NFL roundup: Daniel Jones, Saquon Barkley lead Giants past Saints for 1st win

NEW ORLEANS — Saquon Barkley ran for a 6-yard touchdown in overtime after Daniel Jones passed for a career-high 402 yards, and the New York Giants rallied for their first win of the season, 27-21 over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.

The Saints, playing in New Orleans for the first time since Hurricane Ida struck on Aug. 29, led 21-10 in the fourth quarter before Jones and Barkley combined for a 54-yard touchdown pass that ignited the Giants’ comeback.

Jones ran for a 2-point conversion to make it 21-18, then led the Giants to Graham Gano’s tying, 48-yard field goal with 31 seconds left in regulation.

BALLGAME!@saquon with the walk off to give the @Giants their first win of the season! pic.twitter.com/IeSK1LWWPl

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 3, 2021

After New York won the coin toss to start the extra period, Jones completed five passes for 67 yards to set up Barkley’s winning score, giving the Giants (1-3) a last-play victory for a change after they’d lost on game-ending field goals the previous two weeks.

Jameis Winston passed for 226 yards and a touchdown, and reserve quarterback Taysom Hill ran for two touchdowns for the Saints (2-2), who wilted in front of nearly 70,000 fans in the first game played in the Caesars Superdome without restrictions on crowd size since before the covid-19 pandemic.

The club spent the first three weeks of the regular season operating out of the Dallas area and moved its Sept. 12 home opener against Green Bay to Jacksonville.

Hill, whom the Saints employ as a change-of-pace, read-option QB, gave the Saints their first lead at 14-7 in the third quarter on a relentless, pounding, spinning, tackle-breaking run during which he was hit five times before crossing the goal line.

Jones marched the Giants right back down the field, but the Saints’ defense stiffened after New York had a first-and-goal at the 3 to force Gano’s short field goal that made it 14-10.

Hill’s 8-yard touchdown run put the Saints up by 11 early in the fourth quarter

After a scoreless first 20 minutes that included missed field goals by each team, the Giants struck first on a long passing play that became the subject of a scoring change after the fact.

Jones found newly activated receiver John Ross down the middle of the field for a 52-yard touchdown. The ball came loose as Ross was tackled at the goal line, but the nearest official gave the touchdown signal and Saints defenders didn’t pursue the loose ball while Ross raced over to pick it up.

Several minutes later, the NFL announced that the play was officially ruled a forced fumble by Saints safety Marcus Williams that was recovered by Ross, taking the touchdown pass away from Jones but leaving the Giants’ 7-0 lead intact.

The Saints responded on their next series with Winston’s 15-yard touchdown pass to tight end Juwan Johnson, capping a 13-play, 75-yard drive that ran out most of the last 8:51 of the second quarter.

Washington 34, Falcons 30

ATLANTA — Taylor Heinicke ad-libbed a 30-yard touchdown pass to J.D. McKissic with 33 seconds remaining, rallying the Washington Football Team to a 34-30 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.

Returning to the metro area where he grew up, Heinicke completed 23 of 33 passes for 290 yards and three touchdowns — two of them in the final 3:52 to pull it out for Washington (2-2).

Both were vintage Heinicke.

First, he eluded Dante Fowler Jr. and delivered an off-balance throw with another rusher in his face that Terry McLaurin, eluding two defenders, managed to catch in the back of the end zone for a 17-yard TD.

Two missed extra points by Dustin Hopkins left Washington still trailing. Heinicke threw high on the two-point conversion, preserving a 30-28 lead for the Falcons (1-3).

What a GAME. #HaveADay@WashingtonNFL | @TheTerry_25 | #WashingtonFootball pic.twitter.com/XCIHE1ve3H

— NFL (@NFL) October 3, 2021

The Washington defense forced a punt, giving Heinicke one more chance. He drove his team into field goal range, but it turned out Hopkins wasn’t needed.

Rolling to his left, Heinicke didn’t see anyone open. McKissic slipped out into the right flat with no one around, Heinicke spotted him, and threw throw back across the field.

McKissic broke a diving attempt by Deion Jones — the only guy with a chance to make a tackle — took off down the sideline and dove over the pylon for the winning score.

Heinicke’s heroics ruined a big day for Atlanta’s Cordarelle Patterson, who became the first Atlanta player since 2018 to score three touchdowns in a game.

Patterson hauled in a 42-yard pass from Matt Ryan for Atlanta’s longest play from scrimmage this season, giving the Falcons an early 10-0 lead.

He added touchdown catches of 12 and 14 yards.

Patterson led the Falcons in receiving and rushing, finishing with five catches for 82 yards and six carries for 34 yards.

Ryan finished with four TD passes — his most since last season against Minnesota. He also connected with Mike Davis on a 7-yard scoring play that stretched Atlanta’s lead to 30-22 after a disputed personal foul penalty on Chase Young allowed the Falcons to keep the ball.

On fourth down, Ryan got away from a couple of rushers before taking a right forearm from Young near the facemask, knocking the quarterback to one knee before he desperately hurled a throw that was picked off by Washington.

Ryan was ruled down, but the penalty on Young allowed the Falcons to keep the ball. They wound up driving for a TD when Davis hauled in a short pass from Ryan and broke at least three tackles to get into the end zone.

Cowboys 36, Panthers 28

ARLINGTON, Texas — Dak Prescott threw four touchdown passes, Ezekiel Elliott had his first 100-yard rushing game of the season against the NFL’s No. 1 defense and the Dallas Cowboys beat the Carolina Panthers 36-28 on Sunday.

Elliott finished with 143 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries as the Cowboys (3-1) rolled up 245 yards on the ground after the Panthers allowed just 135 total in the first three games.

Leading the Panthers in their first full game without injured star running back Christian McCaffrey, Sam Darnold had two rushing touchdowns to become the first quarterback in NFL history with at least five TDs on the ground in the first four games.

It was a different story for Darnold behind the line of scrimmage before getting hot in the passing game with the Panthers (3-1) trying to erase a 22-point deficit in the fourth quarter in their first loss.

Trevon Diggs had two interceptions for an NFL-leading five while becoming the first Dallas player with a pick in each of the first four games since the 1970 merger.

When he won a tug of war with receiver DJ Moore for the second pick, Diggs gave Dallas, this year’s NFL leader in forcing turnovers, multiple takeaways in an eighth consecutive game going back to last season, the longest active streak in the league.

The Cowboys sacked Darnold five times, including two from Randy Gregory, while Dallas kept Prescott upright against a defense that entered the game with an NFL-best 14 sacks.

Carolina’s pressure did force Prescott into more incompletions than he’s been used to while completing 77.5% of his passes the first three weeks, but he had enough time for scoring passes to four different receivers.

Three of the TDs came in the third quarter to erase a 14-13 halftime deficit as Prescott finished 14 of 22 for 188 yards. His scoring tosses were 18 yards to Blake Jarwin, 35 to Amari Cooper, 6 to Dalton Schultz and 23 to Cedrick Wilson, the last set up by Diggs’ first pick.

Elliott set up Schultz’s short scoring catch with a 47-yard run, his longest since a 55-yarder as a rookie in 2016. Elliott’s game total was the most for the two-time rushing champ since 2018.

Darnold, who had five rushing TDs in 38 career games with the New York Jets, matched Elliott’s 1-yard plunge in the first quarter with a 1-yard option keeper. The Panthers went ahead 14-13 on an 11-yard QB draw. Darnold finished with 35 yards on six carries.

Darnold was 26 of 39 passing for 301 yards with fourth-quarter TDs of 6 and 8 yards to Moore, who caught eight passes for 113 yards.

Bills 40, Texans 0

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Linebacker Tremaine Edmunds had the first of Buffalo’s four interceptions, and the Bills suffocated the offensively inept Houston Texans in a 40-0 win on Sunday.

Micah Hyde, Tyler Matakevich and Jaquan Johnson, in his first career start, each had interceptions, while Cam Lewis forced a fumble as Buffalo overwhelmed rookie quarterback Davis Mills in his second career start.

The Bills limited Houston to 109 yards of offense — 8 in the first half — and six first downs to post their second shutout in three weeks. Buffalo, which blanked Miami 35-0 on Sept. 19, has two shutouts in a season for the first time since 1990.

Josh Allen finished 20 of 29 for 248 yards with two touchdowns — a 25-yarder and a 1-yarder, both to Dawson Knox — and an interception before giving way to backup Mitchell Trubisky with 8:03 remaining.

Tyler Bass hit all four field-goal attempts — three from inside 30 yards — in a steady rain. Buffalo led 19-0 through three quarters before Knox and Zack Moss, on a 2-yard run, blew the game open. Trubisky closed the scoring with a 4-yard TD run as Buffalo scored 40 or more points in consecutive weeks for the second time in team history, and first since 1990.

The Bills (3-1), coming off a 43-21 win over Washington, have won three straight since a season-opening loss to Pittsburgh, and are 3-1 or better through four games for the third consecutive season.

Houston (1-3) dropped its third straight, the skid coinciding with starter Tyrod Taylor being sidelined with a hamstring injury in a 31-21 loss at Cleveland in Week 2.

Mills, a third-round selection out of Stanford, was in over his head against a defense that improved to 10-0 in its past 10 meetings against quarterbacks with 16 or fewer starts.

He finished 11 of 21 for 87 yards and received little push from a Texans running attack that finished with 48 yards.

The Bills have held each of their first four opponents under 300 yards of offense. Buffalo also became the NFL’s first team since the 2009 New York Jets to have two shutout wins by 35 or more points in a season.

The game turned in the opening minutes after Allen sailed his first attempt over the middle and was intercepted by Lonnie Johnson Jr., who returned it to Buffalo’s 13. With Houston going for it on fourth-and-3, Mills’ screen pass to David Johnson was tipped incomplete by Bills linebacker Jerry Hughes to end the Texans’ best scoring threat. Houston crossed midfield just three more times on 12 drives.

Edmunds’ interception came with Houston facing third-and-10 at Buffalo’s 37, when Mills attempted to force a pass over the middle into double coverage.

The Texans’ defense held firm through three quarters despite missing leading tackler, linebacker Zach Cunningham, and defensive tackle Ross Blacklock, who were placed on the covid-19 list on Friday.

Buffalo settled for field goals on each of its first four trips inside Houston’s 20.

The weather played a factor, especially early when Mills had the ball slip out of his hands on the third play from scrimmage. He recovered it for 9-yard loss. Allen then had difficulty gripping the ball and was picked off by Johnson Jr.

Bears 24, Lions 14

CHICAGO — Rookie Justin Fields brushed off a nightmarish first start, and the Chicago Bears bounced back from one of the worst offensive performances the NFL has seen to beat the winless Detroit Lions 24-14 on Sunday.

Fields and the Bears (2-2) were in much better form coming off a brutal loss at Cleveland last week. They rang up 373 yards after being held by the Browns to 47, the ninth-lowest total in league history.

Fields looked more comfortable, completing 11 of 17 passes for 209 yards and an interception in his second consecutive start with Andy Dalton sidelined because of a bone bruise in his left knee. The No. 11 overall draft pick was sacked just once, after being taken down nine times for 67 yards while throwing for just 68 the previous week.

David Montgomery ran for 106 yards and two touchdowns before leaving with a knee injury. He scored on Chicago’s first two possessions, running it in from the 4 and 9 to make it 14-0, but hobbled off the field following a 5-yard run early in the fourth quarter.

Darnell Mooney caught five passes for a career-high 125 yards, including a 64-yarder.

Robert Quinn had a strip-sack with the Lions deep in Chicago territory. Khalil Mack added a sack and fumble recovery, and the Bears got some payback for a loss to Detroit at Soldier Field last season that capped a six-game skid.

The Lions (0-4) remained winless under coach Dan Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes and lost their eighth straight since beating the Bears.

Jared Goff was 24 of 38 for 299 yards. He hit Kalif Raymond with a 4-yard touchdown in the third quarter and 25-yarder in the fourth to make it 24-14.

The Lions had the ball on the Chicago 8 with about 4 1/2 minutes remaining. But the Bears stopped them when they opted to go for it on fourth-and-1 rather than kick a field goal.

The Bears had 200 yards in the first half and took advantage of two turnovers by Detroit after the Lions got inside the 10 in building a 14-0 lead.

They went 75 yards for a touchdown on the game’s opening possession, with Montgomery carrying six times and scoring from the 4 to cap a 12-play drive.

Detroit then got to the 8, only to have the threat end on a strange turnover. Center Frank Ragnow snapped the ball as Goff was walking toward the line, and it ricocheted off the quarterback to Chicago’s Bilal Nickols.

Fields hit Mooney with a 64-yard pass two snaps later, and Montgomery ran it in from the 9 on the first play of the second quarter to make it 14-0.

The Lions then opted to go for it on fourth down at the Chicago 5 rather than kick a field goal. And the Bears’ Alec Ogletree deflected a pass intended for D’Andre Swift in the end zone.

Detroit fumbled again inside the 10 when Quinn strip-sacked Goff on third down at the 3. Mack recovered, and the Bears took over at the 23.

Chicago bumped its lead to 21-0 early in the third when Damien Williams powered in from the 4.

Chiefs 42, Eagles 30

PHILADELPHIA — Patrick Mahomes threw five touchdown passes three different ways, including three to Tyreek Hill, and the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles 42-30 on Sunday.

Andy Reid returned to Philadelphia and earned his 100th career win with the Chiefs, becoming the first coach in NFL history to win 100 games with two teams. Reid’s 140 victories with the Eagles are the most in franchise history.

Jalen Hurts threw for a career-high 387 yards and two TDs but Philadelphia (1-3) couldn’t keep up with Kansas City’s high-powered offense. The Eagles had three touchdowns negated by penalty and settled for field goals three times inside the red zone.

The two-time defending AFC champion Chiefs (2-2) snapped a two-game losing streak after entering with a losing record for the first time since they were 4-5 in 2015.

Mahomes tossed TD passes underhanded, overhanded and shoveled one on Kansas City’s three possessions in the first half. He finished with 278 yards passing and his interception was the only possession the Chiefs didn’t score a TD. Hill had 11 catches for 186 yards.

Mahomes flipped a 1-yard TD pass underhanded to Clyde Edwards-Helaire for a 7-3 lead in the first quarter.

He threw a normal 6-yard TD pass to Hill to give the Chiefs a 14-10 lead. Mahomes set up the score a few plays earlier on first-and-20 from the 42 with a beautiful 32-yard pass to Hill, who made an excellent over-the-shoulder, fingertip catch near the sideline.

His 2-yard shovel pass to Jody Fortson increased Kansas City’s lead to 21-13 with under a minute left in the first half.

Darrel Williams ran in from the 1 to extend the lead to 28-16 but the Eagles answered with Kenneth Gainwell’s 7-yard TD run to get within 28-23.

Mahomes then connected with Hill on TD passes of 12 and 44 yards.

Colts 27, Dolphins 17

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Carson Wentz threw a pair of touchdown passes to Mo Alie-Cox, Jonathan Taylor rushed for 103 yards and a score and the Indianapolis Colts got their first win of the season by topping the sputtering Miami Dolphins 27-17 on Sunday.

Wentz completed 24 of 32 passes for 228 yards for the Colts (1-3), who avoided what would have been their first 0-4 start since 2011. They spent most of the day frustrating former Indianapolis quarterback Jacoby Brissett, who completed 20 of 30 passes but threw for 123 of his 199 yards in the final quarter.

It was the first two-TD game for Alie-Cox, who had a total of four scores in his first 43 NFL appearances entering Sunday.

Brissett found Mike Gesicki with 10:40 left on fourth-and-goal from the 1 — two runs from there went nowhere, so the Dolphins went back to the air — to get Miami within 20-10. It was only the second passing touchdown of the season for the Dolphins, the first coming in the Week 1 win at New England when Tua Tagovailoa connected with Jaylen Waddle.

If there was hope for Miami, it didn’t last long.

The Dolphins’ ensuing kickoff went out of bounds, giving Indianapolis the ball at the 40. Wentz threw a 41-yard pass to Zach Pascal on the first play of the possession to get the Colts inside the Dolphins’ red zone, then wound up finding Alie-Cox seven plays later for the clincher.

The drive was fueled by Miami mistakes, a recurring theme of the day.

Among the Dolphins’ problems: They were outgained 226-15 in the middle two quarters; went 30 minutes — game time, not real time — between first downs; jumped offside on a punt to extend a Colts drive that turned into Indianapolis’ first touchdown; and then Brissett lost the ball early in the fourth quarter for a turnover after evading two tackles but not a third wave.

Wentz found Alie-Cox for a score that restored the 17-point lead midway through the fourth and Miami fans began leaving in droves. Brissett threw another TD pass, this one to DeVante Parker to get Miami back within 10 on the ensuing possession.

But a pass interference call on third down extended the next Indy drive instead of giving Miami the ball again with about 4 minutes left, and the Colts ran out the clock.

Jets 27, Titans 24

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Matt Ammendola kicked a 22-yard field goal in overtime, and then Randy Bullock was wide left on a potential tying 49-yarder with 15 seconds left to give the New York Jets their first victory, 27-24 over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.

After the Jets took the lead in the extra period but failed to seal it with a touchdown despite getting to the 1-yard line, Ryan Tannehill — playing without injured receivers Julio Jones and A.J. Brown — marched the Titans downfield with the help of two fourth-down conversions.

On second-and-5 from the Jets 26, Anthony Firkser couldn’t hold onto a pass from Tannehill and then the Titans took a delay of game penalty. Tannehill threw incomplete to Jeremy McNichols, setting up the tying kick for Bullock — but the ball sailed wide of the left upright and sent the Jets (1-3) into a wild celebration.

A blown game in so many, many ways. Jets 27, #Titans 24 as Randy Bullock missed from 49 at the overtime horn. pic.twitter.com/2tJJyPH76i

— Paul Kuharsky (@PaulKuharskyNFL) October 3, 2021

Coach Robert Saleh got his first win as a head coach, getting a Gatorade shower on the sideline from Ryan Griffin.

The Jets had a chance to win it without giving the ball back to the Titans (2-2) when they got to the 1 on Tevin Coleman’s 8-yard catch — on which it was ruled he was out of bounds as he dived just short of the goal line. Zach Wilson took a 3-yard loss on third down, a rookie mistake, setting up Ammendola’s 22-yarder.

Wilson was mostly terrific, going 21 of 34 for 297 yards with touchdown passes to Corey Davis and Jamison Crowder and an interception.

He put New York ahead 24-17 with 9:06 left in regulation when he rolled out of the pocket to his right, pointed and waved downfield — urging Davis to keep going. The rookie then launched a perfectly placed ball into Davis’ hands for a 53-yard touchdown.

The Jets tried to run out the clock late in regulation, but had to punt and gave the Titans one more chance with 2:09 left.

It was more than enough time.

After a pass interference call on Jarrod Wilson on fourth-and-10 from the Titans own 26, Tannehill tossed passes of 12 and 11 yards to Josh Reynolds, 6 to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and 6 to Firkser to get to the 2. After an incompletion, Tannehill found a wide-open Cameron Batson in the end zone for a tying 2-yard touchdown with 16 seconds remaining in regulation.

Seahawks 28, 49ers 21

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Russell Wilson overcame a shaky start to throw for two touchdowns and run for a third and the Seattle Seahawks rebounded from back-to-back losses by beating the San Francisco 49ers 28-21 on Sunday.

The Seahawks (2-2) went three-and-out on their first five drives of the game and appeared in danger of their first three-game losing streak in a season in nine seasons with Wilson at quarterback.

But he connected on a 12-yard TD pass to DK Metcalf late in the first half and then produced two touchdowns in a span of less than a minute in the third quarter with a 16-yard run and 13-yard pass to Freddie Swain around a fumbled kickoff by Trenton Cannon.

The TD pass to Swain was vintage Wilson, who spun away from a blitzing Dontae Johnson before finding Swain for the TD.

Alex Collins added a 14-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter and the 49ers (2-2) were unable to overcome it after losing starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to a calf injury at halftime and playing without injured kicker Robbie Gould all game.

Garoppolo threw a 21-yard TD pass to Ross Dwelley on the opening drive but did little else before leaving with the injury.

Rookie Trey Lance took over and connected on a 76-yard touchdown pass to Deebo Samuel but the Niners only crossed midfield one other time before scoring on another TD pass to Samuel with 1:20 remaining. Seattle recovered the onside kick to seal the game.

Lance finished 9 for 18 for 157 yards with two TDs, 41 yards rushing and a 2-point conversion run.

Cardinals 37, Rams 20

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Kyler Murray passed for 268 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 39 more yards in a virtuoso performance, and the Arizona Cardinals extended their longest unbeaten start since 2012 with a 37-20 victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.

A.J. Green caught a 41-yard TD pass, Chase Edmonds ran for 120 yards and James Conner rushed for two short scores for Arizona (4-0), which finally beat Sean McVay for the first time in nine tries.

Kliff Kingsbury’s Cards did it with style, lighting up the Rams’ defense for 465 total yards and scoring touchdowns after two early takeaways to affirm their arrival as a contender in the NFC West and beyond despite playing three of their first four games on the road.

Maxx Williams caught a TD pass from Murray, who went 24 for 32 and repeatedly frustrated the Rams’ defense. Arizona’s defense made several big plays, and it sealed the team’s first victory over the Rams since Jan. 1, 2017, by stopping Matthew Stafford and the LA offense on downs at the 1 with 12:05 to play.

Stafford went 26 of 41 for 280 yards and two touchdowns in his first ineffective performance with the Rams (3-1), who failed to start 4-0 for the first time since 2018 with an ugly home performance.

Van Jefferson caught an early TD pass and Robert Woods made a TD grab with 1:14 to play, but Stafford was frequently off in his connections with his receivers. McVay regularly abandoned his running game despite Darrell Henderson’s 89 yards — the second-best performance of his career — on just 14 carries against a defense that hasn’t stopped the run well this season.

Los Angeles’ defense had few answers for Murray, who consistently found open receivers or picked up his own yardage while the Cardinals scored on seven of eight drives after an opening punt.

The Cardinals streaked to a 24-13 halftime lead behind Murray, who struggled to work his magic against the Rams in his first two NFL seasons. He was in fine form early in his SoFi Stadium debut, passing for 186 yards and rushing for 34 more in the first half while the Cards shredded a Los Angeles defense that had allowed fewer than 21 points per game this season.

Arizona scored touchdowns after both of Los Angeles’ turnovers in the first half.

Green’s long TD catch came after Byron Murphy Jr. picked off Stafford’s underthrown pass to DeSean Jackson, and Williams’ TD catch resulted from a drive that began with Sony Michel’s fumble and included an exceptional first-down scramble by Murray on 3rd and 16.

The Rams had a long TD drive ending in Jefferson’s catch, but otherwise struggled or settled for field goals. Stafford went 11 for 21 in the half, hitting NFL receiving leader Cooper Kupp just twice on seven targets. Kupp finished with five catches for 64 yards, while Jefferson had six for 90 yards.