■ Aaron Rodgers can freeze time. The Packers trailed the Cowboys by 3 points,
were on their own 25-yard line, and had just 1 minute 13 seconds left
in the game. Most teams would be ecstatic to come away with a field
goal, but Green Bay was not playing for a tie. Rodgers, as he has so
many times in recent seasons, aggressively moved the team down the
field, needing just 62 of the 73
seconds to put his team back on top for
good.
■ Sometimes, the N.F.L. provides free anatomy lessons for viewers. Odell Beckham Jr. of the Giants fractured his fibula near his ankle, and J.J. Watt
of the Texans fractured the very top of his tibia, and with that both
superstars could be out for the rest of the season. While both injuries
are disastrous for their respective teams, and led to a great deal of
medical talk during the various broadcasts, neither was nearly as
gruesome to watch as the one suffered by Chris Conley
of the Chiefs. The young wide receiver came down awkwardly on his foot
and you could see his entire calf ripple as his Achilles tendon broke
free. The NBC broadcast showed the play live, and then “treated” viewers
to at least two angles of replay, one of which was in slow motion.
■ Cam Newton
was not distracted, even if his Carolina teammates were. It was a
sloppy start to the game for the Panthers, with the team piling up more
than 70 yards of penalties in the first half. Newton, who spent the week
dealing with an off-field sexism scandal of his own creation, remained
calm and had his second consecutive game of more than 300 passing yards
and three touchdowns. His recovery from off-season shoulder surgery is,
apparently, complete.
■ Old game managers can learn new tricks. The knock on Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith
has always been that he can’t generate any excitement, even if his
turnover-free style of play tends to win a lot of games. But in his 13th
season, the veteran quarterback has remade himself into the gunslinging
leader of the N.F.L.’s last undefeated team. He threw for more than 300
yards in a wild 42-34 win over Houston, and now has 11 touchdowns and
zero interceptions this season.
■ Things actually could get worse for the Giants.
Big Blue was 0-4 coming into its game against the Chargers, but 60
minutes of football later the Giants were 0-5 and had four injured
receivers. Odell Beckham Jr. and Brandon Marshall could both be out for
the year, and the New Jersey team expected to be the competitive one is
suddenly the one eyeing the No. 1 overall pick in next year’s draft.
■ The Jets
— yes, the Jets — have a winning record. Written off before the season
after jettisoning several veterans and handing the offense over to the
perennially disappointing Josh McCown, the Jets have ridden a weak
schedule to a surprisingly impressive record. Wins over the Cleveland
Browns, the Miami Dolphins and the wildly inconsistent Jaguars are not
enough to convince anyone that the Jets are any sort of contender, but
going into next week’s game against the New England Patriots, they are
shockingly in a three-way tie with Buffalo and New England for the
division lead in the A.F.C. East.
■ The anthem issue
has legs. The San Francisco 49ers had numerous players kneeling during
the playing of the national anthem in Indianapolis, and it was more than
Vice President Mike Pence could take, as he left the game tweeting
about how he would not put up with such behavior. Teams had seemingly
settled into their routines with the anthem, but with President Trump
and Pence ramping things up, the demonstrations and protests could
intensify. The vice president missed an exciting game between bad teams,
with the Colts winning with a field goal in overtime.
Here’s a look at all the action on the field and along the sidelines on Sunday:
J.J. Watt is injured in Texans’ loss.
J.J.
Watt, a three-time defensive player of the year, suffered a tibial
plateau fracture in the first quarter of the Houston Texans’ 42-34 loss
to the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. The injury, which
affects the knee’s stability, will likely sideline Watt for the rest of
the season.
Watt
appeared to be in tears as he was helped along the Houston Texans’
sideline after he collapsed on the field. On the play, Watt was charging
at the quarterback and appeared to land awkwardly on his left foot
before falling to his right knee. He was helped off the field, walking
gingerly, with the crowd seemingly stunned by an injury to their team’s
star.
Houston’s
defense, weakened by injuries to Watt and Whitney Mercilus, allowed a
touchdown or field goal on each of Kansas City’s first five possessions,
falling behind 23-7 at halftime. Deshaun Watson, the Texans’ exciting
rookie quarterback, did his best to get his team back into the game,
throwing five touchdown passes, but the Chiefs’ offense was able to
grind things out by keeping Houston’s offense off the field for huge
swaths of time.
On Monday morning, Watt sent a message to Texans fans:
The
win came with serious injuries for Kansas City as well. Tight end
Travis Kelce left with an apparent concussion and Chris Conley came out
late in the game with an Achilles injury. But even with his offensive
options limited, Alex Smith continued his unusual breakout season —
which is coming in his 13th year. He completed 29 of 37 passes for 324
yards and three touchdowns. It was Smith’s second 300-yard passing game
of the season, which is a career high.
Kansas
City will try to stretch their record to 6-0 next week when they host
the Pittsburgh Steelers, while the Texans prepare to host the Cleveland
Browns as they await further word on Watt’s status.
Rodgers rips the Cowboys’ hearts out again.
You can’t give Aaron Rodgers more than a minute.
The
Dallas Cowboys took a 3-point lead over the Green Bay Packers with a
little more than a minute to play after a back-and-forth N.F.C. battle.
That was plenty of time for Rodgers, who showed little interest in tying
the game with a field goal, and instead engineered a lightning-fast
75-yard drive, winning the game with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Davante
Adams.
In
an on-field interview after the game, Adams seemed nonchalant about the
latest heroic performance from his team’s quarterback, shrugging and
saying “He just reminded us all we need is time and downs.”
Rodgers
had three touchdown passes, got some unexpected help from his team’s
running game, and had his defense chip in a pick-six to improve Green
Bay’s record to 4-1.
Asked
after the game about his ability to succeed at AT&T Stadium in
Dallas, Rodgers, who was named the M.V.P. of Super Bowl XLV in the
stadium, smiled and said, “They should have the Super Bowl here every
year.”
It
was a quiet day in terms of yardage for Rodgers, who completed 19 of 29
passes for 221 yards, but he hit the passes he needed to and did not
need to do all of the heavy lifting thanks to the emergence of Aaron
Jones. In relief of the injured Ty Montgomery, Jones ran for 125 yards
on 19 carries. His 7-yard touchdown near the end of the first half was
the start of the Packers’ eventual comeback.
Packers
Coach Mike McCarthy was full of praise for Rodgers after the game.”I
just don’t know what else to say about him,” McCarthy said. “I’ve got to
expand my vocabulary.”
That
the Packers were in the game at all was surprising after Dak Prescott
threw touchdown passes on each of his team’s first three drives. But for
a second consecutive week, the Dallas offense stalled for much of the
second half.
Prescott
threw three touchdowns and ran for another, but he was part of the
problem thanks to a deflected pass that turned into a pick-six for
Damarious Randall, who to that point had been a major liability in a
game in which the Green Bay secondary lost Kevin King, one of its top
performers, to a concussion.
Seahawks get much-needed win over Rams.
Russell Wilson passed for 198 yards and a touchdown, and Earl Thomas forced two of the Rams’ five turnovers in the Seattle Seahawks’ 16-10 victory over Los Angeles on Sunday.
Jimmy Graham
scored late in the first half in a defense-dominated win for the
Seahawks (3-2), who shut out the NFL’s highest-scoring offense in the
second half of their second straight win over their NFC West rivals. — Associated Press
Odell Beckham Jr. could be out for season with broken ankle.
The
Giants dropped to 0-5 after losing 27-25 to the Los Angeles Chargers,
but the bigger story of the game was Odell Beckham Jr., the team’s
superstar wide receiver, fracturing his ankle in what could be a
season-ending injury.
The
Giants were up 22-20 with four minutes left in the game when Beckham
was brought down by Casey Hayward following an incomplete pass.
Beckham’s left ankle turned badly under him, and he was on the ground
for several minutes before being carted off the field. ESPN and other
media outlets have reported that Beckham has a fractured fibula, and
possible ligament damage, but the team thus far has not gone beyond the
“fractured ankle” description.
“You
never want to see any receivers go down,” Manning said in a post-game
news conference. “I told him I’d be thinking about him.”
In
a matchup between winless teams, the Giants’ receiving corps was
decimated by injuries. Not only did Beckham leave in what could be a
season-ending injury, but Dwayne Harris was forced out with a foot
injury and Brandon Marshall left after coming down awkwardly on his heel
in what could potentially be a season-ending Achilles tear. Sterling
Shepard left the game with an ankle injury, meaning the team’s top four
receivers are all currently injured.
Beckham
had five catches for 97 yards and a touchdown before the injury, but on
the next play following his exit, Eli Manning lost a fumble and the
Chargers were able to capitalize on the short field with Philip Rivers
hitting Melvin Gordon for his third touchdown pass of the game. The
Giants got one more chance to win, but Manning threw an interception,
which sealed the team’s fate.
After 49ers take a knee, Pence walks out of game.
Vice
President Pence began the day by tweeting a photo of himself at the
game between the Indianapolis Colts and the San Francisco 49ers. Less
than two hours later, Pence left the game because of a protest during
the playing of the national anthem. President Trump later supported
Pence’s decision, saying he had asked his vice president to leave if
there were any protests.
Mr.
Pence’s first tweet was a photo of himself and his wife, with the vice
president wearing a Colts hat and shirt, while his wife was wearing a
Colts jersey. He said he was there to honor Peyton Manning, the longtime
Colts quarterback who had a statue of himself unveiled in Indianapolis
this weekend and was set to have his number retired into the team’s ring
of honor at halftime.
But
just as they did last week, the 49ers had 20 or more players kneeling
during the anthem in solidarity with their former teammate, Colin
Kaepernick. The Colts had a demonstration of their own, with players
wearing black t-shirts that said “We Will” on the front and “Stand for
equality, justice, unity, respect, dialogue, opportunity” on the back.
At
1:08 p.m. Eastern, just minutes after the anthem was played, Mr. Pence
tweeted that he had left the game because of the demonstrations. He said
he was unwilling to “dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers,
our Flag, or our National Anthem”.
After
several tweets explaining his reason for leaving, Mr. Pence tweeted a
photo of himself and his wife standing during the anthem, with a member
of the military next to them.
Cam Newton shakes off the distractions to win.
The
question coming into the game was whether off-field distractions would
affect Cam Newton, but the quarterback of the Carolina Panthers was at
his best, leading his team to a 27-24 victory over the Detroit Lions.
Newton,
who lost a sponsorship this week over sexist remarks made to a female
reporter, survived his team committing numerous sloppy penalties early
in the game. He completed 26 of 33 passes for 355 yards and three
touchdowns. It was the second consecutive game in which he had 300
passing yards and three touchdowns, and this week it was a result of his
repeatedly taking advantage of Detroit’s inability to handle Ed
Dickson. Asked to fill in for the injured Greg Olsen, Dickson, a tight
end, caught five passes for 175 yards, repeatedly extending drives that
appeared on the verge of stalling out.
Jaguars pick apart Roethlisberger and the Steelers.
The
Jacksonville Jaguars are a team of many flaws, but when it comes to
pass defense they are among the best in the game. The Pittsburgh
Steelers found that out the hard way, losing at home to Jacksonville,
30-9.
Ben
Roethlisberger, who publicly quarreled with his receiver Antonio Brown
this week, had one of the worst games of his career, throwing a
career-high five interceptions while completing 33 of 55 passes for 312
yards.
Two
of Roethlisberger’s interceptions were returned for touchdowns, and
Jacksonville’s other touchdowns came as a result of short fields
following Roethlisberger interceptions, meaning the Pittsburgh turnovers
led to 27 of the Jaguars’ 30 points.
The
game showed off the best aspects of Jacksonville’s defense, as the team
moved to 3-2. Jalen Ramsey broke up several big plays to go along with
his interception, Tashaun Gipson intercepted two passes in the second
half, while Barry Church returned his pick for a touchdown. The team
also got a pick-six from Telvin Smith, a starting linebacker.
The
Jaguars defense was not all interceptions, however, as they tightened
things up considerably when Pittsburgh got the ball into the red zone,
with the Steelers not scoring on any of their three drives that got
inside the 20-yard line.
The
lack of offense by the Steelers was exacerbated by a great game from
Leonard Fournette, the rookie running back who had 181 rushing yards and
two touchdowns, including a 90-yard score in the fourth quarter. He has
now scored touchdowns in four of his first five career games.
Despite
recent tension between them, Brown defended his team’s quarterback
following the disastrous performance, saying the Steelers do not point
the finger, but point the thumb at themselves when they fail.“He’s our
general,” Brown said of Roethlisberger. “We rally around him, the good
and the bad. We know there’s going to be more good.”
Thanks to Roethlisberger’s interceptions, no offense was necessary.
Here’s what teams did during the national anthem on Sunday.
San Francisco 49ers:
More than 20 Niners knelt during the anthem, with several of their
teammates standing behind them. Vice President Pence walked out of the
game shortly after the anthem, stating on Twitter that he would “not
dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our
National Anthem.”
Indianapolis Colts:
The Colts wore black t-shirts with the words “We Will” on the front and
“Stand for equality, justice, unity, respect, dialogue, opportunity” on
the back for the second straight week. During the anthem, the players
stood with their arms locked.
Tennessee Titans:
Receiver Rishard Matthews stayed in the locker room during the national
anthem for the second straight week. The rest of the Titans stood
during the song.
Miami Dolphins:
Dolphins receiver Kenny Stills, safety Michael Thomas and tight end
Julius Thomas stayed in the locker room during the anthem before their
game against the Titans. All three players knelt before last Sunday’s
game against the Saints in London
Philadelphia Eagles:
Malcolm Jenkins, with teammate Chris Long’s arm around his shoulder,
raised his first above his head during the anthem before the game
against the Cardinals. Rodney McLeod joined him by raising a fist.
N.Y. Giants:
Injured defensive end Olivier Vernon knelt during the anthem before the
game against the Chargers, as he has done in previous weeks. Linebacker
Keenan Robinson raised his fist in the air, while the rest of the
Giants locked arms.
Around the N.F.L.: Jets win again; Browns still winless.
Josh
McCown came back to Cleveland and beat the team that cut him, throwing
two touchdown passes and leading the surprising New York Jets to a 17-14
win over the winless Browns, who benched rookie quarterback DeShone
Kizer and fell to 1-20 under coach Hue Jackson.
McCown
threw a 2-yard TD pass to Austin Seferian-Jenkins in the third quarter
and a 24-yarder to Jermaine Kearse in the fourth to give the Jets (3-2) a
17-7 lead en route to their third straight victory.
■ The Indianapolis Colts scrapped the Peyton Manning playbook Sunday. Instead, they relied on ball control and patience.
After blowing a 14-point lead in the final eight minutes or regulation and surviving an interception in scoring position in overtime, Marlon Mack’s 35-yard run set up Adam Vinatieri for a 51-yard field goal that beat San Francisco 26-23. — Associated Press
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