The Buffalo Bills didn’t have the same home-field advantage they usually do, but that didn’t stop them from snapping a two-game losing streak.
The snowed-out Bills moved to Detroit and beat the Cleveland Browns 31-23.
Sunday also saw two other AFC East teams — the Patriots and Jets — play a 3-3 snoozefest until the final play of the game. That’s when Marcus Jones returned a punt for an 84-yard touchdown, extending New England’s winning streak over New York to 14 games.
In the later games, the Dallas Cowboys crushed the Vikings 40-3, ending Minnesota’s seven-game win streak in spectacular fashion. Plus the Raiders got an important overtime win over the Broncos and the Bengals beat the Steelers in a high-scoring affair.
Then in the Sunday night game, Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes continued their dominance of the AFC West with a come-from-behind win over the Chargers.
Here is a complete recap of Week 11’s Sunday games.
Bills 31, Browns 23
DETROIT (AP) — Josh Allen threw a go-ahead, 5-yard touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs late in the first half and Buffalo beat the Cleveland Browns 31-23 on Sunday after the NFL moved the Bills’ home game to Detroit due to several feet of snow blanketing western New York.
The Bills (7-3) avoided blowing a third straight halftime lead by scoring on all five of their possessions in the second half and doing a better job protecting the ball.
Cleveland (3-7) rallied within eight points, setting up an onside kick in the final seconds that Bills receiver Gabe Davis failed to grab and running back Taiwan Jones knocked out of bounds.
Plenty of supporters from both fan bases attended, chanting “Let’s Go Buffalo!” and barking like dogs.
Buffalo lost its raucous home-field advantage, but the team did its best to bring some of the sights and sounds familiar at Highmark Stadium, such as a blaring train horn and calls for Bills Mafia to get loud at key moments.
Buffalo, which will return to Detroit to play the Lions on Thanksgiving, started sluggishly after a week disrupted by a winter storm.
Allen found a rhythm on an 11-play, 78-yard drive that took just 1 minute, 40 seconds and ended with Allen’s first pass to Diggs.
The Bills scored a second-half touchdown for the first time in four games on Devin Singletary’s 5-yard run. They also stopped Jacoby Brissett’s sneak on fourth-and-1 from the Buffalo 27 and blocked a field goal in the third quarter while building a 22-10 lead.
The Browns missed many opportunities to keep their playoff hopes from fading completely with quarterback Deshaun Watson nearing the end of his 11-game NFL suspension.
Cowboys 40, Vikings 3
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Tony Pollard had two touchdown catches for Dallas with a career-high 189 yards from scrimmage, and the Cowboys sacked Kirk Cousins a career-most seven times in a 40-3 victory over Minnesota on Sunday that slammed the Vikings’ seven-game winning streak to a screeching halt.
Dak Prescott was flawless at quarterback, Ezekiel Elliott rushed for two scores in his return from injury and Brett Maher made four field goals — including a 60-yarder to end the first half. The Cowboys (7-3) didn’t punt until their eighth possession, and the defence was just as good.
Micah Parsons and Dorance Armstrong had two sacks apiece in the fifth-largest loss ever for the Vikings — and the biggest road win in Cowboys history.
The Vikings (8-2) have been the king of the comebacks in an NFL season featuring the smallest average winning margin in 90 years, none more remarkable than last week at Buffalo when they turned a 17-point deficit late in the third quarter into an overtime victory.
Parsons promised Prescott and the offence this week the Cowboys would never again lose a 14-point fourth-quarter lead like they did last week for the first time in franchise history when they fell in overtime at Green Bay.
They carried out a near-perfect game plan with stunning ease against a team that entered the week tied for the best record in the league.
After surrendering 200 rushing yards in consecutive games for the first time since their 1960 inaugural season, the Cowboys flipped the script by gaining 108 yards on the ground in the first half. Seven of their eight third-down conversions came by rushing, and then they turned Pollard loose as a pass-catcher out of the backfield.
The epitome of the blowout came soon after halftime when the Cowboys faced third-and-14. With no hurry to throw — he was not sacked all afternoon — Prescott found Pollard in a one-on-one mismatch with linebacker Jordan Hicks and lofted a pass near the sideline for a 68-yard score that gave Dallas a 30-3 lead. The Vikings were so out of sorts they had six penalties for 54 yards in the third quarter alone.
Cousins went 12 for 23 for 105 yards and a lost fumble that Parsons forced with a blind-side sack the first time the Vikings tried to pass. Justin Jefferson, coming off a career-high 193 receiving yards against the Bills, had 33 yards on three catches.
Chiefs 30, Chargers 27
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes connected with Travis Kelce for their third touchdown of the game with 31 seconds remaining, and the Kansas City Chiefs rallied past the Los Angeles Chargers 30-27 on Sunday night to stay atop the AFC.
Mahomes hit Kelce on a short crossing route that Kelce took to the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown, concluding a six-play, 75-yard drive that took just 1:15. The Chargers had pulled ahead 27-23 on Justin Herbert’s 6-yard touchdown pass to Joshua Palmer with 1:46 left.
Herbert and the Chargers had one final chance, but Nick Bolton intercepted a deflected pass to seal it for the Chiefs (8-2), who swept the season series from Los Angeles (5-5) and took a three-game lead in the AFC West.
With a one-game lead over four teams in the conference, Kansas City is in position to claim home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Mahomes completed 20 of 34 for 329 yards without two of his top receivers. He still had Kelce, who had six catches for 115 yards.
Kelce scored at least three touchdowns for the second time in his career. He scored four in a Monday night win over the Raiders on Oct. 10.
Chiefs rookie Isiah Pacheco rushed for a career-high 107 yards.
Herbert completed 23 of 30 for 280 yards and two touchdowns, both to Palmer, who had eight receptions for 108 yards. It was easily the Chargers’ best offensive performance in nearly a month as the unit was bolstered by the return of receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams.
Allen, playing only his third game due to a nagging hamstring injury, had five receptions for 94 yards, including a 46-yard catch up the right sideline on the go-ahead drive to put the ball on the Chiefs 16-yard line.
It wasn’t enough for the Chargers, who lost their second straight.
Eagles 17, Colts 16
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Jalen Hurts ran for an 8-yard touchdown with 1:20 remaining, and the Philadelphia Eagles rallied past the Indianapolis Colts 17-16 on Sunday.
Coming off their first loss of the season, the Eagles (9-1) trailed 13-3 in the fourth quarter. Hurts threw for a touchdown early in the period to get Philly within three.
The third-year quarterback was 18 of 25 with 190 yards through the air and rushed 16 times for 86 yards as the Eagles won their seventh straight road game.
Indianapolis (4-6-1) never trailed until Hurts’ scoring run. Interim coach Jeff Saturday evened his record at 1-1 since taking over for the fired Frank Reich.
Hurts did it all, routinely burning the Colts for big runs. And on third-and-goal from the 8-yard line, he found a seam in the middle and sprinted across the goal line for the decisive score.
Indy had a chance for a game-winning drive, but it stalled before the Colts could get to midfield and they turned it over on downs.
Patriots 10, Jets 3
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Marcus Jones returned a punt 84 yards for a touchdown with 5 seconds remaining and the New England Patriots outlasted the stunned New York Jets 10-3 on Sunday.
Jones’ score was the lone TD of the game and broke a stalemate on a day when both offences struggled to move the ball.
It was the third straight win for the Patriots (6-4) and their 14th straight over New York. They also denied the Jets (6-4) a chance to move into first place in the AFC East this late in the season for the first time since 2010. Instead, New York dropped to last place.
The Jets haven’t won in Foxborough since the 2010 playoffs when they knocked out the Patriots in the divisional round.
The Patriots moved the ball well at times, with Mac Jones completing 23 of 27 passes for 246 yards. But they were only 4 of 15 on third down and had only one field goal — with Nick Folk missing two attempts — despite getting inside the Jets 30 three times.
New York sacked Jones six times, but managed only 103 yards on offence. Zach Wilson was just 9 of 22 for 77 yards, and Braden Mann punted 10 times.
Lions 31, Giants 18
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Jamaal Williams ran for a career-high three touchdowns and the Detroit Lions stunned the New York Giants 31-18 Sunday, posting consecutive road wins and their first three-game winning streak since November 2017.
Williams ran for a 4-yard TD and two 1-yard scores and the Lions’ much-maligned run defence shut down NFL leading rusher Saquon Barkley and forced three turnovers on a cold, blustery afternoon at MetLife Stadium.
Defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, the No. 2 overall pick in the draft in April, intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble to help set up 14 points. Jared Goff and the Lions’ offence didn’t have a turnover for the second straight game.
Michael Badgley added a 24-yard field goal for Detroit (4-6), which until last week had not won a road game under second-year coach Dan Campbell.
The mistake-prone Giants (7-3) got 3-yard touchdown runs by Daniel Jones and Matt Breida. Jones also threw a meaningless late TD to Richie James but also was intercepted twice, his first picks since Week 3.
Bengals 37, Steelers 30
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Joe Burrow threw four touchdown passes, three to backup running back Samaje Perine, and the Cincinnati Bengals rallied past the Pittsburgh Steelers 37-30 on Sunday.
The Bengals (6-4) won for the fourth time in five games by relying heavily on Perine, who thrived with starter Joe Mixon missing the second half after going into the NFL’s concussion protocol.
Burrow completed 24 of 39 passes for 355 yards on the day he became the third-fastest player in NFL history to reach 10,000 career yards passing. Perine ran for 30 yards and caught four passes for 52 yards, racing into the end zone three times while the defenders in charge of covering him gave chase in vain.
Pittsburgh (3-7) saw its chance of repeating the Week 1 upset it pulled off in Cincinnati in September vanish in the second half as a 20-17 lead slipped away. Rookie Kenny Pickett passed for 265 yards and a touchdown and Najee Harris ran for 90 yards and two scores, but the NFL’s second-lowest scoring offence sputtered for most of the second half.
Cincinnati has won four of five against the Steelers. The Bengals had dropped 14 of their previous 15 against their longtime AFC North nemesis.
Commanders 23, Texans 10
HOUSTON (AP) — Taylor Heinicke threw for 191 yards, Kendall Fuller returned an interception for a touchdown, and the Washington Commanders rolled to a 23-10 win over the hapless Houston Texans on Sunday.
Heinicke, who started a fifth straight game for the injured Carson Wentz, had another solid performance to help the Commanders (6-5) build on last week’s victory over Philadelphia and win their fifth of six.
Davis Mills threw two interceptions and Houston mustered a season-low 148 yards of offence as the Texans (1-8-1) lost their fifth straight and remained the NFL’s only one-win team.
Washington led 20-0 at halftime behind Fuller’s pick-6, a TD run by Curtis Samuel and a historically bad first half by Houston’s offence.
The Texans were outgained 246-5 in the first half, their fewest net yards in a half franchise history, passing the 8 they managed in the first half of a 40-0 loss to the Bills last season.
It was the fewest yards by a team in a half since the Raiders had minus-12 in a win over the Broncos in 2015, a terrible performance even by the standards of this struggling team. Mills had minus-1 yard passing in the first half as he was sacked three times before the break.
The Commanders scored only a field goal after halftime, but their dominant first half was plenty.
Falcons 27, Bears 24
ATLANTA (AP) — Younghoe Koo’s 53-yard field goal gave Atlanta the lead with less than two minutes to play and the Falcons overcame another impressive game from Chicago’s Justin Fields to beat the Bears 27-24 on Sunday.
Fields ran for 85 yards with a touchdown, but the Bears suffered their fourth consecutive loss. Chicago (3-8) has lost six of seven.
Fields’ pass for running back David Montgomery was intercepted by Falcons safety Jaylinn Hawkins with 1:07 remaining. A 26-yard run by rookie Tyler Allgeier allowed the Falcons, who rushed for 149 yards, to wind down the clock.
Marcus Mariota ran and threw for touchdowns for Atlanta (5-6), which pulled within one-half game of NFC-leading Tampa Bay on the Buccaneers’ bye week.
Atlanta running back Cordarrelle Patterson, who played for the Bears for two years before signing with the Falcons in 2021, set the NFL record with his ninth career kickoff return for a touchdown. His 103-yard return in the second quarter broke a tie with Joshua Cribbs and Leon Washington for the mark.
Saints 27, Rams 20
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Andy Dalton passed for three touchdowns, Mathew Stafford left the field to be evaluated for a concussion in the second half and the New Orleans Saints defeated the reeling Los Angeles Rams 27-20 on Sunday.
Stafford’s departure from the game came two days after he’d been cleared to return from the NFL’s concussion protocol.
Stafford was effective in the first half, after which the Rams led 14-10, and he left the game having completed 11 of 18 passes for 159 yards and two touchdowns, including a 62-yarder to Tutu Atwell.
He appeared to hit his head on the Superdome turf during a third-quarter possession and was subsequently sacked by blitzing linebacker Demario Davis and defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon to end the last drive he played before walking down the tunnel toward the locker room.
He was replaced by Bryce Perkins, who led the Rams to a field goal on his first series, but struggled thereafter and was sacked twice to stall his third series late in the fourth quarter, all but sealing the game’s result.
The defending champion Rams (3-7), who’ve now lost four straight, didn’t pull within a touchdown until Matt Gay’s 58-yard field goal with 6 seconds remaining and the Saints recovered a subsequent onside kick.
Dalton’s performance validated a decision by the Saints (4-7) to stick with him after the club’s worst offensive performances of the season during a two-game skid that spanned Weeks 9 and 10. Jameis Winston, who has not played since Week 3, when he was struggling with back and ankle injuries, has said he’s ready and wanting to return.
Dalton completed 21 of 25 passes for 260 yards, including a 53-yard touchdown pass deep down the middle of the field to Chris Olave to make it 24-14 late in the third quarter.
Ravens 13, Panthers 3
BALTIMORE (AP) — Lamar Jackson ran for a 1-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, and the Baltimore Ravens forced three late Carolina turnovers in a 13-3 victory Sunday.
Justin Tucker kicked two field goals, including a tiebreaking 37-yarder with 8:27 remaining. Then Marcus Peters forced a fumble by Shi Smith, giving the Ravens the ball at the Carolina 31. Baltimore (7-3) took advantage of a short field, finally reaching the end zone on Jackson’s run with 7:16 to play.
Marlon Humphrey, who recovered Smith’s fumble, later added an interception. Jason Pierre-Paul also picked off a pass in the final minute. It was the 12th straight game Baltimore forced at least one turnover.
The AFC North-leading Ravens won their fourth straight despite being stuck in neutral offensively for much of the game. Jackson threw for 209 yards with an interception and Demarcus Robinson caught nine passes for 128 yards, but that was about all that was working for either team offensively on a chilly, windy day in Baltimore.
Tucker and Eddy Pineiro traded 32-yard field goals, leaving the score tied at 3 through three quarters.
The Ravens, who have led every game this season by double digits at some point, have had some rough fourth quarters — but this wasn’t one of them. Baltimore drove 67 yards in 12 plays to set up Tucker’s second field goal, and then Jackson’s TD gave them a 10-point lead that felt pretty safe.
Raiders 22, Broncos 16 (OT)
DENVER (AP) — Derek Carr hit a wide-open Davante Adams with a 35-yard touchdown pass on the third play of overtime, powering the Las Vegas Raiders to a 22-16 win over the Denver Broncos on Sunday.
The Raiders (3-7) never led in regulation but sent the game into OT when Daniel Carlson kicked a 25-yard field goal with 16 seconds left after a crucial blunder by Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson.
The Broncos (3-7) were clinging to a 16-13 lead at the 2-minute warning but Wilson rolled right on third-and-10 from his own 34 and instead of sliding to burn more time, he pulled up and fired out of bounds.
That saved crucial seconds for the Raiders, who didn’t have any timeouts left and got the ball back with 1:43 left instead of about a minute.
Carr drove them 71 yards, hitting running back Josh Jacobs for 43 yards to the Denver 7 to set up Carlson’s game-tying kick.
The Raiders won the overtime coin toss and Brandon McManus kicked it to the 5-yard line instead of blasting the ball out of the back of the end zone. Ameer Abdullah returned it 28 yards to the Las Vegas 33.
After Jacobs — who had 109 yards rushing and 51 receiving — lost a yard, Carr hit tight end Foster Moreau for 33 yards over the middle to the Denver 35. From there, Adams confused the Denver defence and was all alone for the game-winner, which gave him 141 yards and two TDs on seven catches. Carr finished 23 of 37 for 307 yards.
