From missed field goals to dramatic finishes and even a game across the pond, Week 5 in the 2021 NFL season provided lots of excitement.
Here’s what you need to know.
Ryan, Pitts lead Falcons past Jets in London NFL game
LONDON — Matt Ryan didn’t have his top two wide receivers in London. The Atlanta Falcons quarterback did have Kyle Pitts and Cordarrelle Patterson — and that was enough, especially with the New York Jets stumbling early again.
Ryan threw for 342 yards and two touchdowns, including the first NFL score for Pitts, and the Falcons held on and closed out the Jets in a 27-20 victory Sunday.
The Falcons (2-3) built a 20-3 halftime lead with Ryan finding wide-open targets despite the absence of receivers Calvin Ridley and Russell Gage. He was “pleasantly surprised” by how much separation his receivers had.
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Henry scores three TDs, Titans send Jags to 20th straight loss
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Derrick Henry ran for 130 yards and three touchdowns, Kevin Byard returned a fumble for a score and the Tennessee Titans beat Jacksonville 37-19 Sunday, sending the Jaguars to their 20th consecutive loss.
Henry padded his NFL rushing lead as the Titans (3-2) rebounded from an overtime stunner at the New York Jets and avoided consecutive losses to winless teams.
Jacksonville (0-5) moved into sole position of the second-longest skid in NFL history, six shy of tying the record Tampa Bay set in 1977 over its first two seasons as an expansion team. The franchise’s latest debacle came eight days after coach Urban Meyer was captured on camera with a young woman dancing near his lap at an Ohio bar, behavior team owner Shad Khan called “inexcusable.”
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Jones, Patriots defeat Texans with game-winning field goal
HOUSTON — Rookie Mac Jones threw a touchdown pass to tie it in the fourth quarter and Nick Folk’s 21-yard field goal with 15 seconds left lifted the New England Patriots to a 25-22 win over the Houston Texans on Sunday.
The game was tied at 22 before New England (2-3) used a 15-play, 85-yard drive capped by Folk’s fourth field goal of the game to take the lead. The drive was kept alive when Maliek Collins was flagged for roughing the passer on third-and-18 early in the possession.
Houston rookie Davis Mills threw an incompletion after Folk’s field goal before Brandin Cooks fumbled after a catch to seal New England’s victory.
Jones tied it when he connected with Hunter Henry on a 13-yard touchdown with about nine minutes remaining.
Jones threw for 231 yards with a touchdown and an interception as the Patriots ended a two-game skid.
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Brady throws five TDs to lead Buccaneers’ rout of Dolphins
TAMPA, Fla. — Tom Brady threw for 411 yards and five touchdowns as Antonio Brown became the fastest NFL player to 900 receptions and the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers rolled to a 45-17 rout of the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
Brady threw for more 400 yards with five TDs in the same game for the first time in his 22-year career.
Brown scored on receptions of 62 and 4 yards, joining Julio Jones, Jerry Rice, Torry Holt and Andre Johnson as the only players in league history with 12,000 career receiving yards in fewer than 150 games. The 33-year-old receiver extended the NFL’s longest active streak with at least one catch to 141 consecutive games and also became the fastest to 900 career receptions on his first catch of the day.
Brown reached the milestone in 143 career games. Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison was the previous fastest at 149.
Mike Evans had TD catches of 34 and 22 yards, and Giovani Bernard also scored on a 10-yard reception from Brady, who finished 30 of 41 with no interceptions — the third straight game the Bucs (4-1) have gone without a turnover.
The Dolphins (1-4) have lost four straight following a season-opening victory over New England.
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Roethlisberger throws two TDs, Steelers top Broncos to snap losing streak
PITTSBURGH — Ben Roethlisberger threw for 253 yards and two touchdowns, rookie Najee Harris ran for a career-best 122 yards and the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Denver Broncos 27-19 on Sunday to snap a three-game losing streak.
Riding the kind of balance that’s been rare during a sluggish opening month, the Steelers handed the Broncos (3-2) a second straight loss.
Denver fell behind by 18 points in the third quarter before rallying behind quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, who started after spending the week in the NFL’s concussion protocol. Bridgewater completed 24 of 38 passes for 288 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns. He led Denver inside the Pittsburgh 10 in the final minute, but his fourth-down pass attempt in the back of the end zone to Courtland Sutton was picked off by James Pierre.
The loss made Denver’s perfect September look more like a mirage. The Broncos piled up wins against the New York Giants, Jacksonville and the New York Jets last month. Tested by Baltimore and Pittsburgh in back-to-back weeks, the Broncos came up short.
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Winston pulls off Hail Mary pass to help Saints overcome Washington
LANDOVER, Md. — Jameis Winston connected on a Hail Mary for one of his four touchdown passes to help the New Orleans Saints beat Washington 33-22 Sunday, a bounce-back victory that came at a cost with two more injuries.
Winston took every snap at quarterback for the first time this season, a necessity after Taysom Hill suffered a concussion while trying to catch a pass in the second quarter.
Winston completed a 72-yard touchdown pass to Deonte Harris, who departed with a hamstring injury. He also connected with Marquez Callaway on the 49-yard Hail Mary TD on the final play of the first half, found Callaway wide open from 12 yards out and sent Washington fans to the exits with a pass to Alvin Kamara that turned into a 19-yard score.
Kamara also had a 23-yard TD run, returned punts in Harris’ absence and racked up 151 total yards. Winston completed 15 of 30 passes for 279 yards, more than making up for an inexplicable interception on the first possession and a fumble on Chase Young’s first sack of the season.
The Saints (3-2) picked off Taylor Heinicke twice and put some pressure on the Washington QB a week after not sacking Daniel Jones in an overtime loss to the New York Giants. Antonio Gibson ran for two touchdowns, but Washington (2-3) could not outscore another rough performance by its defence.
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Joseph nails 54-yard field goal as time expires, giving Vikings win over Lions
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Greg Joseph made a 54-yard field goal as time expired to give the Minnesota Vikings a 19-17 victory over the winless Lions on Sunday after new Detroit coach Dan Campbell successfully called for the go-ahead 2-point conversion try with 37 seconds left.
Joseph made four field goals, including a career-best 55-yarder, as the Vikings (2-3) casually played the field position game until the extra-safe strategy nearly cost them a must-have victory.
After Joseph’s 49-yard attempt with 3:17 remaining strangely fell short, the Lions (0-5) went the other way for Austin Seibert’s third field goal to pull within 16-9.
Alexander Mattison, who ably filled in for the injured Dalvin Cook with 153 total yards and a second quarter touchdown catch, had the ball ripped away by Jalen Reeves-Maybin on a third-and-7 run from the Minnesota 21 right after the 2-minute warning with Detroit out of timeouts.
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Eagles battle back to beat Panthers, end three-game losing streak
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Jalen Hurts ran for two second-half touchdowns and the Philadelphia Eagles battled back from a 12-point deficit to defeat the Carolina Panthers 21-18 on Sunday and snap a three-game losing streak.
After T.J. Edwards blocked a Carolina punt, Hurts scored on a 6-yard run-pass option with 2:38 left to give the Eagles their first lead of the game.
Carolina’s Sam Darnold was intercepted three times, twice by Darius Slay, and sacked three times as the Panthers offense struggled against an Eagles defense that allowed 83 points and 851 yards in its previous two games.
Darnold’s effort to bring Carolina (3-2) back in the final 2 1/2 minutes ended when he was picked off by Steven Nelson along the left sideline as he threw under pressure. The Eagles, who were held to 88 yards in the first half, ran out the clock from there to hand Carolina its first loss at home.
Canadian Chuba Hubbard ran for 101 yards on 24 carries for Carolina filling in for the injured Christian McCaffrey.
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Crosby hits 49-yarder after 3 misses, Packers top Bengals
CINCINNATI (AP) — Mason Crosby hit a 49-yard field goal in overtime after missing three straight attempts, lifting the Green Bay Packers to a wild 25-22 win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.
The typically reliable Crosby missed potential winners with 2:12 and then 3 seconds left in regulation, and missed another attempt in overtime before finally winning it. Heading into the game he was 44 of 46 on field goal attempts since the start of the 2019 season.
Crosby, who missed an extra-point earlier in the game and also made three field goals, came in having converted all six field-goal attempts and 11 PATs this year.
The Bengals’ Evan McPherson also missed on shots that could have won the game, with 26 seconds left in regulation and again in overtime.
The Bengals (3-2) tied the score late in the fourth period. Ja’Marr Chase made a nice catch on third-and-6 from the Packers 36 for 19 yards, and two plays later Joe Mixon bounced right for an 8-yard touchdown run. Burrow hit Tee Higgins in the back of the end zone for the 2-point conversion with 3:27 left.
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Fields throws 1st TD pass, Chicago’s defence dominates Vegas
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Justin Fields threw his first career touchdown pass, and the Chicago Bears’ defence largely shut down the Las Vegas Raiders’ high-powered offence in a 20-9 victory Sunday.
Damien Williams rushed for a touchdown in the Las Vegas debut for the Bears (3-2), who were accompanied by thousands of vacationing fans.
Derek Carr passed for 206 yards and Josh Jacobs rushed for a late touchdown in the second straight loss for the Raiders (3-2) — their first with fans in the stands at 2-year-old Allegiant Stadium.
Las Vegas struggled on offence in Jon Gruden’s first game since the revelation of the veteran Raiders coach’s racist comment about players’ union leader DeMaurice Smith in an email in 2011. The NFL is looking into the matter, and Gruden could face league discipline for comments made back when he was employed by ESPN.
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