the other way and slid on both knees near midfield before he was mobbed by team-mates. It gave Jacksonville their first three-game winning streak since 2013. The game ended up in overtime after a wild and wacky final two minutes of regulation that included a fumble, two interceptions, a taunting penalty and a costly flag for roughing the passer. At times, it looked as if neither team wanted to win.
New York Jets 10-15 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Ryan Fitzpatrick led two long scoring drives and Tampa Bay limited the New York Jets to less than 200 yards of offense until late in the fourth quarter to snap a five-game losing streak with a 15-10 victory.
With Fitzpatrick filling in for injured quarterback Jameis Winston, the Buccaneers (3-6) used three field goals to build a 9-3 lead. Charles Sims put the game out of reach with a six-yard touchdown reception with just over six minutes remaining.
Fitzpatrick, facing the team he played for the past two seasons, completed 17 of 34 passes for 187 yards and was intercepted once. The 34-year-old Fitzpatrick, one of just four players in NFL history to throw TD passes for seven different teams, led a seven-minute drive that produced a field goal in the first quarter. He finished a 15-play, 81-yard march, also lasting more than seven minutes, with his TD pass to Sims to make it 15-3.
Cincinnati Bengals 20-24 Tennessee Titans
Marcus Mariota tossed a seven-yard touchdown pass to DeMarco Murray with 36 seconds left , and the Tennessee Titans rallied to beat the Cincinnati Bengals 24-20 Sunday for their fourth consecutive victory. It’s the longest winning streak for the Titans (6-3) since winning five straight in 2009, and it’s their best start to a season since 2008 when the Titans last reached the playoffs as the AFC’s No1 seed. Murray ran for two touchdowns, and Mariota finished with 264 yards passing.
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