The Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs suffered their first defeat of the season after a thriller against the Buffalo Bills, while the Detroit Lions cruised past the Jacksonville Jaguars on NFL Sunday…
Josh Allen ran for a 26-yard touchdown on fourth down with 2:17 left to seal the Buffalo Bills’ 30-21 win over the Kansas City Chiefs and hand the two-time defending Super Bowl champions their first loss of the season.
James Cook rushed for two touchdowns and Allen threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Curtis Samuel for Buffalo (9-2), who closed the gap on Kansas City (9-1) in the race for the AFC’s top seed.
Patrick Mahomes and Chiefs were the NFL’s last undefeated team and finally ran out of ways to overcome second-half deficits. The Chiefs had won 15 straight, including playoffs, since they fell 20-14 to the Las Vegas Raiders on December 17, 2023. The Bills have now won six straight and moved closer to their sixth straight AFC East title.
Bills coach Sean McDermott opted to go for it on fourth-and-two instead of kicking a field goal for a five-point lead. Allen faked a pass to his left and then broke up the middle, where he bounced off two Chiefs defenders before crossing the goal line.
Allen played through a sore throwing hand, which was examined on the sideline during the game. He finished 27 of 40 for 262 yards with the touchdown pass, one rushing score and an interception.
The rushing touchdown was the 58th of Allen’s career, moving him into second on the Bills list, one ahead of O.J. Simpson, and seven behind Thurman Thomas. Allen’s two-touchdown outing also increased his total to 244, tying Jim Kelly for first in team history.
Buffalo’s defense ended Kansas City’s desperate final drive as linebacker Terrel Bernard intercepted Mahomes. Mahomes finished 23 of 33 for 196 yards with three touchdown passes – two to tight end Noah Gray and another to Xavier Worthy – and two interceptions.
Chris Boswell tied a franchise record with six field goals as the Pittsburgh Steelers limited Lamar Jackson and the NFL’s top-ranked offense in an 18-16 victory over the Baltimore Ravens.
The Steelers (8-2) won their fifth straight behind Boswell and a defense that never let Jackson, Derrick Henry or the rest of the offense get into a rhythm, opening up a little breathing room atop the AFC North.
Baltimore (7-4) were held to season lows in points and yards (329) while committing 12 penalties and turning the ball over three times – each miscue leading to a Boswell field goal – as Pittsburgh won for the seventh time in its last eight meetings in a rivalry that remains as chippy as ever.
Jackson completed just 16 of 33 for 207 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He hit Zay Flowers for a 16-yard score with 1:06 left to get the Ravens within two but the two-point conversion attempt was a mess. Jackson rolled to his left, tried to run then pulled up and threw a prayer to no one in particular that fell incomplete.
The Steelers – with backup quarterback Justin Fields subbing in for Russell Wilson on a couple of snaps – picked up a first down on the ensuing drive as Pittsburgh ran out the clock to drop Jackson’s record to 1-4 against his team’s biggest rival.
Henry tied a franchise record by scoring his 15th rushing touchdown of the season, but was limited to just 65 yards and wasn’t even on the field for the ill-fated two-point attempt.
Jordan Love ran for a go-ahead touchdown in the closing minutes as the Green Bay Packers hung on to beat the Chicago Bears 20-19 after Karl Brooks blocked Cairo Santos’ 46-yard field goal attempt as time expired.
Love put Green Bay on top 20-19 when he scored from the one with 2:59 left. That touchdown was set up by a 60-yard pass to Christian Watson, who got up after making a lunging catch and ran all the way to the 14. The two-point conversion failed.
Green Bay then sacked Caleb Williams on the first two plays of the next possession, before the Bears regrouped and drove all the way to the 28, only to end a chaotic week with their fourth straight loss when Brooks got through the center of the line and blocked Santos’ kick.
Love completed 13 of 17 passes for 261 yards and a touchdown. He also threw his league-leading 11th interception, matching his total from last year. Josh Jacobs ran for 76 yards and a score for the Packers.
Williams threw for 231 yards and ran for 70, while Chicago’s D’Andre Swift had 14 carries for 71 yards and a score.
Geno Smith scored on a 13-yard scramble with 12 seconds remaining as the Seattle Seahawks snapped a six-game losing streak against the San Francisco 49ers with a 20-17 victory.
Smith completed seven of eight passes for 65 yards to get the Seahawks (5-5) in position to score after taking over at their 20 with 2:38 remaining. He then ran it in against a depleted defense for the 49ers (5-5) that sorely missed injured edge rusher Nick Bosa on the final drive.
The win moved Seattle into a three-way tie for second place in the NFC West with San Francisco and the Rams, a game behind Arizona. The Niners have lost three division games, blowing fourth-quarter leads in all of them after dropping games earlier this season to the Rams and Cardinals.
San Francisco had taken a 17-13 lead when Brock Purdy threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Jauan Jennings with 9:33 to play. The Niners looked to be in great shape for a comeback win after stopping Seattle on back-to-back plays for no gain from the 37 with the Seahawks needing only one yard for a first down.
But the 49ers couldn’t run out the clock on offense and gave Smith and the Seahawks the chance at the comeback. Smith finished 25 for 32 for 221 yards with one interception and the touchdown run. Jaxon Smith-Njigba had 10 catches for 110 yards and Kenneth Walker III scored on a 1-yard run for the Seahawks.
Bo Nix threw for 307 yards and a season-best four touchdowns, Javonte Williams got a push across the goal line from a half-dozen of his teammates, and the Denver Broncos rolled past the Atlanta Falcons 38-6.
Nix, who was 28 for 33, joined Hall of Famer Peyton Manning as the only rookie QBs in NFL history to throw for 200-plus yards with two or more touchdowns in four consecutive home games.
The Broncos won it when they shoved Williams into the end zone to complete his 14-yard scoring run that gave Denver an early 14-3 lead.
Nix also completed a pair of 12-yard touchdown throws, one to tight end Nate Adkins and the other to speedster Marvin Mims Jr. to take Denver to a 21-6 half-time advantage. His seven-yard touchdown toss to fellow rookie and Oregon alum Troy Franklin made it 28-6 early in the third quarter and he capped his day with a 41-yard scoring strike to Lil’Jordan Humphrey to make it 38-6.
At that point, Falcons coach Raheem Morris replaced starter Kirk Cousins (18 of 27 for 173 yards, no touchdowns and one interception) with rookie Michael Penix Jr., who promptly completed a 20-yard pass to Ray-Ray McCloud III. Penix was two of four for 24 yards.
Anthony Richardson ran for a four-yard touchdown, his second of the game, with 46 seconds left in his return to the starting role to lift the Indianapolis Colts to a 28-27 victory over Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets.
With the Jets leading 27-22 after Anders Carlson’s 35-yard field goal with 2:41 remaining, Richardson – benched for two games in favour of Joe Flacco – marched the Colts down the field.
He connected with Alec Pierce for 39 yards and then Josh Downs for 17 yards to put the ball at the 10. Three plays later, Richardson took off to the right and ran into the end zone for the go-ahead score. Jonathan Taylor was stuffed on the two-point try – giving Rodgers and the Jets one last chance, but with no timeouts left.
Rodgers was sacked by Kwity Paye and fumbled on the first play, but the Jets recovered. After Hall had an 11-yard catch and a delay-of-game penalty was called on the Colts’ E.J. Speed, Rodgers was sacked again by Paye – sealing the win for the Colts (5-6), who snapped a three-game skid.
Richardson, the No 4 overall pick last year and the league’s second-youngest starting QB, had perhaps his best game in the NFL – and it came against the league’s oldest quarterback in the 40-year-old Rodgers. Richardson finished 20 of 30 for 272 yards and a touchdown to Downs and ran for 32 yards and the two scores on 10 carries.
Rodgers threw two touchdown passes and Breece Hall had a touchdown catch and ran for a score, but the Jets (3-8) dropped their seventh in eight games and fell to 1-5 under interim coach Jeff Ulbrich.
Jared Goff threw two of his four touchdown passes to Amon-Ra St. Brown, while David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs combined for three rushing touchdowns as the Detroit Lions routed the Jacksonville Jaguars 52-6.
The NFC-leading Lions (9-1) have won eight straight and nine of their first 10 games in a season for the first time since 1934. Detroit’s winning margin of 46 points was the largest in franchise history, and it handed Jacksonville its biggest-ever defeat. The Lions also set a franchise record in total yards with 644.
Jacksonville rookie Cam Little made a career-best 59-yard field goal on the game-opening drive and closed the first half with another field goal.
In between those kicks, the Lions scored four touchdowns to take a 28-3 lead. Montgomery started the scoring barrage with a two-yard run and Gibbs followed with a two-yard run in the second quarter.
Montgomery followed up with a six-yard run for his second score and Goff threw a 27-yard pass to St. Brown in the second quarter, extending the receiver’s franchise record with a touchdown catch to eight straight games.
The Lions went ahead 49-6 early in the fourth quarter after Goff threw a 64-yard touchdown pass to Jameson Williams, a five-yarder to Brock Wright and a nine-yard strike to St. Brown on the right side of the end zone.
Goff finished 24 of 29 for 412 yards and four touchdowns for a perfect passer rating.
Matthew Stafford threw for 295 yards and four touchdowns, including a 69-yard score to Cooper Kupp on the second play of the second half to help the Los Angeles Rams pull away and beat the New England Patriots 28-22.
New England trailed 14-10 after Rams kicker Joshua Karty’s 26-yard field-goal attempt at the end of the first half clanged off the right upright. Los Angeles received the kick to start the second half, and on second down Stafford found Kupp near midfield; Patriots cornerback Jonathan Jones dove for the pass and missed, leaving no one between Kupp and the end zone.
The Patriots drove into Los Angeles territory, with a first-and-goal from the Rams five, but settled for a field goal. On the Rams’ next possession, Stafford found Colby Parkinson in the corner of the end zone to make it 28-13.
A missed extra point and a false start on fourth-and-one doomed two Patriots’ attempts to come back. New England got the ball back at its own 10 with 2:14 left and one timeout for one last try, but Kamren Kinchens intercepted Drake Maye to ice it.
Puka Nacua caught seven passes for 123 yards and a touchdown and Kupp caught six passes for 106 yards and two scores for the Rams (5-5), who have won four of their last five games and improved to 3-1 since getting back Kupp and Nacua in Week Eight.
Taysom Hill capped a 138-yard, three-touchdown performance on the ground with a 75-yard scoring run as the New Orleans Saints improved to 2-0 under interim coach Darren Rizzi with a 35-14 victory over the Cleveland Browns.
Hill’s two other touchdowns went for 10 and 33 yards – the second on fourth and short – to more than balance out his two turnovers on an interception and fumble. The 34-year-old Hill also moved into ninth place in franchise history with 44 total touchdowns, four behind receiver Eric Martin.
Derek Carr passed for 248 yards and two touchdowns for New Orleans (4-7), highlighted by Marquez Valdes-Scantling’s 71-yard catch and run on a short crossing route.
Jameis Winston passed for 395 yards and two touchdowns for the Browns (2-8) in his return to the city he called home for the previous four NFL seasons.
His scoring throws including a short pass during a scramble that Jerry Jeudy turned into an 89-yard touchdown. He also hit Elijah Moore in the back of the end zone with a 30-yard pass, and followed that with a completion to tight end David Njoku for two-point conversion that tied the game at 14 in the third quarter.
Jeudy finished with six catches for a game-high 142 yards receiving. The Saints rushed for 214 yards as a team, with Alvin Kamara contributing 67 yards on 16 carries
Tua Tagovailoa threw three touchdown passes, De’Von Achane ran for a score, and the Miami Dolphins beat the Las Vegas Raiders 34-19 to win their second straight game.
Tagovailoa led the Dolphins down the field with long, methodical drives – three of them more than seven minutes – that all ended in scores, as Miami scored 30 points for the first time this season.
Tagovailoa completed 28 of 36 passes for 288 yards with touchdowns of one and 57 yards to tight end Jonnu Smith, and an eight-yard touchdown to receiver Tyreek Hill. Hill caught seven passes for 61 yards and has scored in consecutive games for the first time this season. Smith had a season-high 101 yards receiving.
The Raiders trailed 24-14 in the fourth quarter after Achane ran for a two-yard score that added to his 17 carries for 73 yards.
Quarterback Gardner Minshew then moved the Raiders 80 yards down the field and found Ameer Abdullah, who capitalised on a missed open-field tackle by Dolphins cornerback Kader Kohou, for a 10-yard touchdown catch.
Las Vegas blew a coverage on Miami’s next drive, leaving Smith wide open for the long touchdown that ended the Raiders’ hopes of snapping their losing streak.
Minshew completed 30 of 43 passes with 282 yards and one interception while tight end Brock Bowers caught 13 passes for 126 yards.
Sam Darnold overcame an early fumble by throwing for 246 yards and two touchdowns and running for a score and the Minnesota Vikings beat the Tennessee Titans 23-13.
Darnold had been picked off five times over the previous two games, matching his total over the first seven games of the season. His toss to Aaron Jones on the Vikings’ third offensive play was then fumbled and recovered by Jeffery Simmons for the Titans.
The quarterback answered right back to help the Vikings (8-2) win their third straight and improve to 5-0 against AFC teams this season. He found Jordan Addison for a 47-yard catch-and-run touchdown as the Vikings didn’t trail again as they scored 16 straight for a 16-3 halftime lead.
Andrew Van Ginkel had his two sacks on back-to-back plays as Minnesota finished with five. Pat Jones II also had two.
Harrison Smith clinched the win with an interception with 1:50 left, giving the Vikings’ fans that turned this into a near home game another reason to celebrate chanting “SKOL.”
Will Levis threw the longest TD pass in the NFL this season with a 98-yard score, finding Nick Westbrook-Ikhine on the right sideline for the catch-and-run to pull the Titans within 16-10 midway through the third.
Week 12 begins on Thursday night when the Pittsburgh Steelers face the Cleveland Browns from 1.15am in the early hours of Friday, live on Sky Sports NFL
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