LAS VEGAS (AP) — Defensive end Chandler Jones grabbed a bizarre, unnecessary lateral by New England’s Jakobi Meyers out of the air on the final play and returned it 48 yards for a touchdown, giving the Las Vegas Raiders a 30-24 victory over the Patriots on Sunday.
With the game tied at 24-all, the Patriots decided to run a series of pitches in a last-ditch attempt to avoid overtime. Rhamondre Stevenson pitched the ball to Meyers, who heaved it across the field and into the arms of Jones, who stiff-armed Patriots QB Mac Jones and then had nothing but open field in front of him.
The wild finish bailed out the Raiders (6-8), who led 17-3 at halftime before allowing the Patriots (7-7) to score 21 straight points. Las Vegas scored two touchdowns in the final 32 seconds and seriously damaged New England’s playoff hopes.
Stevenson had 19 carries for 172 yards, including a 34-yard touchdown with 3:43 left that appeared to put the game away.
But the Raiders answered in the final minute. Derek Carr found Keenan Cole in the left corner of the end zone for a 30-yard TD.
Carr completed 20 of 38 passes for 231 yards and three touchdowns. Josh Jacobs rushed for 93 yards on 22 carries as the Raiders ended a six-game losing streak to the Patriots dating to 2002.
BENGALS 34, BUCCANEERS 23
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Joe Burrow threw for four second-half touchdowns and surging Cincinnati rallied from a 17-point deficit to beat Tom Brady and Tampa Bay.
The Bengals (10-4) won their sixth straight and retained sole possession of first place in the AFC North. Trey Flowers intercepted Brady to set up one touchdown and Logan Wilson sacked the seven-time Super Bowl champion to force a fumble that led to another TD.
The first-place Bucs (6-8) wasted an opportunity to take a two-game lead over Carolina, Atlanta and New Orleans in the woeful NFC South.
Burrow began Cincinnati’s comeback from a 17-0 deficit with a field goal drive in the final 1:39 of the opening half. He threw scoring passes of 5 yards to Tee Higgins, 3 yards to Tyler Boyd, 8 yards to Ja’Marr Chase and 12 yards to Mitchell Wilcox.
Burrow finished 27 of 39 for 200 yards and an interception. After being outgained 261 yards to 83 while running just 20 plays to Tampa Bay’s 40 in the first half, the Bengals scored on drives of 13, 31, 13 and 39 yards with help from Bucs mistakes after halftime.
Brady lost for the first time in his 23-year career after leading by at least 17 points. He was 89-0 in such games before Sunday. The 45-year-old quarterback was 30 of 44 for 312 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.
JAGUARS 40, COWBOYS 34, OT
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Rayshawn Jenkins intercepted Dak Prescott’s bobbled pass and returned it 52 yards for a touchdown that gave Jacksonville the overtime victory over Dallas.
Noah Brown failed to secure Prescott’s low throw, and Jenkins made a shoelace grab and went untouched the other way to end Jacksonville’s NFL-record 20-game skid against NFC teams.
The Cowboys (10-4) ended a four-game winning streak but later secured a playoff spot when the NFC East rival New York Giants won at Washington. The Jaguars (6-8), meanwhile, could gain ground on Tennessee in the topsy-turvy AFC South.
Jacksonville won the toss in overtime and had a chance to win it with Trevor Lawrence, who threw for 318 yards and four touchdowns. But the Jaguars went three-and-out, giving the Cowboys a chance to win after squandering a 27-10 lead. Prescott’s third-down pass proved to be a difference-maker.
Prescott completed 23 of 30 passes for 256 yards, with three touchdowns and two interceptions. Two of his TD passes went to Brown.
Prescott found Brown for a 13-yard score with 3:02 remaining. Lawrence fumbled while scrambling on the ensuing possession, but he got the ball back and drove his team into position for Riley Patterson’s 40-yard, game-tying field goal on the final play of regulation.
Lawrence threw three TD passes to Zay Jones. Travis Etienne ran for 103 yards.
COMMANDERS 20, GIANTS 12
LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — Kayvon Thibodeaux was prepared for the national stage just like he promised, Daniel Jones shined under the lights to end his career-long skid in night games and New York beat Washington to bolster its playoff chances and hurt those of a rival.
After declaring, “Prime time likes me,” Thibodeaux was a force rushing the passer and busting into the backfield. He stripped Taylor Heinicke of the ball, recovered it to score a touchdown and finished with three tackles for loss.
Jones, 0-9 in his first nine prime-time games for the Giants (8-5-1) who had lost 11 in a row in these situations, was 21 of 32 for 160 yards and engineered an 18-play touchdown drive in the second quarter that started at the 3 and lasted 8:35.
Saquon Barkley ended that drive with a 3-yard run into the end zone on a direct snap. Barkley finished with 87 yards rushing.
New York’s defense stopped Washington (7-6-1) on a goal-to-go situation in the final minutes, with Darnay Holmes making the final pass breakup on a play that arguably could have been called pass interference. That sealed the victory and ended a four-game winless streak.
The Giants strengthened their hold on the second of three NFC wild-card spots. Washington remained in playoff position, half a game up on Seattle and Detroit.
CHIEFS 30, TEXANS 24, OT
HOUSTON (AP) — Jerick McKinnon ran for a 26-yard touchdown in overtime and Kansas City beat Houston to clinch its seventh straight AFC West title.
The Chiefs (11-3) got the ball first in overtime but had to punt after Patrick Mahomes was sacked by Blake Cashman on third down. Texans quarterback Davis Mills fumbled on a scramble on Houston’s first play, and it was recovered by Kansas City’s Willie Gay on the Texans 26.
McKinnon, who also had a TD reception, dashed untouched into the end zone on the next play.
Mahomes threw for 336 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a score as Kansas City overcame two turnovers and a season-high 102 penalty yards to win for the seventh time in eight games.
The Chiefs trailed most of the day. Mahomes dashed 5 yards into the end zone early in the fourth quarter and hit McKinnon for the 2-point conversion to give Kansas City a 24-21 lead. Houston (1-12-1) tied it on Ka’imi Fairbairn’s 29-yard field goal with 5:11 left in regulation.
Mills threw for 121 yards and two touchdowns while sharing time at quarterback with Jeff Driskel. The Texans dropped their ninth straight game, their longest skid since losing the final 14 games of the 2013 season.
LIONS 20, JETS 17
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Jared Goff threw a go-ahead 51-yard touchdown pass to Brock Wright on fourth-and-1 with 1:49 remaining, and Detroit held on to beat Zach Wilson and New York.
Coming out of the two-minute warning, Goff looked to his left and found Wright wide open, and the tight end rumbled untouched into the end zone.
Wilson and the Jets had one more chance. He completed a 20-yard pass to Elijah Moore on fourth down, setting up Greg Zuerlein for a 58-yard field-goal try. But the kick went wide left, sending the Lions (7-7) to their third straight win and sixth in their past seven games.
The loss further damaged the playoff hopes for the Jets (7-7), who are looking to snap an 11-year postseason drought.
Wilson threw a go-ahead 1-yard touchdown pass to C.J. Uzomah with 4:41 remaining. Starting after being benched for three games, Wilson finished 18 of 35 for 317 yards with two touchdown throws to Uzomah — and a costly interception. Wilson played in place of Mike White, who’s dealing with fractured ribs.
Goff was 23 of 38 for 252 yards and the touchdown to Wright.
CHARGERS 17, TITANS 14
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Cameron Dicker connected on a 43-yard field goal with 4 seconds remaining and Los Angeles beat Tennessee.
The Titans appeared to force overtime when Ryan Tannehill scored on a 1-yard QB sneak with 48 seconds remaining, but the Chargers responded by going 52 yards in six plays. Mike Williams had the key play on the drive, a 35-yard reception between two defenders at the Titans 20-yard line.
Justin Herbert had his third straight 300-yard game. He completed 28 of 42 passes for 313 yards but didn’t throw a touchdown pass for only the third time in 46 career games.
Austin Ekeler scored his AFC-leading 14th touchdown of the season early in the fourth quarter.
Ekeler finished with 70 scrimmage yards, including 58 rushing. Joshua Kelley also scored a touchdown as the Chargers moved into the sixth spot in the AFC after losses by Miami, New England and the New York Jets.
Derrick Henry rushed for 104 yards on 21 carries with a touchdown for the Titans (7-7), who have a one-game lead over Jacksonville in the AFC South but have dropped four straight games for the first time since 2015.
EAGLES 25, BEARS 20
CHICAGO (AP) — Jalen Hurts tied a career high by running for three touchdowns and Philadelphia outlasted Chicago.
The Eagles (13-1), with the best record in the NFL, made just enough plays to come away with a tighter-than-anticipated win.
Chicago’s Justin Fields rushed for 95 yards to reach exactly 1,000 on the season, joining Michael Vick and Lamar Jackson as the only quarterbacks to rush for 1,000 or more. He also set a franchise single-season rushing record for a QB. But the Bears (3-11) lost their seventh straight game — their worst skid since dropping eight in a row in 2002 to match a franchise record.
Hurts is also closing in on history as a rusher. He has 13 rushing touchdowns, one short of the NFL record for a QB, set by Cam Newton during his rookie year in 2011.
Hurts finished with 61 yards rushing and has 747 this season. He also threw for 315 yards, completing 22 of 37 passes with two interceptions.
A.J. Brown caught nine passes for 181 yards for the Eagles. DeVonta Smith had five receptions for 126 yards.
Fields hit a wide-open Byron Pringle for a 35-yard touchdown that pulled Chicago within five with 2:43 remaining, but the Bears didn’t get the ball back.
STEELERS 24, PANTHERS 16
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Mitch Trubisky threw for 179 yards and engineered three long touchdown drives as Pittsburgh beat Carolina.
Trubisky, filling in for concussed rookie Kenny Pickett, ran for a 1-yard touchdown and played turnover-free football. Najee Harris carried 24 times for 86 yards and a touchdown and Jaylen Warren added a 2-yard TD run for Pittsburgh (6-8), which has won three of its last four.
The Panthers (5-9) can still win the unimpressive NFC South if they win their last three games.
Carolina, a run-first team, couldn’t get anything going on the ground. The Panthers managed just 21 yards on 16 carries as the Steelers stacked the box and dared Sam Darnold to beat them.
Darnold finished 14 of 23 for 225 yards with a 5-yard touchdown pass to D.J. Moore. But he was sacked four times, and the Panthers struggled in the red zone.
Trubisky led the Steelers on touchdown drives of 67 and 75 yards on Pittsburgh’s first two possessions. Pittsburgh got the ball to start the second half and put together a 21-play, 91-yard drive that took nearly 12 minutes off the clock, culminating in Trubisky’s QB sneak for a TD.
SAINTS 21, FALCONS 18
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Andy Dalton and Taysom Hill combined to throw three touchdown passes, and New Orleans beat Atlanta in rookie quarterback Desmond Ridder’s debut.
Juwan Johnson had career-high 67 yards receiving and caught both of Dalton’s scoring passes. Hill, a utility player who lines up mostly at tight end, threw his second touchdown pass of the season on a 73-yard connection with rookie receiver Rashid Shaheed.
New Orleans (5-9) remained mathematically alive in the anemic NFC South.
Atlanta (5-9) was down by a field goal and threating to score with less than three minutes remaining when Ridder hit Drake London over the middle for first-down yardage on fourth-and-5. But safety Justin Evans punched the ball from London’s grasp, and cornerback Bradley Robey snagged it out of the air.
Ridder completed 13 of 26 passes for 97 yards without an interception. Rookie running back Tyler Allgeier helped the Falcons sustain drives with 139 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries.
Dalton was efficient for the Saints, going 11 of 17 for 151 yards and two touchdowns.
BRONCOS 24, CARDINALS 15
DENVER (AP) — Backup quarterback Brett Rypien overcame relentless pressure, Justin Simmons had two interceptions and Denver held off Arizona.
The game featured two backup QBs, but Arizona lost Colt McCoy to a concussion early in the third quarter after he took a hit while diving for a first down. McCoy was intercepted once and his replacement, Trace McSorley, threw two more picks.
Rypien was sacked seven times, including three by J.J. Watt, but directed three second-half scoring drives to help the Broncos (4-10) snap a five-game losing streak.
Latavius Murray ran for 130 yards and a touchdown, Marlon Mack also had a rushing TD, and Rypien threw a short scoring pass to Eric Tomlinson as Denver turned a 9-3 deficit into a 24-9 lead.
Subbing for Russell Wilson, who was held out for safety reasons after clearing the concussion protocol, Rypien had 197 yards passing and one interception.
The only offense generated by the Cardinals early on were three field goals by former Bronco Matt Prater. James Conner had a late TD run for the Cardinals (4-10), who have lost four straight.
___
More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
