ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Josh Allen threw four touchdown passes and ran for a score, and the Buffalo Bills brought Miami’s unbeaten start to an emphatic end, beating the division rival Dolphins 48-20 on Sunday.
A week after Miami had one of the most impressive offensive performances in NFL history in a 70-20 win over Denver, Buffalo (3-1) showed the Dolphins (3-1) a thing or two about efficient offence while taking over first place in the AFC East.
Stefon Diggs caught three touchdowns and finished with six receptions for 120 yards. Allen went 21 of 25 for 320 yards and had his 10th game with four passing TDs.
Miami moved the ball reasonably well, finishing with 393 yards of offence, but the Bills forced two turnovers and sacked quarterback Tua Tagovailoa four times.
The Bills suffered one major setback when cornerback Tre’Davious White was carted off in the third quarter with what the team said was an Achilles tendon injury. White pulled up while covering Tyreek Hill and was unable to put any weight on his right leg.
Buffalo (3-1) never trailed and finished with 414 yards of offence, scoring on eight of its first nine possessions. The three-time AFC East champion Bills have won three straight since a season-opening loss at the New York Jets.
The Dolphins (3-1) squandered chances to open a season with four wins for the first time since 1995 and to take a two-game lead over Buffalo in the division.
VIKINGS 21, PANTHERS 13
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Kirk Cousins threw two touchdown passes to Justin Jefferson and D.J. Wonnum returned Bryce Young’s fumble 51 yards for a momentum-changing touchdown, and the Minnesota Vikings held on to beat the Carolina Panthers 21-13 on Sunday for their first win of the season.
Cousins overcame two interceptions, including one that was returned 99 yards for a touchdown by Sam Franklin, and finished with 139 yards passing. Jefferson beat a Carolina secondary playing without three starters for 85 yards on six catches.
Alexander Mattison ran for 95 yards and Harrison Smith had three sacks for the Vikings (1-3), including the one that led to Wonnum’s score.
Bryce Young was 25 of 32 for 204 yards for Carolina.
The winless Panthers (0-4) find themselves in a tremendous hole. Of the 164 teams that have started 0-4 in the Super Bowl era, only the 1992 Chargers went on to make the playoffs.
TITANS 27, BENGALS 3
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Ryan Tannehill threw for 240 yards and a touchdown and the Tennessee Titans rebounded from the franchise’s worst offensive performance in 49 years by routing the Cincinnati Bengals 27-3 Sunday.
The Titans (2-2) managed only 94 yards in losing last week in Cleveland, and they bounced back strongly. They scored 27 unanswered points and led 24-3 at halftime, giving coach Mike Vrabel his first win in four tries against Cincinnati.
Derrick Henry ran 29 yards for a touchdown, and he also found rookie tight end Josh Whyle for a 2-yard TD on a jump pass from the wildcat just before halftime. Henry, held to just 20 yards rushing last week, finished with 122 yards on 22 carries.
Tennessee played without a pair of offensive starters with left guard Peter Skoronski missing his third game recovering from an appendectomy, and wide receiver Treylon Burks out with an injured left knee. It didn’t matter as Tennessee sacked Joe Burrow three times and stripped him of the ball.
The Bengals (1-3) had won seven of the past nine between these old AFC Central rivals.
JAGUARS 23, FALCONS 7
LONDON (AP) — Calvin Ridley is making the most of his second chance, in more ways than one.
The wide receiver held on to a touchdown pass — after a couple of key drops last week — to help the Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Atlanta Falcons 23-7 on Sunday at Wembley Stadium.
Besides defeating his old team, Ridley is also catching up on lost time. He was suspended for the entire 2022 season for violations of the league’s gambling policy.
“I’m so proud of Calvin, what’s he’s been through in his life. He’s put a lot of things behind him. He’s focused on the future,” Jags coach Doug Pederson said. “Obviously his testimony, it’s one that can be spread to a lot of professional and younger-generation athletes. He’s doing things right. We love having him on the football team.”
Ridley says he’s loving it, too.
“Got in the end zone, got my team a touchdown, to put points on the board, it felt good,” he said.
Josh Allen had three sacks and Darious Williams returned an interception for a 61-yard score to help the Jags (2-2) halt a two-game skid with a series of big plays as the team celebrated playing for the 10th time in London. They held on as the Falcons tried to rally in the second half.
RAMS 29, COLTS 23 (OT)
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Matthew Stafford overcame a hip injury that left him limping at times Sunday to throw a 22-yard touchdown pass to record-breaking rookie Puka Nacua in overtime to give the Los Angeles Rams a 29-23 victory over the Indianapolis Colts.
The Rams (2-2) have won four straight in the series, three in a row in Indy — this one coming after they blew a 23-point lead in the final 21 minutes of regulation.
Stafford was 27 of 40 with 319 yards, one touchdown and one interception. But it was his grit that won this one.
He was injured while being driven into the ground in the third quarter. Following an interception on the next play, he wore a heating wrap around his waist and when he returned to the game was limping noticeably. Twice, he slipped with nobody near him.
And yet, Stafford mustered enough to help the Rams avoid an embarrassing collapse. Nacua had nine receptions for 163 yards.
Indy (2-2) was trying to win its second straight overtime game behind rookie Anthony Richardson’s remarkable rally. He threw a 35-yard TD pass to Mo Alie-Cox before scoring on a 1-yard run. Then he capped the performance with a 5-yard TD pass to Drew Ogletree and the tying 2-point conversion throw to Michael Pittman Jr. with 1:56 to go.
EAGLES 34, COMMANDERS 31 (OT)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jalen Hurts threw for 319 yards and two touchdowns, and Jake Elliott kicked a 54-yard field goal in overtime to lift the Philadelphia Eagles to a 34-31 win over the Washington Commanders on Sunday for their second straight 4-0 start.
Elliott also kicked field goals of 41, 47 and 36 yards before booming the winner that sent the crowd into a frenzy.
And kept the Eagles unbeaten.
Not before a little late game drama put the Eagles on the brink of being upset at home by the Commanders (2-2) for the second straight season.
Hurts hit A.J. Brown for a 28-yard touchdown with 1:28 left in regulation for a 31-24 lead. Instead of killing the clock and trying for a winning field goal, the Eagles left enough time for Sam Howell to lead the Commanders down to Philadelphia’s 10-yard line.
Washington’s tying drive got a boost when Brown was flagged for taunting on the score. The Commanders started on the Eagles’ 36 and tied it when Howell hit Jahan Dotson as time expired.
RAVENS 28, BROWNS 3
CLEVELAND (AP) — Lamar Jackson ran for two touchdowns and threw for two more against Cleveland’s top-ranked defence, leading the Baltimore Ravens to a 28-3 win on Sunday over the Browns, who played without injured quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Jackson scored untouched on runs of 10 yards and 2 yards and threaded a 7-yard scoring pass to tight end Mark Andrews with 11 seconds left before halftime as the Ravens (3-1) opened a 21-3 lead.
Baltimore’s electrifying QB added an 18-yard TD pass to Andrews in the fourth quarter to put an exclamation point on the blowout.
The Browns (2-2) didn’t have Watson because of a right shoulder injury and had to start rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson. The fifth-round pick from UCLA looked overmatched in his NFL debut.
Cleveland’s offence, already missing star running back Nick Chubb for the season with a knee injury, gained just 166 yards — 53 on a meaningless final drive. Thompson-Robinson threw three interceptions and was sacked four times.
TEXANS 30, STEELERS 6
HOUSTON (AP) — Rookie C.J. Stroud had another big game Sunday, throwing for 306 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Houston Texans to a 30-6 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
It’s the second straight win for the Texans (2-2) and their first at home since beating the Chargers on Dec. 26, 2021. Houston’s 24-point win marked its largest margin of victory since a 57-14 win over Tennessee on Oct. 1, 2017.
Stroud, the second overall pick in the draft, continued his strong start and he threw a TD pass to get things going in a first half where the Texans built a 16-0 lead. Sunday was his second 300-yard passing game and he has thrown six touchdown passes with no interceptions in his first four games.
Kenny Pickett threw for 114 yards with an interception and struggled to move the offence before leaving late in the third quarter with a knee injury. The loss ends a two-game winning streak for the Steelers (2-2) and will likely increase the pressure on third-year offensive coordinator Matt Canada after another subpar offensive performance.
Mitch Trubisky threw for 18 yards after Pickett left.
BRONCOS 31, BEARS 28
CHICAGO (AP) — Russell Wilson threw for three touchdowns, Wil Lutz kicked a tiebreaking field goal with just under two minutes remaining and the Denver Broncos bounced back from one of the most lopsided losses in franchise history by rallying to beat the Chicago Bears 31-28 on Sunday.
Denver (1-3) was coming off a 70-20 blowout by Miami that was franchise’s second-worst loss of the Super Bowl era, behind only a 51-0 pounding by the Raiders in 1967.
Lutz’s 51-yarder capped a comeback from a 28-7, third-quarter deficit. Kareem Jackson then intercepted Justin Fields with the Bears (0-4) near midfield.
Chicago looked like it was headed toward an easy win, leading by 21 after Fields threw a 2-yard touchdown to Khalil Herbert late in the third quarter. Instead, the Bears dropped their 14th in a row since a Week 7 win at New England last season.
The Bears had a chance to break a 28-all tie late in the fourth quarter. Chicago opted to go for it on fourth-and-1 at the 18 rather than kick a field goal, and Herbert got stopped.
Fields threw for a career-high 335 yards and four touchdowns. He completed his first 16 passes and was 28 of 35.
Wilson threw a 4-yard TD to Brandon Johnson near the end of the third and a 13-yarder to Courtland Sutton early in the fourth to make it a seven-point game.
BUCCANEERS 26, SAINTS 9
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Baker Mayfield threw three touchdown passes for Tampa Bay, Derek Carr’s surprise return from a shoulder injury did little to help New Orleans’ anemic offence, and the Buccaneers beat the Saints 26-9 on Sunday.
Mayfield completed 25 of 32 for 246 yards including TDs to Cade Otten, Trey Palmer and Deven Thompkins as the Bucs (3-1) took over first place in the NFC South.
Starting one week after spraining his throwing shoulder at Green Bay, and after only limited work in practice the past week, Carr struggled to move New Orleans’ offence, which had accounted for just four touchdowns in the first three weeks and did not add that total in Week 4.
Carr finished 23 of 37 for 127 yards and was sacked three times in a second straight loss for the Saints (2-2), who were hoping for a boost from Alvin Kamara’s return from a three-game suspension.
Kamara touched the ball 24 times with 11 carries and 13 receptions, but finished with just 84 yards from scrimmage.
