NFL Week 5 roundup: Carr helps Raiders snap Chiefs' 13-game win streak, 40-32
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Derek Carr threw for 347 yards and three touchdowns, outplaying Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes along the way, and the Las Vegas Raiders nearly shut out the potent Kansas City offense in the second half to rally for a 40-32 victory Sunday that ended the Chiefs’ franchise-record 13-game winning streak.
Josh Jacobs scored the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter, Daniel Carlson added a field goal a few minutes later, and Mahomes was intercepted on fourth down to set up another touchdown by Jacobs that make it 40-24 with 5:26 left.
Mahomes led the Chiefs quickly downfield, hitting Travis Kelce for a touchdown and Darrel Williams for the 2-point try to make it a one-possession game. But after the Raiders (3-2) recovered the squib quick, Jacobs rumbled for a first down as the Chiefs (4-1) used up their timeouts, and Carr sneaked for a first down on fourth-and-1 near midfield with 2 minutes left to allow Las Vegas to end its five-game skid against Kansas City.
The Chiefs had won seven in a row over their longtime rival at Arrowhead Stadium, where Carr had been especially bad in losing each of his six starts. But he was simply spectacular with a relatively quiet 17,000 fans in the building, helping to guide the Raiders to their first win in Kansas City since Oct. 28, 2012.
Mahomes spent the entire game trying to escape the Las Vegas pass rush, which manhandled the Chiefs offensive line, and finished with 340 yards passing and two touchdowns along with an interception. Kelce had 108 yards receiving.
The slower second half, when the Raiders finished their comeback from a 14-3 deficit, came after a first half in which the Raiders and Chiefs combined for nearly 700 yards and played to a 24-all draw.
The Chiefs got a touchdown pass from Mahomes to Sammy Watkins, who later left with a hamstring injury, but also had two TD passes brought back by penalties. The first was a 58-yarder to Hill that was wiped out by a holding call on Kelechi Osemele, who left with a knee injury two plays later, and the second was a strike to Clyde Edwards-Helaire late in the half that was negated by Kelce’s offensive pass interference.
Carr looked like he was destined for another miserable day at Arrowhead Stadium with his early interception, but he came back with three first-half TD passes. The first was a 59-yard toss to Nelson Agholar, who simply split the Chiefs secondary, and the second to tight end Darren Waller in the back of the end zone.
When Henry Ruggs III hauled in a 72-yard throw for Carr’s third TD pass of the quarter, the Raiders had a 24-21 lead.
There wasn’t nearly the same amount of offense in the second half — especially out of Kansas City.
The Chiefs had to punt on their first three possessions, gaining just two first downs, and one of those on a penalty. That gave the Raiders a chance to pull ahead on Jacobs’ bullish 7-yard run with 14:14 to go, then make it a two-possession game when Carr hit Hunter Renfrow for 42 yards on third-and-18 to set up Carlson’s 43-yard field goal.
Jeff Heath intercepted Mahomes on fourth down a few minutes later, and Jacobs helped to seal the win for Las Vegas.
Rams 30, Washington 10
LANDOVER, Md. — Jared Goff threw for 309 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another, and the Los Angeles Rams improved to 4-1 by beating Washington 30-10 on Sunday in Alex Smith’s return almost two years since a gruesome injury put his career in jeopardy.
Smith played his first NFL game 693 days since breaking his right tibia and fibula, entering when new Washington starting quarterback Kyle Allen injured his left arm. He was 9 of 17 for 37 yards on the same field he was carted off of on Nov. 18, 2018 before undergoing 17 surgeries to repair the injury.
“It’s just spectacular to see him back on a football field,” said former Washington QB Joe Thiesmann, who broke his right leg in similar fashion 33 years to the day before Smith was injured. “I’m so thrilled and excited for him.”
The Rams are thrilled with such a strong start in a tough NFC West after missing the playoffs last season. They’ve swept the NFC East and are only a three-point loss on a questionable pass interference call away from being undefeated.
Led by Aaron Donald’s four sacks and blanket coverage, the Rams clamped down on defense and ran it up in the rain on offense. Against the team he spent seven seasons with as an assistant, coach Sean McVay dialed up a lot of play-action early, and unleashed Goff’s long-range passing game that had been largely absent through four games.
Goff led the Rams on a methodical, 10-play, 76-yard opening scoring drive that finished with a 1-yard TD run by Darrell Henderson. He connected with Robert Woods on a 56-yard touchdown, his longest completion of the season, and started the game a perfect 10 of 10 against a porous Washington defense.
Texans 30, Jaguars 10
HOUSTON — Deshaun Watson threw for a season-high 359 yards and three touchdowns and Houston got its first win of the season with a victory over Jacksonville in the wake of coach Bill O’Brien’s firing.
O’Brien, who was also the general manager, was let go on Monday after the Texans fell to 0-4 last weekend. Romeo Crennel was named interim coach and at 73 he become the oldest coach in NFL history, passing Hall of Famer George Halas, who was 72 in his last game with the Bears in 1967.
The Texans led 23-14 after a field goal with about 7½ minutes to go and got the ball back when Jacob Martin sacked Gardner Minshew and forced a fumble. It was recovered by Whitney Mercilus, who fumbled on the return, but the Texans pounced on the ball to keep it.
Houston (1-4) pushed the lead to 30-14 when Watson found Brandin Cooks on a 28-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-4 with about five minutes remaining.
The Jaguars (1-4), who were missing three defensive starters because of injuries, have dropped four in a row since their season-opening win against Indianapolis. Minshew threw for 301 yards and two touchdowns in the loss.
The Texans were able to overcome two interceptions by Watson by taking advantage of two fumbles by the Jaguars. Those were the first turnovers forced by the Texans all season.
Panthers 23, Falcons 16
ATLANTA — Teddy Bridgewater threw for 313 yards and two touchdowns, Juston Burris made a huge interception in the end zone and Carolina held on for a victory over winless Atlanta, perhaps finishing off the coaching career of Atlanta’s Dan Quinn.
The Falcons dropped to 0-5 for the first time since 1997, turning up the heat even more on their embattled coach.
Carolina (3-2) built a 20-7 halftime lead behind Bridgewater’s touchdown passes of 57 yards to D.J. Moore and 3 yards to Mike Davis, drawing boos that could be heard even from a sparse, socially distanced crowd of 6,656 at 75,000-seat Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Atlanta, which this season became the first team in NFL history to squander fourth-quarter leads of at least 15 points in consecutive games, tried to turn the script in the second half. Younghoe Koo booted two field goals and the Falcons drove into position for a tying score in the fourth quarter.
But, on third-and-4 from the Panthers 5, Matt Ryan badly underthrew a pass to Russell Gage in the back of the end zone, allowing Burris to make the interception with 8:49 remaining.
With the Falcons clearly deflated, Carolina drove nearly the length of the field — taking 7:39 off the clock — to set up Joey Slye’s third field goal of the game, a 22-yarder with 1:10 remaining.
Cardinals 30, Jets 10
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Arizona came to MetLife Stadium and like every other team this season found a cure-all for its woes with a game against a winless team from New York’s rotten football apple.
Kyler Murray ran for a touchdown and threw another to DeAndre Hopkins as the Cardinals snapped a two-game losing streak with a victory over the Jets, further putting coach Adam Gase’s future in jeopardy after an 0-5 start.
Murray had a 2-yard TD run and hit Hopkins on a 37-yard strike on a day the Cardinals (3-2) had 496 yards in total offense. Chase Edmonds scored on 29-yard run, Kenyan Drake tallied from a yard out and Zane Gonzalez kicked a 47-yard field goal. Arizona scored touchdowns on drives of 96, 89, 75 and 70 yards.
The 0-5 start is the third in Jets history. The other years were 1980 and ‘96. The ‘96 team went 1-15 and had the worst start in franchise history at 0-8.
Playing with Joe Flacco in place of injured quarterback Sam Darnold and with running back Le’Veon Bell in the lineup for the first time since opening day, the Jets stayed close into the second half. They drew within 17-10 on an 11-yard pass from Flacco to Jamison Crowder, who had eight catches for 116 yards.
The Cardinals quickly put the game out of reach, scoring touchdowns on their next two possessions. Drake powered his way into the end zone with :15 left in the third quarter. Murray (27 of 37 for 380 yards) capped a six-play, 96-yard drive with his perfect toss to Hopkins, who had six catches for 136 yards.
Cowboys 37, Giants 34
ARLINGTON, Texas — Dak Prescott sustained a gruesome ankle injury not long after his first career touchdown catch before backup Andy Dalton led a drive to a field goal on the final play, and the Dallas Cowboys beat the winless New York Giants 37-34 on Sunday.
Michael Gallup made two spectacular sideline catches on throws from Dalton, the second a 38-yarder to the New York 16. The Cowboys ran the clock down to 3 seconds, and Greg Zuerlein had his second game-ending kick of the season, from 34 yards.
Prescott was going down in the arms of defensive back Logan Ryan at the end of a 9-yard run in the third quarter when the Dallas quarterback’s lower right leg got caught under Ryan and appeared to snap.
Prescott reached for the leg as he writhed in pain, and TV images showed his right foot bent at an awkward angle away from his leg. He was fighting back tears as he was carted off with a cast on the leg. Most of Prescott’s teammates rushed to greet him, as did several New York players, including Ryan.
The team said Prescott had a fracture dislocation of the right ankle and was taken to a hospital, where surgery was planned later in the day.
Dalton was Cincinnati’s starter for nine seasons before the Bengals drafted Joe Burrow No. 1 overall last spring and Dalton signed a one-year deal to be Prescott’s backup.
Dalton and rookie center Tyler Biadasz fumbled an exchange on Dalton’s first full series, setting up Devonta Freeman’s 4-yard scoring run and offensive tackle Andrew Thomas’ 2-point conversion catch for a 34-31 lead for the Giants (0-5).
After Dallas got even and forced a New York punt, Gallup made a toe-dragging 19-yard catch. Then Gallup made an over-the-shoulder grab with Dion Lewis running stride for stride. Both catches held up on review.
The Cowboys (2-3), who trailed by two touchdowns in the second quarter for their fourth straight game with a double-digit deficit, extended their lead when Ezekiel Elliott ran in from 12 yards out to make it 31-23 three plays after Prescott’s injury. Elliott had 91 yards rushing and two touchdowns.
Dolphins 43, 49ers 17
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Ryan Fitzpatrick did his best to quiet the talk about when rookie Tua Tagovailoa should take over as starter in Miami.
Fitzpatrick threw for 350 yards and three touchdowns and the Dolphins sent the defending NFC champion San Francisco 49ers to their third straight home loss to open the season, 43-17 on Sunday.
“I’ve been called every name in the book,” Fitzpatrick said. “People hate me, people love me, depending on the week. That outside noise isn’t important. The thing is important is practicing and getting everybody ready.”
Fitzpatrick connected on a 3-yard TD pass to Adam Shaheen on the opening drive of the game for the Dolphins (2-3) and didn’t let up.
The 49ers (2-3) are the team with questions at quarterback after Jimmy Garoppolo got pulled at halftime after throwing two interceptions. Garoppolo had missed the previous two games with a sprained ankle and never looked comfortable against a defense that entered allowing the most yards per dropback in the NFL.
C.J. Beathard replaced Garoppolo at the half and threw one TD pass but it wasn’t enough to keep the Niners from falling again at home. San Francisco is 2-0 this season at MetLife Stadium with blowout wins over the Jets and Giants but has lost all three games at home.
“Our vets have to play better,” All-Pro tight end George Kittle said. “It starts with me. Just our whole unit is not playing very well together. We have the guys to right the ship. No one is jumping off, no one is pointing fingers.”
The Dolphins dominated on both sides of the ball with five sacks, three takeaways and a nearly perfect performance from Fitzpatrick.
Coach Brian Flores called it the best win since he took over in Miami last season.
“That is the type of preparation we need,” he said. “We’ve got to do it every week. We’ve got to string some together.”
Fitzpatrick converted on deep strikes for TDs to DeVante Parker and Preston Williams and led the Dolphins to their highest scoring road game since 1986.
Seahawks 27, Vikings 26
SEATTLE — Russell Wilson capped a 94-yard drive with a 6-yard touchdown pass to DK Metcalf on fourth-and-goal with 15 seconds left, and the Seattle Seahawks beat the Minnesota Vikings 27-26 on Sunday night.
Seattle improved to 5-0 for the first time in franchise history with Wilson providing some more prime-time magic and yet another late comeback.
Wilson finished 20 of 32 for 217 yards and three touchdowns. It wasn’t his best performance but he made the key throws late when it was needed.
Seattle’s last drive included a fourth-and-10 conversion on a 39-yard pass to Metcalf early in the possession. Seattle appeared to get a winning TD to Metcalf on second-and-goal, but he lost the ball as he was hit from behind. Given another chance on fourth-and-goal, Metcalf flashed open cutting across the end zone and Wilson delivered a fastball into a tight window.
Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins was 27 of 39 for 249 yards and two second-half TD passes to Adam Thielen. Alexander Mattison rushed for a career-high 112 yards in place of Dalvin Cook after he suffered a groin injury on the opening possession of the second half. But Mattison was stopped on fourth-and-1 at the Seattle 6 with 1:57 left setting the stage for yet another Wilson comeback.
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