Blowouts and surprises – and a possible changing of the guard in New England.
The National Football League’s noon-Central-Time games saw Pittsburgh hang on and defeat Baltimore, 17-10, in the AFC North; Atlanta kicked a field goal as time expired to beat the overachieving Houston Texans, 21-19; Detroit moved to 4-1 on the season with a 42-24 win at home over Carolina, and kept the Panthers winless; the New York Giants lost at Miami, 31-16, and Giants quarterback Daniel Jones was injured on a sack; Indianapolis defeated the Tennessee Titans in Indy, 23-16, and the Colts lost rookie QB Anthony Richardson to a shoulder injury; and the New Orleans Saints, with QB Derek Carr back in the line-up, absolutely steamrolled the Patriots in Foxboro, 34-0, with another Mac Jones benching.
Earlier in the day, in London, Jacksonville defeated Buffalo, 25-20.
The afternoon games have Cincinnati visiting Arizona, Philadelphia trying to remain unbeaten at the Los Angeles Rams, the New York Jets play at the Denver Broncos, each with only one win so far this season, and the Kansas City Chiefs playing at Minnesota.
Sunday night’s game, of course, has the Dallas Cowboys playing at San Francisco.
See a round-up of the afternoon games right here, in a different report.
Jacksonville 25, Buffalo 20: The Jacksonville Jaguars apparently feel at home in London, having played two games there this year and getting wins in both.
The Jaguars (3-2) got 136 yards and two touchdowns from running back Travis Etienne, and stopped a three-game winning streak by Josh Allen and the Bills (3-2).
Etienne scored twice, both in the fourth quarter: a 6-yard run and a 35-yard run.
Allen’s 3-yard run with just over two minutes left got the Bills within five (25-20, the eventual final score), but Buffalo had no time-outs left, and after getting the ball back on their own 6-yard-line after a punt, had only 22 seconds to do anything. A hook-and-ladder play began with a pass to Stefon Diggs, but a fumble was recovered by the Jaguars to finish the game.
Trevor Lawrence went 25-of-37 for 315 yards and a touchdown pass, but lost two fumbles on sacks in the contest.
Allen went 27-of-40 for 359 yards and two touchdowns. Diggs had eight catches for 121 yards and a touchdown, and Gabe Davis had Allen’s other TD pass, giving him 100 yards and the score on six catches.
Jacksonville will host Indianapolis in an AFC South battle on Sunday, and Buffalo will host the New York Giants next Sunday on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.”
New Orleans 34, New England 0: Carr returned to the lineup and threw a pair of touchdowns at Gillette Stadium, as the Saints (3-2) absolutely roasted the Patriots (Kamara becomes Saints’ career TD leader, Carr throws 2 TDs in 34-0 rout over Patriots), whose offense – well, there’s not an offense.
As the headline says, Alvin Kamara scored a touchdown, giving him 73 career touchdowns as a Saint, and he becomes their all -time touchdown leader. Kamara finished with 80 yards on 22 carries.
Carr went 18-of-26 for 183 yards and the two scores to Chris Olave (5 yards), which made it 21-0, and the other a 6-yarder to Foster Moreau.
Tyrann Mathieu returned an interception 27 yards for a touchdown, Mac Jones’ third pick-six thrown this year.
There are plenty of historical ramifications for the Patriots (1-4) in the loss, but one is that it keeps coach Bill Belichick at 299 regular season wins. With his next win, Belichick will join George Halas, longtime coach of the Chicago Bears, and Don Shula (Colts, Dolphins) as the only three coaches in NFL history to hit 300 wins in the regular season.
Jones went 12-of-22 for 110 yards, a fumble lost in the third quarter, and the pick-six. He was benched in favor of Bailey Zappe in the fourth quarter. The Patriots only gained 156 total yards – and haven’t scored more than 20 points in any game this season.
New England was without linebacker Matt Judon and cornerback Christian Gonzalez, both out with injuries.
The Saints play at Houston next Sunday, and the Patriots will be on the road at the Las Vegas Raiders, also on Sunday.
Pittsburgh 17, Baltimore 10: The difference here: Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett was given the ball at his own 20 with five minutes left in the game, courtesy of an interception by cornerback Joey Porter, a rookie who picked off the pass from Lamar Jackson meant for Zay Flowers.
The Steelers managed an 80-yard drive, and with 1:17 left, scored on a a 41-yard pass from Pickett to George Pickens. It was Pittsburgh’s first touchdown in almost nine quarters.
Baltimore, who’s lost six of the last seven to the Steelers, had three turnovers in the game. Still, the Ravens had a chance, with just over a minute left in the game.
Jackson had a fumble that was recovered by Pittsburgh linebacker T.J. Watt, and that led to a field goal by Chris Boswell, and Jackson was sacked by Watt with 15 seconds left to end the game.
Jackson went 22-of-38 for 246 yards and the interception, and ran for 45 yards.
Baltimore and Pittsburgh are now both 3-2. The Steelers are off next week, and Baltimore will play Tennessee on Sunday in London.
Atlanta 21, Houston 19: Younghoe Koo kicked a 37-yard field goal as time ran out to give the Falcons the home win over a supposedly-rebuilding Texans team that appears to be well ahead of schedule under first-year coach Demeco Ryans and rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud.
Atlanta went up 15-12 on a 6-yard pass to another rookie, running back Bijan Robinson, and then the Falcons got a two-point conversion pass from Desmond Ridder to Tyler Allgeier to give them that three-point lead.
But the Texans got in front with 1:49 left on an 18-yard pass from Stroud to tight end Dalton Schultz, the former Dallas Cowboy.
Ridder had a 23-yard pass to Drake London to help the Falcons get into field goal range for Koo’s kick.
Ridder finished 28-of-37 for 329 yards and the touchdown to Robinson, and also had a 7-yard rushing score. Stroud went 20-of-35 for 249 yards and the TD to Schultz.
The Texans (2-3) will host New Orleans next Sunday, and the Falcons will host Washington, who had extra rest after losing at home to Chicago on Thursday.
Detroit 42, Carolina 24: Break up the Lions – they’re 4-1 and at the top of the NFC North, getting three touchdown passes and a touchdown run from quarterback Jared Goff against the Panthers, who remain winless (0-5).
Goff finished 20-of-28 for 236 yards and the three TDs, and had a 1-yard quarterback sneak for another score. Josh Reynolds had four catches for 76 yards and a touchdown, and Sam LaPorta had three for 47 yards and two scores.
David Montgomery ran for 109 yards and a touchdown, and Craig Reynolds had 52 yards and another TD.
Aidan Hutchinson had a sack for the Lions, who will play at Tampa Bay next Sunday afternoon. The Bucs had an open date on Sunday, one of four teams to do so (Cleveland, Seattle and the L.A. Chargers were the other three).
For Carolina, Bryce Young threw two picks, and went 25-of-41 for 247 yards, and three touchdowns: Adam Thielen, D.J. Chark and Tommy Tremble each had a TD catch.
The Panthers were held to 99 yards rushing between five players who carried the ball.
Carolina will play at Miami next Sunday.
Indianapolis 23, Tennessee 16: Jonathan Taylor’s return, and after signing a new contract, was the big news coming in, but it was Zack Moss who stole the show, rushing for 165 yards and two touchdowns in this win for the Colts, moving them to 3-2 on the season and tying them with Jacksonville for the AFC South lead.
The Colts broke a six-game losing streak to Tennessee, who fell to 2-3 with the loss.
Indy plays at Jacksonville on Sunday, the second and final meeting between the teams in the regular season (Jacksonville won the first at Lucas Oil Stadium), and the Titans will play Baltimore in London.
Of immediate concern to the Colts was an apparent shoulder injury to rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson, who went to the locker room with the injury before halftime. Richardson went 9-of-19 for 98 yards, but didn’t return. Garner Minshew took over for him, and went 11-of-14 for 155 yards.
Tennessee QB Ryan Tannehill went 23-of-34 for 264 yards and an interception late in the game. Derrick Henry ran for just 43 yards.
Taylor ran for 18 yards on six carries in his season debut, after signing a three-year, $42 million contract extension on Saturday.
Miami 31, New York Giants 16: The news here may be the future immediate status of Jones, who was sacked in the fourth quarter by Miami linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel and didn’t return.
Almost all of New York’s points were on field goals. Jason Pinnock had a 102-yard interception return for a touchdown, the Giants’ only touchdown in the game. Incredibly, that’s the only touchdown the Giants have scored in the first half all season. They drop to 1-4 with the loss.
Miami had 524 yards of total offense, and another solid performance from quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who went 22-of-30 for 308 yards and two TDs, although he did throw the pick-six and another interception.
Tyreek Hill caught eight passes for 181 yards and a touchdown, and Jaylen Waddle caught five for 35 yards and the other TD pass.
Rookie running back De’Von Achane had 151 yards rushing and a 76-yard touchdown, and Raheem Mostert ran for 60 yards and a score.
Zach Sieler had two sacks for the Dolphins, who had seven sacks in the game.
The Dolphins are 4-1, and with Buffalo’s loss, back in the lead in the AFC East. They host Carolina next Sunday. The Giants, as mentioned, play at Buffalo on Sunday night.
