NFL Week 2: 49ers blast Jets 31-13, but lose Garoppolo, Bosa, Mostert

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Raheem Mostert ran for an 80-yard touchdown on San Francisco’s first play from scrimmage and Jimmy Garoppolo threw two TD passes — before both players sat out the second half with injuries — and the banged-up 49ers rolled past the inept New York Jets 31-13 on Sunday.

It was a costly victory for San Francisco, which was already short-handed before losing Garoppolo to an ankle injury and Mostert to an injured knee. Defensive end Nick Bosa and defensive tackle Solomon Thomas were both carted off the field two plays apart with left knee injuries in the first quarter.

The 49ers (1-1) also came in without star tight end George Kittle (knee), wide receiver Deebo Samuel (foot), cornerback Richard Sherman (calf) and defensive end Dee Ford (neck).

It didn’t matter against the Jets (0-2), who have also been hit hard by injuries and couldn’t muster much. Now, the defending NFC champions head into Week 3 with some serious concern for key players.

The 49ers got going early against the Jets, Mostert taking a handoff on the first play, zipping outside and taking off down the right sideline untouched for an 80-yard score.

The strange silence of the eerily empty MetLife Stadium — without anyone in the stands because of the coronavirus pandemic — surely mirrored what it would have sounded like if stunned Jets fans were in attendance.

Garoppolo was injured on the 49ers’ next drive when he was sacked by Quinnen Williams. The quarterback went down awkwardly and needed his right ankle taped, but he remained in the game — until halftime.

Things got a lot worse for the 49ers a few minutes later.

Bosa was carted off the field with a left knee injury. Last season’s NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year appeared to have his left leg bent behind him at the end of a 4-yard run by Frank Gore with 6:22 left in the first quarter.

Two plays later, Thomas needed to be carted off — also with a left knee injury —after an 8-yard reception by Chris Hogan. Like Bosa, Thomas was ruled out for the rest of the game.

Sam Ficken’s 41-yard field goal cut the deficit to 7-3 for the Jets, but Garoppolo — limping noticeably — drove the 49ers for another TD.

Mostert nearly had another long touchdown on the second play of the drive, but his 67-yard scamper was wiped out by a holding penalty on tackle Mike McGlinchey. But San Francisco ended the 14-play possession with an 18-yard catch by Jordan Reed, who leaped over a diving Marcus Maye to get into the end zone.

The Jets had a promising drive ended when they went on fourth-and-1 from the 49ers 20 and Josh Adams was stuffed for no gain. New York wide receiver Breshad Perriman injured his left ankle early in the drive and didn’t return.

The 49ers took advantage as Garoppolo marched them 80 yards for another score, a 4-yard pass to Reed, his second of the game, with 11 seconds left in the half. The drive was prolonged by a roughing-the-passer penalty on Henry Anderson when the Jets appeared to have stopped San Francisco on third-and-8.

Garoppolo was 14 of 16 for 131 yards and the two TDs before being replaced by Nick Mullens.

The 49ers started slowly on Mullens’ first drive, but Jerick McKinnon had a 55-yard run on third-and-31. The last team to convert a third down that long on a run was Minnesota on Leroy Hoard’s 53-yard scamper on third-and-37 against Denver in 1999.

Robbie Gould’s 46-yard field goal made it 24-3 midway through the third quarter. McKinnon’s 16-yard TD run gave San Francisco a 31-6 lead.

Rams 37, Eagles 19

PHILADELPHIA — Jared Goff threw three touchdown passes to Tyler Higbee and the Los Angeles Rams beat the Philadelphia Eagles 37-19 on Sunday.

Goff completed his first 13 passes, including a pair of TDs to Higbee, and the Rams jumped to a 21-3 lead minutes into the second quarter.

After the Eagles (0-2) pulled within one score, Goff’s 28-yard TD pass to Higbee in the fourth iced it for Los Angeles (2-0).

Goff and Carson Wentz were selected Nos. 1-2 in the 2016 draft, one of seven times since 1967 that quarterbacks were the first two picks. In their only other head-to-head meeting in December 2017, Wentz tore two knee ligaments. Nick Foles stepped in and eventually led Philadelphia to its first Super Bowl title.

Rams coach Sean McVay got his first win over Doug Pederson and the Eagles in three tries. McVay outcoached defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz early as Los Angeles scored TDs on its first three possessions.

Goff finished 20 of 27 for 242 yards. Went was 26 of 43 for 242 yards and two interceptions.

Darrell Henderson ran for 81 yards and had his first career TD run. The Rams gained 449 total yards, including 191 on the ground. Higbee had three TD catches all of last season on 69 receptions.

The Rams took a 7-0 lead on Goff’s 4-yard TD pass to Higbee after Miles Sanders’ fumble on the third play gave them the ball at the Eagles 41.

Robert Woods ran in from the 5 on a perfectly executed end-around following a fake hand-off up the middle to make it 14-3.

Goff’s 3-yard TD toss to Higbee increased the lead to 21-3.

Packers 42, Lions 21

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Aaron Jones rushed for a career-high 168 yards and scored three touchdowns, including a 75-yard breakaway, as the Green Bay Packers rallied from an early 11-point deficit to beat the Detroit Lions 42-21 on Sunday.

Jones also had a team-high 68 yards receiving on four catches as the Packers won their home opener for an eighth consecutive year. Jones had a 14-yard touchdown run and a 7-yard touchdown catch to go along with his 75-yarder.

Aaron Rodgers was 18 of 30 for 240 yards with touchdown passes to Jones and Robert Tonyan.

One week after blowing a 17-point, fourth-quarter lead in a 27-23 loss to the Chicago Bears, the Lions allowed an 11-point advantage to vanish by halftime as they fell for the 11th consecutive time.

Green Bay took the lead for good 17-14 on Rodgers’ 11-yard pass to Tonyan with 14 seconds left in the second quarter. Jones then raced through a hole on the right side and scored on the Packers’ first play from scrimmage in the second half.

Jones’ 75-yard burst was the longest touchdown run by a Packer since Ahman Green had a 90-yarder against Dallas in 2004.

The Packers extended the lead to 31-14 later in the third quarter when Rashan Gary pressured Matthew Stafford into throwing an interception that Chandon Sullivan returned for a 7-yard touchdown. Sullivan fell to the ground before crossing the goal line but got back up and reached the end zone.

Detroit was playing without several key players due to injury but took an early 14-3 lead by scoring touchdowns on its first two possessions. Kerryon Johnson capped the first series with a 1-yard run. Detroit’s second drive ended with Matthew Stafford’s 4-yard touchdown pass to Marvin Jones.

Titans 33, Jaguars 30

NASHVILLE — Stephen Gostkowski kicked a 49-yard field goal with 1:36 left, and the Tennessee Titans remain undefeated after holding off the Jacksonville Jaguars 33-30 Sunday.

Gostkowski, who hit the left upright on an extra point, also made a 51-yarder at the end of the first half after an ugly performance in the opener. Jeffery Simmons batted a pass by Gardner Minshew, and Harold Landry III grabbed the ball out of the air with 47 seconds left to seal the victory.

This is the Titans’ first 2-0 start since 2008, the most recent season this franchise won the AFC South. They also won their seventh straight against divisional rival Jacksonville in Nashville after nearly blowing a 24-10 halftime lead.

Ryan Tannehill threw for 239 yards and four touchdowns. The Titans sacked Minshew twice and picked him off twice.

Minshew finished throwing for 339 yards and three TDs, his final two coming in the fourth quarter as he tried to rally the Jaguars (1-1). His final TD pass, a 14-yarder to Chris Thompson, tied it up at 30 with 7:25 left as the Jaguars (1-1) tried to snap their Music City skid.

The Jaguars outgained Tennessee 480-354, but they wouldn’t score again.

Jadeveon Clowney, the Titans’ big free agent signee at the end of the preseason, also pressured Minshew into throwing incomplete on third down, forcing a punt with 3:29 left. Then the Titans’ defense came up with the final turnover.

Undrafted rookie James Robinson also ran for a TD and 102 yards.

The Jaguars revamped their defense determined to defend Derrick Henry better after the 2019 NFL rushing leader had run for 498 yards against them since the start of the 2018 season, most the Titans running back has had against any AFC South team. They held him to 84 yards on 24 carries.

So the Titans turned to Tannehill, the quarterback who led the NFL in 2019 with a 117.5 passer rating.

Bears 17, Giants 13

CHICAGO — Mitchell Trubisky threw two touchdown passes and the Chicago Bears hung on to beat the New York Giants 17-13 on Sunday.

The Bears (2-0) grabbed a 17-0 halftime lead and withstood a big push a week after rallying from 17 down at Detroit for their first season-opening win in seven years.

The Giants (0-2) refused to go quietly even though they lost star running back Saquon Barkley to a right knee injury on the opening play of the second quarter.

New York’s Dion Lewis made it a seven-point game when he plowed in from the 1 in the opening minute of the fourth.

James Bradbury then intercepted Trubisky when he ripped the ball out of Allen Robinson’s hands, leading to a 37-yard field goal by Graham Gano that cut it to 17-13 with 7:43 remaining.

The Bears caught a big break on fourth down at the New York 36 with just under four minutes left. New York’s Blake Martinez deflected a pass intended for Jimmy Graham, and the ball ricocheted to tackle Bobby Massie for a first down. Cairo Santos missed wide left on a 50-yard field goal attempt, giving New York the ball on the 40 with 2:02 remaining.

The Giants drove to the 10 before Golden Tate got flagged for pushing off against Eddie Jackson near the goal line on an incomplete pass as time expired.

Trubisky completed 18 of 28 passes for 190 yards and was intercepted twice.

He threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to David Montgomery on the game’s opening possession and fired a 15-yarder to Darnell Mooney in the closing seconds of the first half to give the Bears a 17-0 lead.

Colts 28, Vikings 11

INDIANANPOLIS — Jonathan Taylor looked right at home in his first NFL start.

He made Sunday’s hefty workload look pretty easy, too.

The 21-year-old running back rushed 26 times for 101 yards and scored a touchdown in his first NFL start, leading the Indianapolis Colts past Minnesota 28-11.

Taylor celebrated his first win inside Lucas Oil Stadium, after losing three Big Ten championship games in the stadium, in front of about 2,500 fans. He became the first Colts’ rookie in eight years to top the 100-yard mark, and it helped Philip Rivers win his first game with Indy (1-1).

Taylor wasn’t Indy’s only impressive rookie.

Michael Pittman Jr. caught four passes for 37 yards, Julian Blackmon tipped the ball to Khari Willis for an interception and Rodrigo Blankenship made all four of his field-goal attempts.

The Colts had a nearly 17-minute edge in time of possession, too, as they improved to 12-0 all-time against the Vikings in home games.

It was another ugly day for Minnesota. Kirk Cousins had a 0.0 passer rating late into the third quarter, thanks in part to drops, one of which sailed through the hands of Bisi Johnson and into the arms of Colts cornerback Kenny Moore II.

It was that kind of day for Minnesota, which is 0-2 for the first time since 2013 and has lost five of its past six games including last season’s playoff loss.

Cousins was 11 of 26 with 113 yards and three interceptions and was tackled in the end zone for a safety for the second straight week.

Cowboys 40, Falcons 39

ARLINGTON, Texas — Greg Zuerlein kicked a 46-yard field goal as time expired, and the Dallas Cowboys overcame four fumbles and a 20-point deficit in the first quarter to beat the Atlanta Falcons 40-39 in coach Mike McCarthy’s home debut Sunday.

The Falcons were still up 12 in the fourth quarter when Dak Prescott became the first quarterback in NFL history to pass for more than 400 yards and rush for three touchdowns in the same game, getting the Cowboys (1-1) within two.

C.J. Goodwin recovered the onside kick with 1:48 remaining, and rookie receiver CeeDee Lamb’s 24-yard catch got the Cowboys in field goal position so they could run down the clock.

Matt Ryan threw four touchdown passes, two off lost fumbles from the Cowboys, on the way to a 20-0 lead in the first quarter. But the Falcons couldn’t avoid their first 0-2 start under coach Dan Quinn in a performance reminiscent of their blown 28-3 lead in a Super Bowl loss to New England in Houston.

The successful onside kick for Dallas came after two failed fake punts and a gamble from McCarthy in going for the 2-point conversion before the final touchdown the Cowboys would have needed to get even.

The Cowboys were down two after the third short touchdown run from Prescott, who threw for 450 yards and a score. It was Prescott’s first game with multiple rushing touchdowns. He’s the franchise leader for quarterbacks in that category.

After the Falcons drove 56 yards in the final two minutes of the first half for a field goal and a 29-10 lead, the limited crowd of 21,708 booed the Cowboys as they headed for the tunnel in one of the corners of the end zone.

Normally, both teams enter and exit the field from behind the benches, but those areas and the rest of the field-level suites were covered by tarps. The announced crowd was 27% of AT&T Stadium’s 80,000-seat capacity.

Buccaneers 31, Panthers 17

TAMPA, Fla. — Tom Brady got his first win with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, throwing for 217 yards, one touchdown and an interception in a 31-17 victory over the Carolina Panthers.

With another recent acquisition, Leonard Fournette, rushing for 103 yards and two TDs, Brady rebounded from a less-than-stellar debut for his new team to avoid starting a season with consecutive losses for the first time in a 21-year career.

The six-time Super Bowl champion also bounced back in Week 2 after dropping openers with the New England Patriots in 2003, 2014 and 2017.

Brady tossed a 23-yard TD pass to Mike Evans in the first quarter. Fournette scored on runs of 1 and 46 yards, the latter coming after Carolina rallied from a 21-0 halftime deficit to pull within 24-17 on a pair of TD runs by Christian McCaffrey and Joey Slye’s 23-yard field goal with 1:57 remaining.

Brady completed 23 of 35 passes, and Evans finished with seven receptions for 104 yards. Fournette averaged 8.6 yards per carry on 12 rushing attempts.

Teddy Bridgewater was 33 of 42 for 367 yards and two interceptions for the Panthers (0-2), who had four turnovers.

McCaffrey, who spent most of the fourth quarter on the sideline with an apparent ankle injury, scored on runs of 1 and 7 yards and finished with 58 yards rushing and 29 receiving on four catches.

DJ Moore had eight catches for 120 yards and Robby Anderson had nine receptions for 109 yards for Carolina. Brady threw for 239 yards and two TDs during the previous week’s 34-23 season-opening loss at New Orleans. He also hurt the Bucs with a pair of interceptions, including one that was returned for a touchdown and drew criticism from coach Bruce Arians.

Bills 31, Dolphins 28

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla — Josh Allen threw for 417 yards and four touchdowns, both career highs, and the Buffalo Bills beat AFC East rival Miami for the fourth consecutive time Sunday, 31-28.

Allen reached a career high in yards passing for the second week in a row, and became the first Buffalo quarterback to have back-to-back 300-yard games since Drew Bledsoe in 2002.

Trailing 20-17, the Bills (2-0) reclaimed the lead with 5:55 left on a 6-yard pass from Allen to rookie Gabriel Davis, who made a diving catch in the end zone. Allen’s 46-yard pass to John Brown stretched the lead to 31-20 with 3:09 left. The Bills totaled 524 yards, with 342 in the first half, the most by the team since 2000.

The Dolphins closed to 31-28 on an 8-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Mike Gesicki and a successful 2-point conversion with 49 seconds left.

The onside kick was recovered by the Bills’ Micah Hyde.

Allen threw touchdown passes to four receivers and Stefon Diggs led the Bills with eight catches for 153 yards.

The Dolphins had a first down at the Buffalo 1 late in the third quarter but failed to score, with Preston Williams dropping a fourth-down pass.

Fitzpatrick went 31 for 47 for 328 yards and two TDs.

With the Bills leading 17-10, the game was suspended for 36 minutes in the third quarter due to lightning in the area.

After the delay, the Dolphins offense got a spark and scored 10 consecutive points to take a 20-17 lead. A third-quarter field goal by Jason Sanders was followed by a 2-yard touchdown run by Jordan Howard.

The Bills had scoring drives of 97 yards, 84 yards, and 73 yards in the first half. But a 27-yard pass from Fitzpatrick to Mike Gesicki set up a 52-yard field goal by Sanders on the final play of the half to close the Dolphins within 17-10 at halftime.

The Bills took a 7-0 lead on a 97-yard drive that culminated with a 1-yard pass to Reggie Gilliam. It was the first NFL touchdown reception for Gilliam, an undrafted free agent out of Toledo.

Chiefs 23, Chargers 20

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Harrison Butker kicked a 58-yard field goal with 1:55 remaining in overtime, and the Kansas City Chiefs survived a superlative first start by rookie Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert to beat Los Angeles 23-20 on Sunday.

Butker’s game-winner was his third field goal of the day and his second from 58 yards, which tied a Chiefs record for distance. He nailed a 30-yarder on the final play of regulation.

In overtime, Butker sent the ball through the uprights from 53 yards, but KC was called for a false start. Then the Chargers called timeout, giving him a rehearsal kick from 58 that he also made before the one that counted.

Patrick Mahomes completed less than half of his passes in the first half for only the third time in his career but rallied to finish 27 of 47 for 302 yards and two touchdowns. Tyreek Hill (five catches, 99 yards) and Travis Kelce (nine receptions, 90 yards) each had TD receptions.

Playing their first game at SoFi Stadium, the Chargers (1-1) won the coin toss in overtime but went three-and-out. The Chiefs (2-0) got the ball at their 21 and went 39 yards in 13 plays.

Herbert was 22 of 33 for 311 yards with a touchdown and interception, becoming the ninth quarterback since the merger to have a 300-yard game in his NFL debut.

Herbert, the sixth overall pick in April’s draft, got the call after Tyrod Taylor re-aggravated a rib injury during pregame warmups. Coach Anthony Lynn said he found out just before the coin toss that Taylor was unable to play and that Taylor was taken to a hospital.

Herbert passed and rushed for touchdowns in the first half, becoming the first player since Bob Clatterbuck of the New York Giants in 1954 to do that in his debut. He joined Cam Newton and Otto Graham as the only QB’s to throw for 300 yards and have a rushing TD in their first game.

Cardinals 30, Washington 15

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Kyler Murray threw for 286 yards and a touchdown and ran for two more scores to lead the Arizona Cardinals over the Washington Football Team 30-15 on Sunday.

The Cardinals were dominant in their push to a 2-0 record, jumping to a 14-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. They led 20-0 by halftime and 20-3 following the third. DeAndre Hopkins caught eight passes for 68 yards and a touchdown. Zane Gonzalez made three field goals.

Murray alleviated any doubt about who would win early in the fourth quarter, when he darted through the middle of the field — dancing right past safety Troy Apke in the process — for a 21-yard touchdown that pushed Arizona’s advantage to 27-3.

Washington (1-1) finally scored a touchdown with 12:20 left in the fourth quarter when Dwayne Haskins hit Terry McLaurin for a 24-yard score. It scored again with 6:38 left when Antonio Gibson ran for an 11-yard touchdown to pull within 27-15 after the 2-point conversion failed.

But by then it was too late for a rally. Washington rallied from a 17-0 deficit to beat Philadelphia last week, but waited much too long to get going on Sunday. Haskins completed 19 of 33 passes for 223 yards and a touchdown.

In front of a fan-less State Farm Stadium, the Cardinals continued to look like a contender in the NFC West after finishing 5-10-1 last year. Kenyan Drake ran for 86 yards on 20 carries. Murray finished with 67 yards rushing.

Arizona outgained Washington 244 yards to 96 in the first half as it built its 20-0 lead.