C.J. Stroud threw two touchdown passes to Nico Collins and the Houston Texans clinched the AFC South title with a 20-12 victory over the visiting Miami Dolphins on Sunday afternoon.
Will Anderson Jr. forced a turnover with a key strip-sack, Derek Stingley Jr. recorded two interceptions and Calen Bullock also had a pick for Houston (9-5). The Texans formally clinched the division when the Indianapolis Colts lost to the Denver Broncos later Sunday.
Tua Tagovailoa completed 29 of 40 passes for 196 yards and one touchdown for Miami, but he lost a fumble and also matched his career worst of three interceptions. Tagovailoa had thrown just one pick over his last seven games.
The loss was costly for the Dolphins (6-8), who are two games out in the AFC wild-card race.
Miami receiver Grant DuBose was stretchered off the field during the third quarter after taking a hard helmet-to-helmet hit from Bullock.
Medical personnel working on DuBose cut his uniform top off.
Miami said DuBose is in stable condition and will stay overnight at a Houston hospital. Bullock said after the game that the hit wasn’t intentional.
Stroud completed 18 of 26 passes for 131 yards. Houston totaled just 181 yards of but prospered off the four takeaways. Miami had 224 yards.
The second hook-up from Stroud to Collins — a 6-yard TD play — gave Houston a 20-6 lead with 11:02 left in the third quarter. The score was set up by a fake punt in which Dare Ogunbowale scampered 35 yards to the Miami 9-yard line. An unnecessary roughness call on the play set the Texans up at the 4.
The Dolphins moved within 20-12 on Tagovailoa’s 7-yard scoring pass to Jonnu Smith with 4:30 left in the period. Miami’s Jason Sanders missed the extra point.
The Dolphins were driving in the fourth quarter when Stingley jumped the route while covering Tyreek Hill, intercepted Tagovailoa at the Houston 8 and returned it 10 yards with 10:26 left in the game.
Stingley’s second pick came with 1:37 remaining to wrap up the Texans’ victory.
After the teams traded field goals early in the game, Anderson had a strip-sack of Tagovailoa in which teammate Tim Settle Jr. recovered the ball at the Miami 28-yard line with 9:25 left in the first half.
Four plays later, Stroud hit Collins with a 6-yard scoring pass to give Houston a 10-3 lead with 6:45 left in the half.
Sanders booted a 36-yard field goal with 1:57 remaining. The Dolphins got the ball back but Tagovailoa was intercepted by Bullock, who returned the ball 68 yards to the Miami 5. It set up Ka’imi Fairbairn’s 23-yard field goal as time expired for a 13-6 lead.
Cooper Rush throws 3 TD passes as Cowboys beat Panthers
Cooper Rush threw for two of his three touchdowns in the third quarter as the Dallas Cowboys pulled away from the Carolina Panthers for a 30-14 victory on Sunday afternoon at Charlotte.
CeeDee Lamb had 116 receiving yards and a touchdown on nine catches and Rico Dowdle rushed for a career-high 149 yards on 25 carries for Dallas (6-8), which is trying to stay in playoff contention. Brandon Aubrey kicked three field goals.
The Cowboys recovered from a potentially devastating turn of events late in the first half.
Panthers quarterback Bryce Young committed three of his four turnovers — two interceptions and a pair of fumbles — in the game’s first 31 minutes. He threw for 219 yards on 19-for-28 passing, but Carolina (3-11) lost its fourth consecutive game. Young ran for a fourth-quarter touchdown.
After leading 10-7 at halftime, the Cowboys broke the game open following Young’s fumble on the first play from scrimmage of the third quarter. Rush found Jalen Tolbert from 11 yards out for a touchdown for the first points of a 17-0 blitz that spanned 13-plus minutes of game time.
Rush hooked up with Jalen Brooks for a 17-yard touchdown about midway through the third quarter. The Cowboys went up 27-7 on Aubrey’s 45-yard field goal in the opening minute of the fourth.
Dallas scored first when Rush threw to Lamb, who made a diving catch in the end zone on a 14-yard play. Aubrey’s 52-yard field goal stretched the Cowboys’ lead to 10-0 with 4:05 to go in the second quarter.
The Cowboys were in position to stretch the lead again in the final minute of the first half, moving inside the Carolina 15-yard line. But Rush had an unforced fumble, with the Panthers recovering.
On the next play, Young threw to Jalen Coker, who was uncovered and raced to the end zone for an 83-yard touchdown with 31 seconds left in the half. It was the longest pass play of Young’s two-year career.
Dallas aimed for a quick response before halftime, but Aubrey was short on what would have been an NFL-record 70-yard field goal.
Jordan Love’s 2 TD passes propel Packers past Seahawks
Jordan Love threw two touchdown passes to Romeo Doubs and Josh Jacobs rushed for 94 yards and another score as the Green Bay Packers defeated the host Seattle Seahawks 30-13 Sunday night.
The Packers (10-4) limited Seattle (8-6) to 208 yards of total offense, forced two turnovers and had seven sacks.
Love was 20 of 27 for 229 yards with two TDs and no interceptions. Doubs made three catches for 40 yards.
Doubs, who missed the previous two games with a concussion, made a diving catch in the back of the end zone on a 22-yard pass from Love with 4:59 remaining to clinch the victory.
Seattle’s Geno Smith was 15-of-19 passing for 149 yards with no touchdowns and one interception before suffering a right knee injury late in the third quarter. Smith’s replacement, Sam Howell, was 5 of 14 for 24 yards with an interception.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba had a game-high 10 receptions for 83 yards for the Seahawks.
Seattle’s lone touchdown came on a 24-yard run by Zach Charbonnet with 11:16 remaining. The drive was set up when Earnest Jones IV forced Jacobs to fumble at midfield, with Julian Love recovering the ball.
The Packers scored on all four of their first-half possessions to take a 20-3 lead.
Jacobs capped Green Bay’s opening drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. Jordan Love threw a 13-yard scoring strike to Doubs late in the first to make it 14-0.
Seattle’s Jason Myers booted a 48-yard field goal early in the second before the Packers closed the half with 39- and 21-yard kicks by Brandon McManus, the latter on the final play before the intermission.
The Seahawks reached Green Bay’s 12-yard line with three minutes left in the half before Smith’s pass into the back left corner of the end zone for tight end Noah Fant was intercepted by Carrington Valentine.
The teams traded field goals in the third quarter, with Myers converting from 45 yards and McManus from 23 to give the Packers a 23-6 lead.
Big day by Josh Allen helps Bills tame Lions
Josh Allen passed for two touchdowns and rushed for two more and the visiting Buffalo Bills halted Detroit’s franchise-record 11-game winning streak with a 48-42 victory over the Lions on Sunday.
Allen, who has 10 total touchdowns in the last two games, passed for 362 yards and rushed for 68 yards. James Cook rushed for 105 yards and two touchdowns for the Bills (11-3).
Jared Goff passed for 494 yards and matched his career high of five touchdowns for the Lions (12-2). Amon Ra St. Brown caught a touchdown while establishing career bests of 14 passes for 193 yards.
The teams combined for 1,080 yards. Buffalo had 559, Detroit totaled 521.
The Bills led 21-14 at halftime.
Buffalo scored on its first possession, driving 73 yards. Allen then plunged in from a yard out for the touchdown.
The next Bills possession began with a 28-yard pass from Allen to Cook. The 78-yard drive ended with a 4-yard run by Allen. Detroit answered with a 70-yard drive that Goff completed with a 12-yard scoring pass to Tim Patrick.
The Bills made it 21-7 on Cook’s 6-yard run.
Detroit pulled within a touchdown again on a tackle-eligible play, as Goff connected with Dan Skipper on a 9-yard scoring pass.
The Bills extended the advantage to 28-14 less than two minutes into the second half on Cook’s 41-yard run. Following a St. Brown fumble in Lions territory, the Bills scored again. Allen threw a shovel pass to Khalil Shakir for a 3-yard touchdown with 3:31 left in the third quarter.
The Lions answered before the quarter ended as St. Brown caught a pass from Goff near midfield and raced into the end zone on a 66-yard play.
Tyler Bass kicked a 50-yard field goal in the first minute of the fourth quarter to make it 38-21. Goff’s 12-yard TD pass to Jahmyr Gibbs with 12 minutes left cut Buffalo’s lead to 10.
A Detroit onside kick backfired as Mack Hollins returned it 37 yards to the 5. Allen tossed a scoring pass to Ray Davis on the next play.
Gibbs scored on a 1-yard run with 8:02 left. Bass made a 41-yard field goal with 2:03 remaining for the 48-35 lead. Goff hit Jameson Williams from 3 yards out with 12 seconds left for the final score.
Jayden Daniels leads Commanders to 1-point win over Saints
Jayden Daniels threw two touchdown passes to Terry McLaurin and the visiting Washington Commanders held on to defeat the New Orleans Saints 20-19 on Sunday afternoon.
Daniels completed 25 of 31 passes for 226 yards without an interception and rushed 11 times for 66 yards, but was sacked eight times. McLaurin finished with seven catches for 73 yards and the Commanders (9-5) held on when a Saints two-point conversion pass failed with no time left.
Second-year quarterback Jake Haener made his first NFL start in place of injured Derek Carr and completed 4 of 10 passes for 49 yards with an interception in one half for the Saints (5-9).
Rookie Spencer Rattler, who was 0-3 while starting place of Carr due to a different injury earlier in the season, relieved Haener to start the second half and completed 10 of 21 passes for 135 yards and a touchdown.
Rattler threw a 1-yard TD to Foster Moreau as time expired, but his ensuing conversion pass failed.
The Commanders received the second-half kickoff and drove to the New Orleans 1, but on third and goal, Daniels was sacked by Cameron Jordan. Greg Joseph kicked a 23-yard field goal that gave Washington a 17-0 lead.
Rattler replaced Haener on the ensuing possession and completed 2 of 4 passes for 51 yards. Wide receiver Cedrick Wilson threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Alvin Kamara, trimming the deficit to 17-7 at the end of the quarter.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Joseph kicked a 41-yard field goal to push the lead to 20-7. Blake Grupe kicked a 41-yard field goal then a 51-yarder to cut the lead to 20-13 with 6:57 left.
Joseph missed a 54-yarder, giving the Saints the ball at their 44 with 1:56 remaining, and Rattler drove them to the final touchdown as time ran out.
On the conversion attempt, Rattler rolled right and tried to hit tight end Juwan Johnson in the front-right corner of the end zone. But the ball sailed wide of a diving Johnson.
On Washington’s first possession, Daniels threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to McLaurin for a 7-0 lead that held up through the end of the first quarter.
Daniels and McLaurin hooked up for a 3-yard scoring toss in the second quarter to take a 14-0 halftime lead.