Jimmy Garoppolo passed for 349 yards and four touchdowns, Robbie Gould kicked a 30-yard field goal as time expired, and the San Francisco 49ers pulled out a 48-46 victory over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
Garoppolo’s clutch completion to tight end George Kittle for a 39-yard gain plus a defensive facemask penalty on fourth-and-two from the San Francisco 33 helped set up Gould’s winning kick. The Saints took their last lead on Drew Brees’ fifth touchdown pass of the game an 18-yarder to Tre’Quan Smith with 53 seconds left. But Brees’ pass on an attempted two-point conversion fell incomplete, leaving New Orleans’ lead at one point. The victory kept San Francisco (11-2) in strong position to capture the top seed in the NFC playoffs.
Baltimore Ravens 24-17 Buffalo Bills
Lamar Jackson threw three touchdown passes and the Baltimore Ravens became the AFC’s first team to clinch a playoff berth following a 24-17 win over the Buffalo Bills. Baltimore extended their franchise-best winning streak to nine straight and improved to 11-2, their best record through 13 games in team history.
Indianapolis Colts 35-38 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Jameis Winston threw for 456 yards and four touchdowns, helping the Tampa Bay Buccaneers rally to beat the reeling Indianapolis Colts.
Winston overcame throwing three more interceptions and having one returned for a TD for the fifth time season to wipe out a 14-point, second-half deficit. He led the Bucs (6-7) to their third straight win and fourth in five games. The Colts (6-7) have dropped five of six following a 5-2 start, falling from first place to third in the AFC South.
Washington 15-20 Green Bay Packers
Aaron Jones rushed for a season-high 134 yards and a touchdown on just 16 carries, Aaron Rodgers threw for 195 yards and the Green Bay Packers did enough to beat Washington.
Jones had his third 100-yard rushing game of the season and hauled in six catches for 58 yards. With fewer than three minutes left in the game, the third-year running back had more total yards (192) than Washington (187). Adrian Peterson became just the sixth back in NFL history to reach the 14,000-yard mark, running for 76 yards and a score.
Denver Broncos 38-24 Houston Texans
Rookie Drew Lock threw for 309 yards and three touchdowns, Kareem Jackson had an interception and returned a fumble 70 yards for a touchdown against his former team as the Denver Broncos built a huge first-half lead and coasted past the Houston Texans on Sunday.
Lock, who made his NFL debut in a win over the Chargers last week, threw for 235 yards with three TDs in the first half. It was the most yards passing in a first half by the Broncos since Peyton Manning had 282 in Week 5 of 2014. The Broncos (5-8) scored on their first five possessions to build 38-3 lead early in the third quarter. They scored more than 24 points for the first time since October 2018.
Cincinnati Bengals 19-27 Cleveland Browns
Nick Chubb ran for 106 yards 99 after halftime and Baker Mayfield and Kareem Hunt had rushing touchdowns as the Cleveland Browns kept their faint playoff hopes alive. The Bengals have lost 10 straight AFC North games.
Denzel Ward returned an interception 61 yards for Cleveland’s first score and the Browns (6-7) got a huge late break. Mayfield’s third interception was reversed with a rare interference call to bounce back after a discouraging loss at Pittsburgh last week. Cleveland need to run the table to have any chance of ending their 17-year postseason drought, the NFL’s current longest.
Miami Dolphins 21-22 New York Jets
Sam Ficken kicked a 44-yard field goal as time expired to give the New York Jets a 22-21 comeback victory over the Miami Dolphins.
Sam Darnold got the winning drive going with a short pass to Vyncint Smith, who turned it into a 37-yard gain that included a high-step over a would-be tackler. After a sack two plays later put the ball at the Dolphins 46, Darnold threw an incomplete pass to Smith but the Jets argued that Nik Needham interfered with the receiver by wrapping his right arm around Smith’s right shoulder. Officials overturned the call after a video review giving the Jets a first down and new life. A 12-yard catch by Ty Montgomery got the ball to the 26. Two plays later, Ficken won it, helping the Jets (5-8) avoid a season sweep by the lowly Dolphins (3-10).
Detroit Lions 7-20 Minnesota Vikings
Danielle Hunter had three of Minnesota’s five sacks to spearhead a resurgence by the defense, and the Vikings sailed past Detroit 20-7 to stick the Lions with their sixth straight loss. Kirk Cousins passed for 242 yards and a touchdown in an efficient if unspectacular performance, and Dalvin Cook had 75 yards from scrimmage and a rushing score on 20 touches over three quarters as the Vikings (9-4) took it easy on their star tailback after an injury to his collarbone area forced him out of the previous game.
Carolina Panthers 20-40 Atlanta Falcons
Matt Ryan threw the longest touchdown pass of his career and became the 10th quarterback in NFL history to reach 50,000 yards, leading the Atlanta Falcons to another dominating win over Carolina.
The Panthers (5-8) were officially eliminated from playoff contention with their fifth straight loss, which ruined the debut of interim coach Perry Fewell. He took over at the beginning of the week after longtime coach Ron Rivera was fired.
Atlanta (4-9) snapped a two-game losing streak and swept the season series with their I-85 rival. Throwing from his own end zone, Ryan finished off the Panthers with a 93-yard touchdown pass to little-used Olamide Zaccheaus in the third quarter. It was a milestone play for both the longest TD of Ryan’s 12-year career, and the first career reception for Zaccheaus, an undrafted rookie.
