The Globe and Mail - 21.10.2019

B12 FOOTBALL OTHEGLOBEANDMAIL | MONDAY,OCTOBER21,2019

Aaron Rodgers had his best game by far un-
der new Packers coach Matt LaFleur,
throwing for 429 yards and five touch-
downs, and running for another as Green
Bay beat the Oakland Raiders 42-24 on Sun-
day. Rodgers completed 25 of 31 passes to
eight different targets, and finished with
the first perfect passer rating of his career,
leading LaFleur’s offence to a season-high
in points. Even with top target Davante
Adams sidelined for the third straight
game with turf toe, Rodgers threw for his
most touchdowns in a game since Sept. 28,
2015, against the Chiefs. Derek Carr fin-
ished 22 for 28 for 293 yards, two touch-
downs and two costly turnovers for the
Raiders (3-3), who lost their eighth straight
against Green Bay, going back to 1990. The
Packers (6-1) have scored 30-plus points in
each of their past five games against the
Raiders. Green Bay took the lead for good
on a two-yard touchdown from Rodgers to
Jamal Williams with 3:27 to go in the first
half. The score capped an 11-play, 82-yard
drive that took up 8:06 – the Packers’ long-
est drive of the season – and made it 14-10.

BILLS31,DOLPHINS21

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y.Tre’Davious White
forced two second-half turnovers, Micah
Hyde returned an onside kick for a touch-
down and Buffalo rallied from a five-point
deficit for a victory over winless Miami. The
Bills, who began the day favoured by 17
points, avoided what would have been a
major upset against the patchwork Dol-
phins (0-6), who are in major rebuilding
mode. Josh Allen led fourth-quarter touch-
down drives after each of the Dolphins
turnovers, and the Bills improved to 5-1 in
matching their best start to a season in 11
years. White’s diving interception at the
two of Ryan Fitzpatrick’s pass on second-
and-goal from the 12 led to Buffalo going
ahead 17-14 on John Brown’s 20-yard
touchdown catch that capped a 12-play, 98-
yard drive. Two series later, White punched
the ball out of the hands of rookie Preston
Williams near the Miami 30, and the fum-
ble was recovered by defensive end Jerry
Hughes. Three plays later, Allen hit a wide-
open Cole Beasley for a three-yard touch-
down.

COLTS30,TEXANS23

INDIANAPOLISJacoby Brissett threw a ca-
reer-high four touchdown passes and Indi-
anapolis sealed a victory over Houston
with Darius Leonard’s late interception. In-
dy (4-2) has won three straight in the series
and took over the early season lead in the
AFC South. The loss snapped Houston’s
two-game winning streak. Brissett was
masterful most of the game. He was 26 of 39
with 326 yards, and in a game the Colts only
produced 62 yards rushing, they needed
Brissett to be at his best – and he was.

VIKINGS42,LIONS30

DETROITKirk Cousins matched a career
high with four touchdown passes, leading
surging Minnesota over slumping Detroit.
The Vikings (5-2) have won three consec-
utive games, in part because their quarter-
back is making plays to complement one of
the NFL’s top defences. Matthew Stafford
also threw four touchdown passes, all to
Marvin Jones. Jones became the first Lions
player in the Super Bowl era with four re-
ceiving TDs in a game, and joined Jerry Rice
and Sterling Sharpe as the only players in
the league since 1950 to catch four TD pas-
ses in two games. The Lions (2-3-1)

dropped their third straight game.

RAMS37,FALCONS10

ATLANTAJared Goff threw for two touch-

downs and ran for another, and Los An-

geles returned to the site of last season’s

Super Bowl loss to beat reeling Atlanta. The

Rams (4-3) snapped a three-game losing

streak in the debut of cornerback Jalen

Ramsey. The Falcons (1-6) suffered their

fifth straight loss and had quarterback

Matt Ryan leave the game with an ankle in-

jury.

CARDINALS27,GIANTS21

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.Chase Edmonds

rushed for career highs of 126 yards and

three touchdowns, overshadowing the re-

turn of Giants star running back Saquon

Barkley in Arizona’s victory over New York.

The game was billed as a matchup of rookie

quarterbacks Kyler Murray of the Cardinals

(3-3-1) and Daniel Jones of the Giants (2-5),

and both gave glimpses why they were the

first and sixth overall choices in the draft,

respectively. But Edmonds stole the show,

scoring on runs of 20, 20 and 22 yards. It’s

the first time Arizona has won three con-

secutive games since 2015. The loss was the

third straight for the Giants.

JAGUARS27,BENGALS17

CINCINNATIGardner Minshew led a fourth-

quarter touchdown drive that put Jackson-

ville ahead to stay, and Yannick Ngakoue

returned an interception 23 yards to clinch

a victory over winless Cincinnati. The Jag-

uars (3-4) managed only field goals by still-

perfect Josh Lambo, until their rookie

quarterback and their depleted defence

made game-turning plays at the end. The

win capped a week in which the Jaguars

traded disgruntled cornerback Jalen Ram-

sey to the Rams for three draft picks. Their

defence picked off Andy Dalton three

times in the fourth quarter to put it away.

The wait goes on for first-year Bengals

coach Zac Taylor, whose team fell to 0-7 for

the first time in 11 years.

49ERS9,WASHINGTON0

LANDOVER, MD.Robbie Gould made field

goals from 28, 22 and 29 yards to provide

the only points in an ugly win by San Fran-

cisco over Washington in steady rain and

driving wind to remain undefeated. It

wasn’t pretty, but San Francisco is 6-0 for

the third time in franchise history and the

first since 1990. That 49ers team finished

14-2. Coach Kyle Shanahan’s bunch didn’t

look like an unbeaten powerhouse in hor-

rific conditions that made life difficult on

quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and the en-

tire offence. Garoppolo bounced back from

a dreadful first half to finish 12 of 21 for 151

yards passing. San Francisco’s defence con-

tinued its dominant run after holding the

Los Angeles Rams to seven points last week

and the Cleveland Browns to three before

that. It’s the Niners’ first shutout since

Week 1 of the 2016 season.

TITANS23,CHARGERS20

NASHVILLEJurrell Casey recovered a fum-

ble by Melvin Gordon at the goal line with

15 seconds left, and Tennessee pulled out a

win after a frantic finish. Gordon initially

was ruled down shy of the goal line at the

one. Casey came out of the pile with the

ball and the Titans started celebrating. The

play was reviewed and overturned the on-

field ruling that Gordon was short of the

goal line. The call was a fumble forced by

Titans linebacker Wesley Woodyard that

was recovered by Casey for a touchback.

Ryan Tannehill knelt down to run out the

clock as the Titans (3-4) snapped a two-

game skid. The Chargers (2-5) have lost

three straight and five of their past six.

SAINTS36,BEARS25

CHICAGOTeddy Bridgewater threw for 281

yards and two touchdowns, and New Or-

leans Saints improved to 5-0 without in-

jured starter Drew Brees. The Saints (6-1)

again showed why they still see themselves

as Super Bowl contenders even though

their star quarterback is out indefinitely

because of a torn ligament in his right

thumb. Bridgewater completed 23 of 38

passes, Michael Thomas had nine recep-

tions for 131 yards, and Latavius Murray ran

for 119 yards and two touchdowns. The

Bears (3-3) lost their second straight, with

Mitchell Trubisky struggling after missing

a game because of a shoulder injury.

THEASSOCIATEDPRESS

Rodgersstepsup,leadsPackersoverRaiders

GreenBayPackerAaronRodgersscramblesunderpressurefromClelinFerrellofthe

OaklandRaidersonSunday.Thequarterbackthrewforfivetouchdownsandran

foranothertohelpGreenBaywinthegame42-24.JEFFHANISCH/USATODAYSPORTS

GREENBAY,WISC. 429:Passing yards for Green
Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers
on 25 completions of 31 attempts,
and five touchdowns in the Pack-
ers’ win over the Raiders.
142:Rushing yards for Minne-
sota running back Dalvin Cook on
25 carries and two touchdowns in
the Vikings win over the Lions.
142:Receiving yards for Min-
nesota wide receiver Stefon Diggs
on seven receptions in the Vik-
ings win.
Stafford’s milestone: Mat-
thew Stafford also threw four
touchdown passes, all to Marvin
Jones, and became the fastest to
reach 40,000 yards passing in NFL
history. Stafford made it to 40,000
in his 147th game. The record was
held by Matt Ryan, in 151 games.
Rivers’s milestone: Philip
Rivers has moved on past Eli Man-
ning and Ben Roethlisberger, a
pair of his fellow 2004 draft picks,
on the NFL’s all-time yards pass-
ing list. The long-time Los An-
geles Chargers quarterback went
into Sunday’s game with Tennes-
see with 56,441 career yards pass-
ing, and needed only 105 yards to
pass Manning (56,537) and Roeth-
lisberger (56,545) for sixth all-
time. Rivers finished with 329
yards on 24 completions in 38 at-
tempts and two TDs.
All for naught:Washington
and San Francisco finished the
first half 0-0. It was the first 0-0
first half in the NFL since Week 17
in 2017 between the Cowboys and
Eagles.
Lamb-Oh!Jaguars kicker Josh
Lambo made field goals of 21, 29,
37 and 26 yards. Since the end of
last season, Lambo has made 20
consecutive field-goal attempts,
four shy of his club record from
2017-18.
Losing pairs:Miami and Cin-
cinnati remain winless. Miami fell
to 0-6 when Buffalo pulled away
late for a 31-21 victory. At least the
Dolphins showed some progress
in the loss, taking a lead into the
fourth quarter for the first time
this season. Miami (0-6) is off to
its worst start since losing its first
seven in 2011. Cincinnati, which
slipped to 0-7, has allowed 1,323
yards rushing this season while
managing only 372.
Sick bay:Quarterback Matt
Ryan will undergo an MRI exam
Monday after leaving the Falcons’
loss to the Rams early in the
fourth quarter with an injury to
his right ankle. The team does not
believe the injury to be serious.
Ryan was wearing a protective
boot on his right foot after the
game. The Falcons, who fell to 1-6
with the 37-10 loss, their fifth
straight defeat, were trailing 27-3
less than two minutes into the
fourth quarter when Ryan was
sacked and stripped of the ball.
Ryan’s right leg appeared to bend
awkwardly as he was brought
down. He did not return. Ryan
was 16 of 27 for 159 yards with no
touchdowns and one intercep-
tion. For the season, he is 202-
of-285 passing for 2,170 yards and
15 touchdowns. Ryan has started
153 consecutive regular-season
games, starting with Week 14 of
the 2009 season. That’s the sec-
ond-longest active streak for a
QB.

THEASSOCIATEDPRESS

AroundtheNFL

Whether it was scrambling away
from trouble or designed runs to
use his speed, there was no stop-
ping Lamar Jackson.
Baltimore’s speedy quarter-
back ran for 116 yards and a
touchdown, made key throws
when necessary and led the Rav-
ens to an impressive 30-16 win
over the Seattle Seahawks on
Sunday.
Jackson was the best player on
the field, outshining Seattle QB
Russell Wilson on a day the Sea-
hawks star finally made his first
critical mistake of the season.
Jackson was especially good in
the second half, when he led Bal-
timore on a pair of crucial scor-
ing drives.
Earl Thomas made his return
to Seattle after nine seasons of
playing for the Seahawks, but
aside from some occasional
barking at the sideline of his for-
mer team and running off the
field twirling Wilson’s jersey over
his head after the victory, the for-
mer All-Pro safety ceded the
spotlight to Jackson.

The second-year quarterback

ran for an eight-yard touchdown

late in the third quarter on

fourth-and-two to give the Rav-

ens (5-2) the lead. On their next

possession and backed up deep

in their own end, Jackson made a

series of highlight plays to drive

Baltimore into scoring position

for Justin Tucker’s fourth field

goal and a 10-point lead with

3:47 left.

Jackson had a 30-yard run on

third-and-eight from the Ravens’

12. He scrambled 13 yards for an-
    other first down and hit tight

end Nick Boyle for a 20-yard

completion to get the Ravens in-

side the Seattle 10. Baltimore

went 86 yards in 13 plays and ate

nine minutes off the clock.

And when Wilson finally got

the ball back in his hands, the

Ravens quickly stretched the

lead to 17. DK Metcalf fumbled

Wilson’s first pass, and Marlon

Humphrey returned it 18 yards

for a touchdown, the second de-

fensive TD of the game by Balti-

more.

Jackson completed just 9 of 20

passes for 143 yards on a cold,

wet day in the Pacific Northwest.

He was hampered by several

drops and could have had an

even more dynamic perform-

ance running if not for footing

problems on the wet turf.

While Jackson was great, he

was helped by a defence that

held Seattle to three points in

the second half and capitalized

on two turnovers.

Wilson was nearly flawless for

the first six games, but struggled

to find open receivers against

Baltimore’s physical secondary.

Seattle (5-2) was leading 10-6 and

driving when Wilson made the

mistake of double-clutching and

trying to throw late into the flat.

Peters, traded to Baltimore less

than a week ago, made a quick

break on the throw, stepped in

front of Jaron Brown and out-

raced Wilson for his fifth career

interception return touchdown,

the most of any player since Pe-

ters entered the league in 2015.

Wilson was 20 of 41 passing for

241 yards and an eight-yard TD in

the first quarter to Tyler Lockett.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

JacksonhelpsRavensroutSeahawks

astÄuarterQackshines

onacold,rainyday,

runningfor ̄ ̄Øyards

andatouchdown

TIMBOOTHSEATTLE

LamarJacksonoftheBaltimoreRavensrunsagainsttheSeattleSeahawksatCenturyLinkFieldonSunday.

Withthehelpofasoliddefence,JacksonledBaltimoretoanimpressive30-16win.ABBIEPARR/GETTYIMAGES