Kenyan Drake rumbled over for two touchdowns as the Baltimore Ravens relied on a powerful running game to defeat the New Orleans Saints 27-13 on Monday.
Ravens running back Drake crashed over from close range for scores in the second and fourth quarters as the Ravens clinched their third straight victory.
Baltimore’s defense also came up big with four sacks as the Saints fell to 3-6 after being restricted to just 238 yards of offense.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson helped open the scoring for Baltimore in the first quarter, rolling out right before picking out a wide open Isaiah Likely for a 24-yard touchdown pass.
Drake then crashed over at the start of the second quarter to cap a 12-play 81-yard drive that put Baltimore 14-0 up to subdue the New Orleans home crowd.
The Saints’ only first-half points came from a 33-yard Wil Lutz field goal on the stroke of half-time.
After Justin Tucker and Lutz traded field goals in the third quarter, the Ravens extended their lead when Tucker kicked three more points from 41 yards to make it 20-6 midway through the final quarter.
Drake then barged his way through the Saints defense for his second touchdown of the night to effectively kill off the game as Baltimore took a 27-6 lead.
Juwan Johnson’s touchdown from Andy Dalton’s pass gave New Orleans a glimmer of hope with just over four minutes remaining but it was too little too late as Baltimore held on for a win that leaves them at 6-3 to lead the AFC North.
Dak Prescott threw for 347 yards and three touchdowns to spark the Dallas Cowboys over NFL-best Philadelphia 40-34 on Saturday, keeping the Eagles from clinching a top playoff seeding.
The Cowboys’ defensive unit forced four turnovers and seized command late in a deadlocked game to stun the visiting Eagles (13-2).
“This was a huge game, not only beating one of the best teams in the league, but the way we did it,” Prescott said. “We can use this and continue to build.”
The victory kept Dallas Cowboys, 11-4 in the NFC East division title hunt and Minnesota, 12-3, moved closer in the fight for the NFC top seed and a first-round playoff bye.
The Baltimore Ravens clinched a playoff berth on a day when eight games were played in sub-freezing temperatures, the most in any NFL gameday in 26 years, while the New York Giants missed a chance to clinch a post-season spot on a last-play loss at Minnesota.
Prescott completed 27 of 35 passes and kept his poise after having an early interception returned for a touchdown.
“It was just about moving on,” said Prescott. “All I did is just keep my head down and keep playing. I focused in and we were able to come out with this one.”
In the last minutes, Dallas Cowboys’ defender DaRon Bland intercepted a Gardner Minshew pass and Anthony Barr recovered a fumble by Philadelphia’s Miles Sanders to set up Brett Maher field goals of 48 and 26 yards for the decisive points.
“They gave us chance after chance,” Prescott said. “With those four turnovers, they gave us short field position and we were able to capitalize on some. When they do that, we’re a tough team to beat.”
The Cowboys stopped Philadelphia’s final drive on downs at the Dallas 20 with 14 seconds remaining.
“I said if we want to be a championship team, a championship defense, this is for our lives,” Dallas Cowboys’ linebacker Micah Parsons said. “In that last six minutes, we were able to get them stops and get the win.”
Buffalo clinched a third consecutive AFC East division title and stayed ahead of Kansas City in the fight for the AFC playoff top seeding with a 35-13 victory at Chicago.
Josh Allen threw for 172 yards and two touchdowns, Devin Singletary ran for 106 yards and a touchdown and James Cook rushed for 99 yards and a touchdown for the Bills (12-3).
Kansas City (12-3) stayed on Buffalo’s heels with a 24-10 home triumph over Seattle. Patrick Mahomes threw for 224 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another touchdown for the Chiefs.
At Baltimore, Tyler Huntley capped a 13-play, 70-yard drive with a 6-yard touchdown pass and ran for a two-point conversion for the decisive points in the Ravens’ 17-9 victory over Atlanta.
The Ravens (10-5) clinched a playoff berth when the New England Patriots lost to visiting Cincinnati 22-18.
Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow threw for 375 yards and three touchdowns for Cincinnati (11-4), which stayed a game ahead of Baltimore in the AFC North.
Vikings edge Giants
Philadelphia, Minnesota, Dallas, San Francisco, Kansas City, Buffalo and Cincinnati had already secured playoff spots.
Pittsburgh’s Kenny Pickett threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to George Pickens with 46 seconds remaining to give the host Steelers a 13-10 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Steelers paid tribute to former running back Franco Harris, who died earlier this week at age 72, only days before the 50th anniversary of his “Immaculate Reception” playoff touchdown catch against the Raiders.
The outcome means the Los Angeles Chargers can clinch an AFC wildcard playoff spot with a victory Monday at Indianapolis.
Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins threw for 299 yards and three touchdowns and Greg Joseph kicked a career-longest 61-yard field goal on the final play to give the Vikings a 27-24 victory over the Giants.
The Giants, 8-6-1, moved to the brink of clinching a playoff berth with Seattle’s defeat at Kansas City and Detroit’s 37-23 loss at Carolina.
New York’s hopes were also aided by Washington’s 37-20 loss at San Francisco.
Tennessee’s playoff hopes suffered a blow with a 19-14 home loss to Houston (2-12-1). The Titans (7-8) had a fifth consecutive loss to slide level with Jacksonville for the AFC South lead.
Jalen Hurts threw four touchdown passes, three of them to A.J. Brown, as the NFL’s only unbeaten team, the Philadelphia Eagles, crushed the Pittsburgh Steelers 35-13 on Sunday.
Hurt’s Inspiration
Impressive Hurts cast aside any lingering doubts about his ability, completing 19 of 28 passes for 285 yards, and the Steelers had no answer to his connection with Brown, who had six receptions for 156 yards as the Eagles moved to 7-0.
“It’s a testament to the receivers we have, the protection we had all day,” Hurts said. “It’s a testament to the work we put in as a team. No man is an island. You’ve got to draw your strength from others.”
The three Hurts-to-Brown touchdowns came in the first half to give the Eagles a 21-0 lead at the half and the win was secured thanks to a 34-yard pass from Hurts to Zach Pascal in the third quarter and an 11-yard touchdown run from Miles Sanders in the fourth.
“We just want to be great,” Brown said of his connection with Hurts. “He knows what I want to accomplish and I know what he wants to accomplish. We’re just having fun and playing for one another.”
It’s only the second time in franchise history that the Eagles have opened the season 7-0 and the first since the 2004 season.
“There isn’t any time to celebrate,” Eagles defensive tackle Javon Hargrave said. “We’re glad we’re 7-0 but there’s a whole lot more to accomplish.”
The Minnesota Vikings improved to 6-1 with a 34-26 victory over the Arizona Cardinals while running back Tony Pollard rushed for three touchdowns as the Dallas Cowboys rose to 6-2 by beating the Chicago Bears 49-29.
A pair of third-quarter touchdowns gave the Vikings an 11-point lead over the Cardinals.
Arizona reduced the deficit to 28-26 after Kyler Murray found Rondale Moore with a 34-yard touchdown pass and Matt Prater added a field goal, but Kirk Cousins wrapped up the win with a 5-yard pass to K.J Osborn.
Dallas running back Pollard starred with a career-best effort, rushing for 131 yards on 14 carries and three touchdowns.
Buffalo improved to 6-1 by defeating the visiting Green Bay Packers 27-17 as Josh Allen threw for 218 yards and two touchdowns.
The Packers fell to 3-5 despite Aaron Rodgers throwing for 203 yards and two touchdowns and Aaron Jones rushing for 143 yards.
McCaffrey hits treble
San Francisco routed the reigning NFL champion Los Angeles Rams 31-14 as 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, in only his second game since arriving in a deal with Carolina, delivered an epic effort.
McCaffrey became the first NFL player since LaDainian Tomlinson in 2005, and only the fourth since 1970, to throw and run for a touchdown and catch a touchdown pass in the same game with a 34-yard touchdown toss to Brandon Aiyuk, a 9-yard scoring grab from Jimmy Garoppolo and a 1-yard touchdown run.
Derrick Henry ran 32 times for 219 yards and two touchdowns to give Tennessee a 17-10 triumph at Houston. It was his sixth career 200-yard rushing performance, matching the NFL record shared by O.J. Simpson and Adrian Peterson.
South Korean-born Younghoe Koo kicked a 41-yard field goal in overtime to give Atlanta a 37-34 home victory over Carolina while Geno Smith threw for 212 yards and two touchdowns to lead Seattle over the visiting New York Giants 27-13, dropping New York to 6-2.
Taylor Heinicke’s 1-yard touchdown run and a conversion kick with 22 seconds remaining gave Washington a 17-16 victory at Indianapolis.
Nick Folk kicked five field goals for New England in the Patriots’ 22-17 triumph at the New York Jets while Andy Dalton threw for 229 yards and two touchdowns in New Orleans’ 24-0 home victory over Las Vegas.
Tua Tagovailoa’s third touchdown pass, an 11-yarder to Mike Gesicki with 12 seconds remaining, gave Miami a 31-27 victory at Detroit while Latavius Murray’s late 2-yard touchdown gave Denver a 21-17 victory over Jacksonville at London.
The Minnesota Viking’s Kirk Cousins threw for 265 yards and two touchdowns in a triumphant NFL return to Washington on Sunday while the Buffalo Bills were upset by the New York Jets.
Cousins, who spent six largely frustrating NFL seasons with Washington before joining the Vikings in 2018, sparked Minnesota over the Commanders 20-17.
“I knew I was going to be emotional pulling in, seeing the player parking lot where we used to hang out. I about shed a tear,” Cousins said.
“But we had a job to do, and we got the job done.”
The Vikings on the rise
The Vikings, who trailed 17-7 in the fourth quarter, improved to 7-1 overall — their best start since 2009 — and stretched their win streak to six games, each victory coming by eight points or less.
“We feel like we’re using too many of our lives right now. We need to win a little more convincingly,” Cousins said. “We’ve got to find ways to win a little better. We’ve got to play a little better.
“But I’d much rather have these conversations in the meeting room tomorrow after a win.”
Cousins completed 22 of 40 passes, including touchdown tosses of nine yards to Justin Jefferson and 12 yards to Dalvin Cook, and guided a six-minute drive to set up Greg Joseph’s winning field goal with 12 seconds remaining.
“We’re finding ways to win,” Cousins said. “We’re finding the inches. We grind on them and keep trying to pull them out at the end.”
At New York, the Jets drove 86 yards to set up Greg Zuerlein’s 28-yard game-winning field goal with 1:43 remaining to beat Buffalo 20-17 for their best start in 12 years.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen ran for two touchdowns but Jets defenders stifled the NFL’s top offensive unit as Buffalo fell to 6-2, still ahead of the Jets (6-3) atop the AFC East division.
Miami improved to 6-3 in the AFC East as Tua Tagovailoa threw for 302 yards and three touchdowns in the Dolphins’ 35-32 victory at Chicago.
Chicago’s Justin Fields, who had three touchdown passes and a touchdown run in a losing cause, ran for 178 yards to set an NFL one-game regular-season record for quarterbacks, five more than Michael Vick’s old mark from 2002.
AFC East rival New England improved to 5-4 with a 26-3 home rout of Indianapolis as Mac Jones threw for a touchdown and Jonathan Jones returned an interception 17 yards for a touchdown.
Brady heroics bring win
Tom Brady flipped a 1-yard touchdown pass to Cade Otton with nine seconds remaining to give Tampa Bay a 16-13 victory over the reigning Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams.
The 45-year-old quarterback, winner of a record seven Super Bowl crowns, became the first player with 100,000 career p
Image of Tom Brady from Wikipedia.
assing yards, completing 36-of-58 throws for 280 yards.
Brady also delivered his NFL record 69th career game-winning drive in the last two minutes or overtime.
The Buccaneers improved to 4-5 while the Rams fell to 3-5 in the first meeting of the two prior NFL champions in which both had losing records.
The Green Bay Packers (3-6) suffered their fifth consecutive loss, falling 15-9 at Detroit as Aaron Rodgers threw three interceptions while Jared Goff threw two touchdown passes for the Lions.
Cincinnati’s Joe Mixon scored a team-record five touchdowns, running 22 times for 153 yards and four touchdowns with four receptions for 58 yards and another score, to power the Bengals over visiting Carolina 42-21.
Travis Etienne ran for 109 yards and two touchdowns and Trevor Lawrence threw for another score as host Jacksonville rallied from a 17-0 deficit to defeat Las Vegas 27-20.
Cameron Dicker’s 37-yard field goal on the final play gave the Los Angeles Chargers a 20-17 triumph at Atlanta. Austin Ekeler ran for one touchdown and caught a touchdown pass for the Chargers.
Geno Smith threw for 275 yards and two touchdowns and Kenneth Walker ran 26 times for 109 yards and two touchdowns to spark Seattle over host Arizona 31-21.
Seven-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady worked his magic again on Monday, firing a touchdown pass to Rachaad White in the waning seconds to lift Tampa Bay to a 17-16 NFL victory over New Orleans.
Brady authored the 44th fourth-quarter comeback win of his career, the most in NFL history as he broke a tie with Peyton Manning.
Struggling offensively in the first three quarters, Tampa Bay turned it on in the fourth as Brady connected on 15 of 21 passes for 125 yards and two touchdowns in the period.
On a third-and-goal play with three seconds remaining Brady hit White with a six-yard scoring pass, with Ryan Succop’s extra point clinching the victory.
The Bucs were trailing 16-3 when Brady hit Cade Otton with a one-yard touchdown toss with three minutes remaining.
Tampa Bay thought they had another TD with 16 seconds left, but it was disallowed because of a holding penalty.
Once again, however, Brady came through as the NFC South division leading Bucs improved to 6-6.
Brady’s statement
“It’s awesome by our team,” he said. “It’s a great effort by the defense to hang in there all day.
“I missed some throws early, but (I’m) really proud of our team for hanging in there against a team we’ve always struggled with.
“Good to get a win at home,” he stated, who completed 36 of 54 passing attempts for 281 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.
Saints quarterback Andy Dalton completed 20 passes for 229 yards with a 30-yard touchdown pass to Taysom Hill.
But the Saints were frustrated in the red zone, settling for three Wil Lutz field goals.
Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles ran over Green Bay on Sunday, knocking Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers out in the third quarter of a 40-33 NFL victory.
The Eagles improved their NFL-best record to 10-1 while the Packers, their playoff ambitions in tatters, fell to 4-8.
“We got the GOAT!” Eagles quarterback Hurts said in a post-game television interview, though he was quick to wish four-time NFL Most Valuable Player Rodgers a speedy recovery.
Rodgers, already nursing a broken thumb, said he suffered a rib injury in the first half, which was aggravated in the third quarter apparently when he absorbed one of three sacks on the night.
“I was just having a hard time breathing and rotating my upper body,” Rodgers said. “I was worried about a punctured lung as well, so I wanted to get that checked out. I’ll get a scan tomorrow.”
Rodgers said his lung was fine, and despite “intense” pain he envisioned playing next weekend “as long as I check out OK tomorrow.”
The Packers had trimmed the deficit to 34-23 with a field goal before Rodgers departed.
Backup Jordan Love connected with Christian Watson for a 63-yard touchdown and authored a field goal drive, but it wasn’t enough against the formidable Eagles offense.
Hurts piled on 310 total yards, completing 16 of 28 passes for two touchdowns. His 157 rushing yards set the Eagles’ single-game record for a quarterback as the team gained a whopping 363 yards on the ground.
Hurts connected with Quez Watkins for a 30-yard touchdown to make it 27-20 at halftime, and pushed the lead to 34-20 midway through the third with a six-yard scoring pass to A.J. Brown.
Bengals claim victory
Elsewhere on Sunday, the suddenly surging Cincinnati Bengals claimed a third straight victory on Sunday as the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs both took their win streaks to five games.
The Bengals, who fell to the Los Angeles Rams in last season’s Super Bowl, beat the AFC South-leading Tennessee Titans, 20-16, in Nashville.
Quarterback Joe Burrow hit Tee Higgins with a 27-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to secure a fifth win in six games for the 7-4 Bengals.
“This is the kind of game that great teams win,” Burrow said. “It’s not always going to be pretty. This is the NFL. You’re playing really, really good teams on the opposing end.
“You’ve got to find ways to win, and we’re starting to do that.”
In Kansas City, the Chiefs notched a 26-10 win over the Rams in a game quarterback Patrick Mahomes called “ugly.”
Mahomes threw one TD, Isiah Pacheco ran for another and Harrison Butker kicked four field goals as the Chiefs failed to convert five of their six red-zone scoring chances into touchdowns.
“I felt like we didn’t execute at a high level in the red zone,” Mahomes said. “I threw a dumb, dumb interception there at the end of the game. But it’s a team game. The defense stepped up — they played great.”
Browns down Bucs
Miami’s fifth straight victory was a comfortable 30-15 decision against the hapless Houston Texans.
Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa threw for 299 yards and one touchdown and extended his run without an interception to four games.
The Las Vegas Raiders won a shootout in Seattle in overtime, beating the Seahawks, 40-34.
In Cleveland, Nick Chubb ran in an overtime touchdown to give the Browns a 23-17 comeback win over Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Tampa Bay had led 17-10 going into the fourth quarter after Brady had found Ko Kieft with a five-yard pass in the third.
But with 32 seconds left on the clock, Browns quarterback Jacoby Brissett found David Njoku in the endzone to take the game into overtime.
Trevor Lawrence threw for three touchdowns and 321 yards as the Jacksonville Jaguars upset the Baltimore Ravens, 28-27.
Lawrence found Marvin Jones with a 10-yard touchdown pass with 14 seconds left and then found Zay Jones for the game-winning two-point conversion.
Ravens kicker Justin Tucker missed a 67-yard field goal on the last play, an attempt which would have had to beat his own NFL record field goal distance of 66 yards set against Detroit in September 2021.
