NFL Week 13: Panthers take advantage of Matt Stafford's 3 turnovers to end Rams' 6-game win streak

CHARLOTTE — Bryce Young completed 15 of 20 passes for 206 yards and three touchdowns — two of them coming on fourth down — and the Carolina Panthers forced three turnovers by Matthew Stafford to beat Los Angeles 31-28 on Sunday and snap the Rams’ six-game winning streak.

The Panthers intercepted Stafford twice with Mike Jackson returning one for a 48-yard touchdown and ended the 37-year-old’s NFL record of 28 straight TD passes without an interception.

Derrick Brown, who tipped a ball resulting in one of Stafford’s first pick, came up with a key strip-sack with 2:25 left in the game to preserve the win.

The win allowed the Panthers to remain a half game behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC South. The Bucs held on to beat Arizona 20-17 on Sunday.

Stafford completed 18 of 28 passes for 243 yards with two touchdown passes to Davante Adams, his 13th and 14th of the season, for the Rams (9-3).

The Panthers (7-6), who had just one pass play of longer than 20 yards in a 20-9 loss to San Francisco on Monday night, got several key ones from Young on Sunday.

He connected on a 35-yard TD pass to Chuba Hubbard, a 33-yard TD strike to Jalen Coker and a 43-yard scoring toss to Tetairoa McMillan with 6:43 remaining that was the decisive score.

The Panthers used a strong running game to control the clock in the second half and keep Stafford and the high-powered offense off the field. Hubbard had 83 yards rushing from Rico Dowdle added 58.

The Panthers appeared to be in control entering the fourth quarter leading 24-21 and running the ball well.

But tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders was flagged for a key holding call deep in Rams territory and the Panthers drive halted resulting in a punt.

The Rams came alive on offense with Blake Corum escaping around right end for a 34-yard run. Puka Nacua then hauled in a dramatic leaping, one-handed 30-yard catch to set up a 7-yard TD run by Kyren Williams to give Los Angeles the lead.

But Carolina answered when McMillan got behind the Rams defense and hauled in his only catch of the game — a 43-yard touchdown from Young— on a fourth-and-2 play to give Carolina back the lead.

Earlier in the game, Young found Coker for a long score on a fourth-and-3.

Stafford passed Matt Ryan to move into eighth place all time in yards passing.

Stafford threw his NFL record 28th straight touchdown pass without an interception to Adams on the game’s opening possession to give the Rams a 7-0 lead, but on the second possession Brown tipped his pass and Nick Scott intercepted it in the end zone.

Buccaneers 20, Cardinals 17

TAMPA, Fla. s defense held in the final two minutes and the Buccaneers beat the Arizona Cardinals 20-17 on Sunday to snap a three-game losing streak.

Mayfield, who started after sitting out the second half of a 34-7 loss to the Rams because of a left shoulder injury, threw for 194 yards and ran for 27 to help the Buccaneers (7-5) remain first in the NFC South.

Jacoby Brissett, making his seventh start filling in for Kyler Murray, threw a wide pass incomplete on fourth-and-2 from the Cardinals 17 with under a minute remaining.

Arizona (3-9) has lost four straight and nine of 10.

Down 17-3, the Cardinals finally got going in the third quarter.

Brissett connected with Bam Knight on a 22-yard TD to cut it to 17-10.

Tampa Bay’s defense made a big stop when Arizona when for it on fourth-and-1 from its 39. Knight was stuffed by Anthony Nelson after taking a pitch.

The Bucs couldn’t do much with the field position and Chase McLaughlin hit a 57-yard field goal to increase the lead to 20-10.

But Brissett drove the Cardinals 73 yards, throwing a 15-yard TD pass to Trey McBride to trim the deficit to 20-17.

Arizona’s defense held and Riley Dixon boomed a punt that Greg Dortch fielded at the 5 instead of allowing it to go into the end zone for a touchback. He was tackled at the 9 and the offense couldn’t do anything.

Penalties cost Tampa Bay two TDs on the same drive that ended with Wirfs making his first career catch on a tackle-eligible play.

Dolphins 21, Saints 17

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — De’Von Achane rushed for 134 yards and a touchdown, and the Miami Dolphins won their third straight game by holding off the New Orleans Saints 21-17.

The Dolphins (5-7) trail first-place New England and Buffalo in the AFC East but kept their slim playoffs hopes alive, while the Saints (2-10) have lost six of seven.

The Saints trailed 16-0 at halftime, but they closed to 19-17 with 1:17 remaining on Tyler Shough’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Devaughn Vele.

Shough was intercepted by Minkah Fitzpatrick on the 2-point try, and the Dolphins safety returned it to the opposite end zone to give Miami two points.

The rookie QB got another shot after the Saints recovered the ensuing onside kick by Charlie Smyth — a former Gaelic football player from Northern Ireland making his NFL regular-season debut. But Miami’s defense stopped Shough on fourth-and-1 at the Dolphins 36 to end the game.

Smyth connected on a 56-yard field goal to make it 19-11 with 6:08 remaining before Shough nearly completed the comeback. Despite a poor first half that featured an interception and a strip sack, Shough finished with 239 yards and two touchdowns.

Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was not particularly sharp, completing 12 of 23 passes for 157 yards with an interception. He leads the NFL with 14 picks, which also matches his career high from 2023.

The Dolphins recorded 164 yards rushing behind Achane, who finished with 22 carries and topped 1,000 yards for the first time in his three-year career. Achane scored his 10th touchdown of the season on a 29-yard run on Miami’s opening drive.

The Saints, who entered the game tied for the second-worst scoring offense in the NFL, got nothing going offensively until the opening drive of the second half, when Shough capped a 10-play, 70-yard drive — more than the Saints’ 63 first-half yards — with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Chris Olave. Shough then converted the 2-point try on a run to make it 16-8.

The Dolphins didn’t respond until early in the fourth, when Tagovailoa, after nearly throwing a second interception, found Jaylen Waddle for a 22-yard pickup that set up Riley Patterson’s 33-yard kick — his fourth of the day.

Jaguars 25, Titans 3

NASHVILLE — Trevor Lawrence threw for 229 yards and two touchdowns and the Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Tennessee Titans 25-3 Sunday for their third straight victory.

With the win, the Jaguars (8-4) improved their AFC playoff hopes while chasing their first division title since 2022. The Jaguars still have two games left against Indianapolis, and the Colts fell to 8-4 with a 20-16 loss to Houston.

The Jaguars also beat the Titans for the sixth time in seven games.

Josh Hines-Allen had two of Jacksonville’s three sacks of rookie Cam Ward, and the Jaguars recovered two fumbles.

The Titans (1-11) lost their seventh straight overall and 11th consecutive at home, matching the longest such skid since this franchise moved to Tennessee. They also lost 11 in a row at Nissan Stadium in a stretch over the 2014 and 2015 seasons.

Fans booed the Titans early and often before heading to the exits well before the end.

Lawrence threw a 3-yarder to Jakobi Meyers putting the Jaguars ahead to stay late in the first quarter. He threw a 21-yard TD pass to Brenton Strange on the third play after LeQuint Allen Jr. forced and recovered a fumble on a kickoff.

After a penalty, Lawrence ran for a 2-point conversion and a 15-3 lead to start the second quarter.

Meyers led the Jaguars with six catches for 90 yards. This was his first game with wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr., who was back after missing two games with an injured ankle since Meyers was added from Las Vegas at the trade deadline.

Tennessee led 3-0 after a 28-yard field goal by Joey Slye.

Bhayshul Tuten padded the Jaguars’ lead to 25-3 with a 2-yard TD run with 6:45 left in the third quarter. That drive was kept alive by a roughing the punter penalty on Mike Brown when the Jaguars faced fourth-and-20 from their 19.

Texans 20, Colts 16

INDIANAPOLIS — Nico Collins scored the tiebreaking touchdown on a 7-yard run with 12:38 to play, Nick Chubb also ran for a score, and the Houston Texans’ top-ranked defense came up with a late stop on Sunday to seal a 20-16 victory over the slumping Indianapolis Colts.

Houston (7-5) won its fourth straight, moving within one game of AFC South-leading Indy (8-4), which has lost three of four. C.J. Stroud improved to 3-0 at Lucas Oil Stadium by going 22 of 35 for 276 yards with one interception in his first game in four weeks. He cleared the concussion protocol Friday.

Collins caught five passes for 98 yards.

Houston sealed the win by forcing a turnover on downs with 1:45 to play after Daniel Jones had taken Indy to Houston’s 31-yard line. The Colts have lost two straight for the first time this season, and this was the first time they were held under 20 points.

Playing through a lower leg injury, Jones finished 14 of 27 for 201 yards and two TDs. Jonathan Taylor, the NFL’s leading rusher, was held to 85 yards on 21 carries and failed to score for only the fifth time this season.

Stroud led the Texans to a 23-yard field goal on their first possession.

Indy made it 6-3 early in the second quarter after Cam Bynum’s interception led to a 19-yard TD pass from Jones to Alec Pierce. Michael Badgley’s extra-point try hit the left goal post.

Houston answered with Chubb’s 4-yard run to make it 10-6 and then opened the second half with a 43-yard field goal. Jones threw a 12-yard TD pass to Tyler Warren late in the third quarter to tie it up.

After a pass-interference call on Indy cornerback Kenny Moore II on third-and-15 early in the fourth, the Texans capitalized four plays later with Collins’ 7-yard scamper around the right side for a 20-13 lead.

All Indy could muster was a 42-yard field goal before a drop and a pass breakup ended the Colts’ perfect home record. Pierce led the Colts with four receptions for 79 yards.

Jets 27, Falcons 24

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Nick Folk lined a 56-yard field goal through a heavy mist as time expired to lead the New York Jets to a 27-24 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.

In a game between two struggling teams that was anything but pretty, Folk’s kick was also far from it. But in tough conditions, the 41-year-old got just enough on the football to bounce back from an earlier miss and was mobbed at midfield by his teammates as the Jets fans in a drenched and half-empty MetLife Stadium went wild.

Tyrod Taylor went 19 of 33 for 172 yards and a touchdown pass and also ran for a score in his second start in a row for the benched Justin Fields as the Jets (3-9) snapped a two-game skid. Adonai Mitchell had eight receptions for 102 yards and a TD, and Breece Hall ran for 68 yards and a score.

After the defense held Kirk Cousins and the Falcons to a three-and-out, the Jets got the ball back at their 43 with 35 seconds left and two timeouts remaining. Taylor had a 14-yard run and hit Mitchell for 10 and 5 yards on the drive to put Folk in position for his winner.

Cousins went 21 of 33 for 234 yards and a touchdown and Bijan Robinson ran for 142 yards and a score and caught five passes for 51 yards for the Falcons (4-8), who lost for the sixth time in seven games.

Cousins threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to David Sills to put the Falcons up 24-17 with 8:46 remaining. It was the 291st career touchdown pass for Cousins, who broke a tie with Pro Football Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas for 17th on the NFL’s all-time list.

But Taylor scored on a 10-yard run that capped a 15-play drive during which the Jets converted three third-down plays and one on fourth down — a 2-yard keeper by Taylor on fourth-and-1 at the 11 — to tie it at 24 with 1:53 remaining.

The Jets got just their second takeaway of the season when Jamal Agnew muffed a fair catch of Austin McNamara’s punt and Qwan’tez Stiggers recovered at the Atlanta 2. Hall ran it up the middle on the next play to put New York up 7-0 1:02 into the second quarter.

Tyler Allgeier powered his way into the end zone from 1 yard out to tie it at 7 for the Falcons with 9 seconds left in the opening half.

Atlanta marched 95 yards on its opening possession of the second half, capped by Robinson’s 5-yard touchdown run.

But the Jets needed just two plays to tie it again.

After Taylor took a hard hit on a 13-yard pass to Hall, the quarterback launched a deep pass downfield to Mitchell — who got wide open after Mike Hughes fell in coverage — for a 52-yard touchdown. It was Mitchell’s first touchdown catch since being acquired from Indianapolis at the trade deadline in the deal that sent Sauce Gardner to the Colts. It was also the Jets’ longest pass play of the season.

Zane Gonzalez, the NFC special teams player of the week after his second game with the Falcons, was wide right on a 50-yard field goal attempt with 4:47 left in the third quarter to keep the game tied.