NFL Week 8 review: Philadelphia Eagles run over Buffalo Bills in 31-13 win

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Rookie Miles Sanders scored on a career-best 65-yard touchdown run and the Philadelphia Eagles snapped a two-game skid with a 31-13 win over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.

Carson Wentz finished 17 of 24 for 172 and a touchdown passing in a game the Eagles blew open by scoring TDs 83 seconds apart spanning halftime.

Dallas Goedert scored on a 5-yard catch. Jordan Howard had a team-best 96 yards rushing and scored on a 3-yard run, and Boston Scott scored on a 4-yard run after Sanders left the game with a shoulder injury in the third quarter.

Linebacker Brandon Graham had one of the team’s four sacks, and also forced and recovered quarterback Josh Allen’s fumble, which led to Goedert scoring the go-ahead touchdown.

The Eagles improved to 4-4 in bouncing back from a 37-10 prime-time dud of a loss at Dallas last week, and amid questions the team lacked discipline. Cornerback Orlando Scandrick criticized Eagles leaders upon being released by the team. And offensive tackle Lane Johnson raised questions by suggesting Eagles players were showing up late for team meetings.

The Bills (5-2) squandered an opportunity to open 6-1 for the first time since 1993, and failed to answer skeptics as to whether their hot start is a result of a soft schedule.

Buffalo has faced just one opponent — New England — that entered this weekend with a winning record. And the Bills were coming off a week in which they rallied from a five-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat the winless Miami Dolphins 31-21.

The Bills were essentially trampled by the Eagles. The 218 yards rushing allowed was the most by Buffalo since giving up 273 against New England on Dec. 23. And Buffalo had not surrendered three touchdowns rushing since allowing three in a 2018 season-opening 47-3 loss at Baltimore.

Allen finished 16 of 34 for 169 yards with touchdown passes to Cole Beasley and Devin Singletary. Allen also fumbled three times, losing one.

The game turned in the final minutes of the first half with the Eagles trailing 7-3.

With Buffalo facing third-and-2 from its 28, Allen was running to his right with the ball tucked under his right arm, when Graham knocked it loose. Wentz hit a wide-open Goedert in the end zone five plays later.

Sanders then took off on the second snap from scrimmage in the third quarter. Stepping to his right, Sanders burst through a bid hole through the middle and followed Howard’s block of linebacker Matt Milano to race up the left sideline. The rookie second-round draft pick then celebrated by leaping into a group of Eagles fans in the northeast corner of the end zone.

BOOBIE MILES BREAKS FREE!#Eagles Rookie RB Miles Sanders out runs the entire Bills defense for a 65 yard touchdown run! #Eagles up 17-7#FlyEaglesFly #Eagles #PHIvsBUF pic.twitter.com/rc1kcbCziF

— The Read & React Show (@ReadnReactShow) October 27, 2019

After Singletary scored to cut Philadelphia’s lead to 17-13 with 9:36 left in the third quarter, Wentz responded by directing a six-play, 68-yard drive capped by Scott’s touchdown. The drive began with Wentz with a 38-yard pass to Alshon Jeffery, who was wide open up the left sideline.

Saints 31, Cardinals 9

NEW ORLEANS — Drew Brees passed for 373 yards and three touchdowns in his first game in more than five weeks since thumb surgery, and the New Orleans Saints won their sixth straight with a 31-9 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

With few exceptions, Brees was accurate and looked composed even as his pass blocking collapsed, completing 34 of 43 passes.

He was intercepted once, by Patrick Peterson, but was not pressured before throwing that aggressive, risky pass down the left sideline, where fullback Zach Line was double-covered.

The Cardinals were unable to capitalize on that turnover early in the second half, however, and Brees made them pay by leading three touchdown drives after that, ending with passes to running back Latavius Murray, dynamic reserve QB and utility player Taysom Hill, and leading receiver Michael Thomas.

Cardinals rookie Kyler Murray completed 19 of 33 passes for 220 yards, but Arizona never found the end zone. Eight of his completions went to Christian Kirk for 79 yards in the receiver’s return from an ankle sprain. Arizona was held to 40 yards rushing and the Saints’ defense held a fifth-straight opponent below 260 total net yards.

Jaguars 29, Jets 15

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Sam Darnold went from seeing ghosts to seeing teal.

Darnold was sacked a career-high eight times and threw three interceptions in Jacksonville’s 29-15 victory over the New York Jets on Sunday.

He was picked off twice in the fourth quarter, including one that set up Gardner Minshew’s game-sealing score to DJ Chark with a little more than 4 minutes to play. Minshew completed 22 of 34 passes for 279 yards and three touchdowns. He scrambled for another 32 yards.

Minshew connected with Keelan Cole and Chris Conley for first-quarter touchdowns for the Jaguars (4-4).

Darnold was 21 of 30 for 218 yards with two touchdown passes to Ryan Griffin, and the three turnovers.

The Jaguars pressured him early and often, hitting him on nearly every passing play and taking him down more than any other team had during his two-year NFL career.

Seahawks 27, Falcons 20

ATLANTA — Russell Wilson threw two touchdown passes to DK Metcalf, Chris Carson ran for 90 yards and a score, and the Seattle Seahawks beat the reeling Atlanta Falcons 27-20 on Sunday.

Seattle led 24-0 at halftime as the Falcons offense floundered early in their first start without quarterback Matt Ryan in 10 years. Ryan’s streak of 154 consecutive regular-season starts ended as he was held out with a sprained right ankle.

The Falcons (1-7) have lost six straight games, leaving coach Dan Quinn’s status a hot topic as the team enters its bye week.

Wilson completed first-half touchdown passes of 4 and 2 yards to Metcalf. Carson had a 1-yard scoring run.

Seattle (6-2) leaned heavily on its running game as Rashaad Penny added 55 yards rushing. Wilson completed 14 of 20 passes for 182 yards with no interceptions.

Atlanta has been outscored 144-50 in the first half this season. The Falcons have faced six double-digit halftime deficits.

Titans 27, Buccaneers 23

NASHVILLE — Ryan Tannehill threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Brown with 6:55 left, and the Tennessee Titans rallied to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27-23 Sunday for their second straight win.

Tennessee came in with the NFL’s No. 4 scoring defense, having not allowed more than 20 points in a game all season. The Buccaneers entered with the league’s fourth-best offense, averaging 28.8 points a game, and they became the first to top the mark.

The Titans (4-4) led 14-3 after turning a pair of first-quarter turnovers into two TD passes by Tannehill.

The Bucs (2-6) lost their third straight and fourth in five games despite Jameis Winston and Mike Evans putting the Bucs up 23-17 by connecting on a TD pass at the end of the first half and a second early in the third quarter. They wouldn’t score again despite outgaining Tennessee 389-246.

Tampa Bay couldn’t overcome four turnovers — all by Winston, who now has 10 combined turnovers over his past eight quarters.

Chargers 17, Bears 16

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Chicago kicker Eddy Pineiro missed a 41-yard field goal as time expired and the Los Angeles Chargers hung on to beat Chicago 17-16 on Sunday.

The Bears (3-4) took over at their 35 with 1:33 remaining and had a chance to win it after driving all the way to the 21. Chicago had quarterback Mitchell Trubisky take a knee with about 40 seconds left rather than try to get closer to the goal line. And Pineiro, who hit an upright on a miss earlier, hooked the potential winner wide left as time expired.

That allowed the Chargers (3-5) to snap a three-game losing streak and avoid their first 0-4 October since 2000, while the Bears dropped their third in a row. Los Angeles also picked up its first victory in seven road games all-time against Chicago and its first win at Soldier Field after losing four.

Philip Rivers threw an 11-yard touchdown to Austin Ekeler in the fourth quarter for the go-ahead touchdown with just over eight minutes left in the game after Melvin Ingram recovered a fumble by Trubisky in Chicago territory.

Lions 31, Giants 26

DETROIT — Matthew Stafford threw two of his three touchdown passes to Kenny Golladay and the Detroit Lions snapped a three-game losing streak with a 31-26 victory over the slumping New York Giants on Sunday.

The Lions (3-3-1) took a two-TD lead in the first quarter and Stafford’s 41-yard flea flicker to Golladay early in the fourth put them ahead by 12 points.

New York (2-6) turned the ball over on downs at the Lions 39 with 6:25 and at their 14 with 3:27 left, but it had another chance to come back.

Giants rookie Daniel Jones threw a 4-yard TD pass to Saquan Barkley and an extra point pulled them within five points late in the game. The ensuing onside kick went out of bounds, sealing Detroit’s victory.

The Giants have lost four games in a row before the end of October for the second straight season.

Texans 27, Raiders 24

HOUSTON — Deshaun Watson threw for 279 yards and three touchdowns, including the go-ahead score in the fourth quarter to lift Houston to a win over Oakland.

There were about 6½ minutes left when Watson evaded the rush and connected with Darren Fells on a 9-yard scoring toss to put Houston up 27-24 for its first lead of the game. Watson appeared to get kicked in the face on the play and remained on the turf for a few minutes and was tended to be trainers before getting to his feet and walking to the medical tent. But he was OK and returned on the next possession.

Houston (5-3) forced a punt on the next drive when Gareon Conley, who was traded to the Texans from Oakland this week, knocked down a pass to Tyrell Williams on third down.

Fells had 58 yards receiving and two touchdowns and DeAndre Hopkins grabbed 11 catches for 109 yards.

Derek Carr had 285 yards passing with three touchdowns as the Raiders (3-4) lost for the second week in a row.

49ers 51, Panthers 13

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Tevin Coleman scored three of his four touchdowns in the first half, rookie Nick Bosa had three sacks to go along with an acrobatic interception and San Francisco remained unbeaten with a victory over Carolina Panthers in its highest-scoring game in 26 years.

The Niners (7-0) are off to their best start since winning their first 10 games in 1990 but still faced questions because five of those first six victories came against teams that have losing records.

But San Francisco delivered perhaps its most complete performance of the season against the streaking Panthers (4-3), who had won four straight games and featured one of the league’s top defenses.

Jimmy Garoppolo and the offense had little trouble carving Carolina’s defense with 232 yards rushing and a pair of touchdown passes for San Francisco’s most prolific offensive game since beating Detroit 55-17 on Dec. 19, 1993. The Niners stellar defense did the rest.

Colts 15, Broncos 13

INDIANAPOLIS — Adam Vinatieri made a 51-yard field goal with 22 seconds left to help Indianapolis rally for a victory over Denver.

The NFL’s career scoring leader overcame two earlier misses to keep Indy (5-2) atop the AFC South with its third straight victory.

Denver (2-6) has lost two in a row.

The difference this time was the Broncos settled for two short field goals on time-consuming drives in the first half. Brandon McManus made a 21-yarder to cap a 17-play drive that consumed nearly eight minutes and a 29-yarder on their next possession when the Broncos burned nearly 5½ minutes in 13 plays to make it 6-0.