After a humbling loss to the Buffalo Bills last week, the Miami Dolphins are back in first in the AFC East.
The Dolphins’ high-flying offence returned to form in a win over the New York Giants, while the Bills lost star linebacker Matt Milano to a likely season-ending injury in a painful defeat against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London.
Things are going better for another team near the Canadian-U.S. border, though. The Detroit Lions improved to 4-1 with a win over the winless Carolina Panthers.
Elsewhere in early action, the Atlanta Falcons scored a walk-off victory over the Houston Texans and the Pittsburgh Steelers rallied for a big divisional win against the Baltimore Ravens.
In the late window, Travis Kelce shook off an ankle injury to help the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Minnesota Vikings, who lost star receiver Justin Jefferson.
And in a much-needed breakout, receiver Ja’Marr Chase starred for the Cincinnati Bengals in a win over the Arizona Cardinals.
Here’s a look at all the Week 5 Sunday action.
DOLPHINS 31, GIANTS 16
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Rookie De’Von Achane had a 76-yard rushing touchdown, Tyreek Hill surpassed 150 yards receiving for the third time this season, and the Miami Dolphins beat the New York Giants 31-16 Sunday.
The Dolphins’ 524 yards gave them 2,568 for the season, which is the most yards through the first five games of a season in NFL history.
With the win, Miami (4-1) regained first place in the AFC East after the Buffalo Bills (3-2) lost to Jacksonville in London earlier Sunday.
Tua Tagovailoa was 22 for 30 for 308 yards with two touchdown passes and two interceptions.
The Giants’ Jason Pinnock returned one of the interceptions 102 yards for New York’s only touchdown. It was the Giants’ first touchdown in the first half of a game this season. The 102-yard interception return tied for the longest in Giants history.
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones left in the fourth with a neck injury after a sack by linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel. Tyrod Taylor replaced Jones with 12:11 left and led the Giants on a scoring drive capped by a 51-yard field goal by Graham Gano.
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JAGUARS 25, BILLS 20
LONDON (AP) — Travis Etienne rushed for 136 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns and the Jacksonville Jaguars beat the jet-lagged Buffalo Bills 25-20 on Sunday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The Jaguars (3-2) may not want to leave London after getting back-to-back wins in the British capital, ending Buffalo’s three-game winning streak and proving they can hang with an AFC powerhouse.
The Bills (3-2) had routed their past three opponents but looked tired at times, rushed for only 29 yards, and had a rash of injuries.
Etienne scored on a 35-yard run with just under three minutes left after carrying it in from 6 yards earlier.
Josh Allen twice brought the Bills back late in the fourth quarter. He ran it in from 3 yards to complete a 75-yard drive that took just 45 seconds, making it 25-20 before the two-minute warning.
With the Bills out of timeouts, the Jags punted to the Buffalo 6, leaving the Bills just 22 seconds. Stefon Diggs caught a pass and tried to lateral it, but Jacksonville recovered the fumble.
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CHIEFS 27, VIKINGS 20
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw two touchdown passes in the third quarter, one to Travis Kelce after the All-Pro tight end briefly left the game with an ankle injury, and the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Minnesota Vikings 27-20 on Sunday.
Mahomes went 31 for 41 for 281 yards and no turnovers in his most efficient performance of the season for the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs (4-1), who once again won while not at their best.
Kirk Cousins threw for scores to Jordan Addison and Alexander Mattison for the Vikings (1-4). They had two chances at the tying touchdown in the final five minutes, but a late hamstring injury to star wide receiver Justin Jefferson and a lack of timeouts from earlier mismanagement of the game were ultimately too much to overcome.
Jefferson slipped on the turf while trying to make a cut on his route during a third-down pass deep in Kansas City territory. He grabbed the back of his right leg and limped slowly to the sideline.
Mahomes hit Justin Watson with a 33-yard heave on third-and-18 from his own 17 to extend the Chiefs’ first possession of the second half. The two-time MVP finished that drive with a tiebreaking 8-yard scoring toss to Rashee Rice.
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JETS 31, BRONCOS 21
The New York Jets celebrated Nathaniel Hackett’s return to Denver by rallying past the Broncos 31-21 on Sunday behind Breece Hall’s 72-yard touchdown run and Bryce Hall’s 39-yard game-sealing scoop-and-score off Russell Wilson’s fumble in the final minute.
That gave Hackett, the Jets’ offensive coordinator who was fired after going 4-11 as Denver’s head coach last season, a measure of satisfaction. Especially after new Broncos coach Sean Payton trashed him during training camp for the job he’d done in Denver, particularly the way he handled Wilson during the quarterback’s dismal 2022 season
The Jets (2-3) overcame a sloppy, chippy first half to snap a three-game skid and hand the Broncos (1-4) their third home loss under Payton, who drew widespread criticism for excoriating Hackett in an interview with USA Today in July.
After the game, the Jets took their own swipe at Payton in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter: “When you lose to the -‘offseason champs’” — including a photo of comedian Kevin James, who portrayed Payton in a movie.
Although Wilson has returned to form under Payton’s tutelage, the Broncos are plagued by many of the same problems for which Payton blasted Hackett, and in the second half, the boobirds got as loud as they ever did last year.
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EAGLES 23, RAMS 14
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Jalen Hurts passed for 303 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 72 yards and another score, and the Philadelphia Eagles outlasted the Los Angeles Rams 23-14 on Sunday to remain unbeaten.
Dallas Goedert had eight catches for 117 yards and an early TD for the Eagles, who are off to their second consecutive 5-0 start despite getting tested throughout this meeting of the last two NFC champions.
A.J. Brown had six catches for 127 yards, but the Eagles couldn’t reach the end zone in the second half and had to rely on their defense, which shut out the Rams (2-3) after halftime.
Cooper Kupp had eight catches for 118 yards in the former Super Bowl MVP’s dynamic season debut for the Rams, who have lost three of four despite hanging in with three probable Super Bowl contenders during that stretch. Kupp made five catches for 56 yards on Los Angeles’ opening drive, but the offense struggled after that.
Matthew Stafford passed for 222 yards and hit Tutu Atwell and rookie Puka Nacua for touchdowns, but Los Angeles’ offense didn’t cross midfield in the second half. Nacua finished with seven catches for a career-low 71 yards.
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LIONS 41, PANTHERS 24
DETROIT (AP) — Jared Goff threw three touchdown passes in the first half and ran for a score in the fourth quarter, lifting the Detroit Lions to a 42-24 victory over the winless Carolina Panthers on Sunday.
The NFC North-leading Lions (4-1) are alone atop the division in October or later for the first time since 2016.
The Panthers (0-5) turned the ball over three times in the first half — two coming on consecutive snaps — to set up Detroit up for three touchdowns and a 28-10 halftime lead.
Carolina rookie quarterback Bryce Young was picked off twice in the first half and Miles Sanders lost a fumble.
Young, the No. 1 overall pick, was 25 of 41 for 247 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. He entered the game with two touchdowns, two interceptions and two fumbles lost in three starts.
Goff, meanwhile, made many more plays than mistakes. He was 20 of 28 for 236 yards, and his 1-yard sneak early in the fourth put Detroit ahead 35-10.
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STEELERS 17, RAVENS 10
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Kenny Pickett hit George Pickens for a 41-yard touchdown with 1:17 remaining and the Pittsburgh Steelers rallied to beat the Baltimore Ravens 17-10 on Sunday.
Pickett and the rest of Pittsburgh’s sporadic offense managed little over the game’s first 55 minutes but a late interception by rookie cornerback Joey Porter Jr. gave the Steelers (3-2) life and Pickett responded by driving Pittsburgh 80 yards in eight plays, the last 41 coming on a rainbow down the sideline to Pickens.
The score was the Steelers’ first touchdown in nearly nine quarters and it somehow was enough to beat the Ravens (3-2), who seemed intent on keeping Pittsburgh in the game before ultimately handing it to their longtime AFC North rivals.
The Ravens turned it over three times, including twice in the final five minutes.
Lamar Jackson’s wayward lob to the corner of the end zone intended for Zay Flowers instead landed in the arms of Porter. Jackson later fumbled on the Ravens’ penultimate possession, with Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt picking it up. Chris Boswell’s third field goal put Pittsburgh up a touchdown and Baltimore’s final drive ended with Watt’s sacking Jackson with 15 seconds to go.
Jackson finished 22 of 38 for 236 yards and the late interception. He also ran for 45 yards but fell to 2-4 in his career against Pittsburgh. Justice Hill ran 14 yards for a touch.
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FALCONS 21, TEXANS 19
ATLANTA (AP) — Desmond Ridder passed and ran for touchdowns, providing an answer to those who had called for him to be benched, Younghoe Koo kicked a go-ahead 37-yard field goal as time expired, and the Atlanta Falcons snapped a two-game skid by beating the Houston Texans 21-19 on Sunday.
Ridder’s 6-yard TD pass to rookie running back Bijan Robinson and 2-point pass to Tyler Allgeier gave the Falcons (3-2) a 15-12 lead early in the fourth quarter. Robinson reached back to catch the ball against his hip before running through the middle of the Houston defense into the end zone.
Houston rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud answered with an 18-yard scoring pass to tight end Dalton Schultz, giving the Texans a 19-18 lead with 1:49 remaining. Schultz found an opening in the middle of the end zone behind safety Jessie Bates.
The biggest gain on Atlanta’s decisive field-goal drive in the final minutes was Ridder’s 23-yard pass to Drake London.
Stroud set an NFL record by starting his career with 177 pass attempts without an interception. He broke the record previously held by Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott. Stroud had already set the NFL record for rookies a week earlier when he reached 151 attempts without an interception.
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BENGALS 34, CARDINALS 20
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Joe Burrow threw for 317 yards and three touchdown passes to Ja’Marr Chase, who finished with a season-high 192 yards receiving, and the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Arizona Cardinals 34-20 on Sunday.
It was a much-needed offensive performance for Burrow, who signed the NFL’s richest contract during the offseason but was slowed through his first four games of the season by a calf injury. The 26-year-old looked plenty healthy against the Cardinals, completing 36 of 46 passes and buying time on a handful of plays with his athleticism in the pocket.
Chase set a single-game franchise record with 15 receptions and he made tough catches in traffic by repeatedly finding seams in the Cardinals defense.
Cincinnati scored a touchdown in the first half for the first time this season and had three offensive touchdowns overall on Sunday, matching the unit’s total from the first four games combined.
The Bengals got the ball to start the second half and wasted little time scoring. Burrow unleashed a 63-yard touchdown pass to Chase on the third play of the third quarter, pushing Cincinnati’s advantage to 24-14.
The Cardinals cut that lead to 24-20 later in the third on Emari Demercado’s 11-yard touchdown run, which was the first of his pro career.
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SAINTS 34, PATRIOTS 0
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Alvin Kamara rushed for a touchdown to become the Saints’ career TD leader, Derek Carr had two scoring passes and New Orleans routed the New England Patriots 34-0 on Sunday.
Tyrann Mathieu added a 27-yard interception return for a touchdown to help New Orleans (3-2) chase Patriots quarterback Mac Jones from the game _ the second straight week coach Bill Belichick sidelined Jones in the second half.
Kamara punched in his 73rd career TD, one of his 22 carries for 80 yards. Carr finished 18 of 26 for 183 yards, and Michael Thomas had four catches for 65 yards as New Orleans ended a two-game skid.
It was the second worst shutout loss in team history for New England, trailing only a 52-0 drubbing in Miami against the undefeated Dolphins in 1972. It also drops the Patriots to 1-4 for the first time since 2000, Belichick’s first season in New England.
He remains a win short of joining Hall of Famers Don Shula and George Halas as the only coaches in NFL history with 300 regular-season victories.
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COLTS 23, TITANS 16
NDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Zack Moss upstaged the return of Jonathan Taylor by running for a career-high 165 yards and two scores and Gardner Minshew was sharp in relief of the injured Anthony Richardson to lead the Indianapolis Colts past the Tennessee Titans 23-16 on Sunday.
The Colts (3-2) snapped a seven-game losing streak at home by beating the Titans (2-3) for the first time in six tries.
Richardson left with a right shoulder injury late in the first half. He stayed down for several minutes before walking slowly from the field to the injury tent with his shoulder drooped. Several minutes later, he came out of the tent and walked with the team’s medical personnel into the locker room.
Richardson was ruled out early in the third quarter after going 9 of 12 for 98 yards. Minshew was 11 of 14 for 155 yards in relief of Richardson.
On a day when most expected Taylor or Tennessee’s Derrick Henry to be the focus, it was Moss who dazzled. He averaged 7.2 yards on 23 carries in his second 100-yard game this season, caught two passes for 30 yards and made play after play — just one day after the Colts announced they signed Taylor to a three-year contract extension.
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49ERS 42, COWBOYS 10
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Brock Purdy threw three of his four touchdown passes to George Kittle and the San Francisco 49ers extended their dominance over the Dallas Cowboys with a 42-10 victory Sunday night.
The Niners (5-0) knocked the Cowboys out of the playoffs in tight games the past two seasons, adding intrigue to this early season matchup between perceived contenders.
The rematch wasn’t even close.
The Niners led 14-0 before the Cowboys got their initial first down of the night and were never really threatened on the way to matching a franchise record with their 15th straight regular-season win and earning their fifth 5-0 start.
Purdy calmly picked apart the league’s stingiest defense to improve to 10-0 as a starter in the NFL and San Francisco’s defense made life difficult on Dak Prescott all night.
Prescott was sacked three times and heaved an interception into double coverage after Dallas fell behind 28-10 in the third quarter. He threw two more interceptions in the fourth quarter with his only highlight coming on a 26-yard TD pass to KaVontae Turpin in the second quarter.
It was Dallas’ most lopsided defeat since losing 49-17 to New Orleans in 2013.
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