The Patriots didn’t wait until the Super Bowl this time to squander their perfect record.
Lamar Jackson and the Ravens halted New England’s latest bid for an unbeaten season, handing Bill Belichick’s team its first loss of the year with an impressive statement win, 37-20, Sunday night in Baltimore.
Jackson threw for 163 yards and added 63 more on the ground with three total touchdowns for the AFC North-leading Ravens (6-2), giving him 639 rushing yards through eight games to remain on pace to obliterate Michael Vick’s single-season record for quarterbacks (1,039 in 2006).
“These guys are great. I know it’s not our last time seeing them,” Jackson said of the Patriots after the game on NBC. “We just have to keep building from here.”
The Patriots (8-1) only had trailed for a total of 13 minutes and 51 seconds through their first eight victories, but they spotted Baltimore a 17-point lead beginning with Jackson’s 3-yard run 6:40 into the game. Gus Edwards’ 12-yard scamper made it 17-0 just 54 seconds into the second quarter.
Two Ravens turnovers — a muffed punt by Cyrus Jones and a fumble by Mark Ingram (144 total yards) — led to 13 points for New England before intermission. Tom Brady found newly acquired Mohamed Sanu for a 4-yard touchdown and former Jets kicker Nick Folk added two short field goals.
The Pats also got the ball to open the second half, but Julian Edelman’s fumble was scooped up by Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey and returned 70 yards for a touchdown and a 24-13 Baltimore lead.
New England closed within four points again later in the quarter, but Jackson — the fifth quarterback taken in the first round of the 2018 draft — led two more scoring drives in the fourth, capped by his 1-yard touchdown run to seal it with barely three minutes remaining.
New England only had allowed 61 points over its 8-0 start, an average of 7.6 per game, but its lone previous opponent with a winning record this season is Buffalo (6-2). Through Sunday’s action, the others had combined for a record of 11-38 (including the Jets twice). Following next week’s bye, the Pats’ next four opponents (Philadelphia, Dallas, Houston and Kansas City) all presently sport winning records.
Smooth like Butker
Less ended up being Moore on Sunday for Kansas City, which posted an impressive win against a red-hot team without reigning league MVP Patrick Mahomes.
Backup quarterback Matt Moore completed 25 of 35 passes for 275 yards and a touchdown — and Harrison Butker nailed two late field goals, including a tiebreaking 44-yarder as time expired — as the Chiefs downed Minnesota, 26-23, at Arrowhead Stadium, ending the Vikings’ four-game winning streak.
“My hat goes off to Butker for those last two field goals, that last one was as clutch as you can get,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “And I thought Matt, that was a gutsy performance by him.”
Mahomes missed his second straight game with a dislocated kneecap, but Moore connected with Tyreek Hill (six catches, 140 yards) for a 40-yard touchdown in the first quarter of his first win as an NFL starter since December 2016.
Damien Williams also broke a 91-yard scoring run in the third for the Chiefs (6-3), who trailed 23-20 before Butker nailed a 54-yard field goal with 2:30 remaining.
Kirk Cousins has amassed 13 touchdown passes with just one interception over his past five games, including three scoring throws Sunday, but the Vikes’ QB completed just 50 percent of his pass attempts (19 of 38). The Chiefs defense also held Stefon Diggs to one catch for just 4 yards and NFL rushing leader Dalvin Cook to 3.4 yards per carry (21 carries, 71 yards).
“Our defense stepped up and had a beautiful day,” Reid said. “I’m proud of our defense for continuing to work and get better. … They have a great quarterback and great skill-position players. I thought our guys did a really good job of buckling down and challenging them.”
Men of Steel
The Steelers are back to .500 — and suddenly in play in the AFC playoff picture — after most left their season for dead when Ben Roethlisberger was lost for the year in Week 2 with an elbow injury.
Pittsburgh has won four of its past five games — with its only loss in that stretch in overtime to Baltimore on Oct. 6 — after holding on to defeat Indianapolis, 26-24, Sunday at Heinz Field.
Backup quarterback Mason Rudolph threw for 191 yards and a touchdown and Chris Boswell nailed all four field-goal attempts for the Steelers, who also were without running back James Conner (shoulder).
“It’s good to be sitting at 4-4, I never thought I’d hear myself say that,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said.
Ray Finkle, Redux
Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri pulled a 43-yard field goal attempt with 1:11 remaining for the Colts, who also lost quarterback Jacoby Brissett to a knee injury in the first quarter.
Rigoberto Sanchez, Indianapolis’ punter and holder, blamed himself for the miss because he failed to turn the laces of the ball away from
Vinatieri, a lesson all holders learned from the Ray Finkle incident in “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.”
“I just missed it. I have to do better than that,” Vinatieri said. “Just pulled it to the left.”
The 46-year-old Vinatieri, who had won last week’s game against Denver with a 51-yard field goal with 22 seconds remaining, also had an
extra-point blocked Sunday, his career-high fifth missed PAT this season.
The Bear Necessities
Mitchell Trubisky couldn’t dig the fading Bears (3-5) out of a 19-point hole after Philadelphia limited them to 9 total yards in the first half and just 164 overall in a 22-14 road loss to the Eagles (5-4).
Trubisky, the second-overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft (ahead of fellow first-round picks Mahomes and Deshaun Watson), completed just 10 of 21 passes for 125 yards.
“Losing sucks and you can tell we don’t like it,” Trubisky said. “On the sideline, you’re trying to find solutions to how to spark this offense to get going.”
Carson Wentz threw for 239 yards and a second-quarter touchdown to tight end Zach Ertz (nine receptions, 103 yards) for the Eagles. Philly led 19-0 until Bears rookie running back David Montgomery scored his first of two touchdowns with 6:29 left in the third quarter.
The Hurt Locker
Brissett had led the Colts to a 5-2 start after the late-summer retirement of Andrew Luck, but he departed their loss to Pittsburgh in the first quarter with what coach Frank Reich said appears to be a sprained MCL in his left knee.
Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen left their loss to Kansas City in the first quarter with a recurrence of the hamstring injury that sidelined him last week against Washington. Eagles wide receiver Deshaun Jackson also left in the first quarter of his return from an abdominal injury (six games) with the same injury. Titans cornerback Malcolm Butler suffered a broken wrist against Carolina.
Bad Beat
The Buccaneers were getting 5 ¹/₂ points and pulled into a 34-34 tie with Seattle on Dare Ogunbowale’s 1-yard touchdown run with 48 seconds remaining. Seattle kicker Jason Myers then missed a 40-yard field goal at the end of regulation, and Seattle covered the spread with a touchdown in overtime for a 40-34 win.
Post Patterns
Seahawks quarterback and MVP candidate Russell Wilson has 22 touchdowns and one interception this season after a five-TD, no-INT day in their OT win over the Bucs. Wilson hit Jacob Hollister with a 10-yard TD pass with 6:27 remaining in the extra session for Seattle (7-2). … Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston threw for 335 yards and two TDs without a pick, including 12 receptions for 180 yards for wide receiver Mike Evans. … Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers had 294 passing yards and running back Melvin Gordon scored twice on the ground as the Bolts (4-5) upended Aaron Rogers and Green Bay, 26-11. Rodgers totaled just 161 passing yards, his lowest total of the season, for the Packers (7-2). … Panthers running back Christian McCaffery scored three touchdowns (two rushing, one receiving) in Carolina’s 30-20 win over Tennessee to overtake Green Bay running back Aaron Jones for the NFL lead with 13. … Steelers cornerback Minkah Fitzpatrick, obtained in September from Miami for a 2020 first-round draft pick, added a 96-yard interception return for a touchdown in Pittsburgh’s win. He also had two picks last week against the Dolphins. … Redskins quarterback Dwayne Haskins started in place of Case Keenum (concussion), but had a quiet game as Washington fell to 1-8 with a 24-9 loss to Buffalo. The 2019 first-round pick completed 15 of 22 passes for 144 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. … Josh Allen threw for 160 yards and one TD and ran for another score for the Bills (6-2). … Texans running back Carlos Hyde ran for 160 yards on 19 carries and Watson threw for 201 yards and two scores as Houston (6-3) took over first place in the AFC South with a 26-3 win over Jacksonville (4-5) in London. … Raiders running back Josh Jacobs rushed for 120 yards and two scores for Oakland (4-4) in a 31-24 win over Detroit. … Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford was 26-for-41 for 406 yards with three touchdowns and one INT. … Broncos quarterback Brandon Allen, making his first NFL start in place of Joe Flacco (neck), tossed a 21-yard TD pass to wideout Courtland Sutton and a 75-yard scoring strike to tight end Noah Fant in Denver’s 24-19 win over Cleveland. … Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. had five catches for 87 yards and no touchdowns for the Browns (2-6). OBJ has made it into the end zone once in eight games. Beckham and teammate Jarvis Landry were forced to change their cleats at halftime as the NFL said their shoes violated the league’s uniform policy.
Three Stars
1.Christian McCaffery, Panthers RB
McCaffrey ran for 146 yards and two touchdowns (including a 58-yard burst in the third quarter) and also caught a short TD pass in Carolina’s 30-20 win over Tennessee.
2. Joey Bosa, Chargers DE
Bosa (1.5 sacks) and the LA defense rattled and stifled Aaron Rodgers all day, holding the Packers offense to just 184 total yards in the Chargers’ 26-11 win.
3. Tyler Lockett, Seahawks WR
Lockett hauled in 13 passes from Russell Wilson for 152 yards and two touchdowns in Seattle’s 40-34 overtime win over Tampa Bay.
He said what?
“I was sprinting down, maybe just from my soccer background growing up, that’s what you do when you score. When I was [running], I saw Patrick, and I wanted to embrace him, and I was like, ‘Nah, he can’t get hurt.’ ”
— Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker on avoiding injured QB Patrick Mahomes in the celebration after his game-winning field goal against Minnesota.
Fantasy Insanity
- If you had Devin Singletary on your bench, don’t sweat it. We were waiting for a day like Sunday (20-for-95 rushing with a touchdown, 3-for-45 receiving, 23 PPR fantasy points) before considering him startable. It is his first game with more than 15 fantasy points. The next two weeks are nice (Browns, Dolphins), but his schedule gets difficult during the fantasy playoffs. Don’t be afraid to trade him off the big week.
- Sometimes even a soft schedule isn’t enough to make a player fantasy relevant. If Jets QB Sam Darnold can’t post a decent outing even against the porous Dolphins defense, why would anyone trust he can do so against other bad defenses in the coming weeks? No reason to keep him on any fantasy roster.
- This week offered a wake-up call regarding the Bills defense: Consider it a deterrent for passing-game options, but have no fear regarding running backs. Despite the Washington passing game posing no threat with Dwayne Haskins at QB, the Bills allowed the ancient Adrian Peterson to collect 108 yards on just 18 carries. The Dolphins are the only other team to allow him to top the 100-yard mark this season.