THE NEW YORK TIMES, MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2020 N D7It was an exciting day of action, with
several games coming down to last-
minute plays. There were a few surpris-
ing upsets and even more turbulence in
the N.F.L.’s worst division.
Here’s what we learned:
Chaos reigns in the N.F.C. East.
With the way things are going, this
division may be decided by a game of
rock paper scissors. The Cowboys went
to Washington with a chance of improv-
ing to 3-4, which would have put them
ahead of 2-4-1 Philadelphia for the
division lead. They were being praised
for having the foresight to sign a vet-
eran backup in the off-season, and
could have been on cruise control to the
playoffs by beating Washington this
week, and the Eagles in Week 8.
Instead, Dallas fell behind Washing-
ton early, lost Andy Dalton to a head
injury — forcing its little-known third-
stringer, Ben DiNucci, to finish the
game — and was blown out, 25-3. Kyle
Allen (194 yards passing, two touch-
downs) and Antonio Gibson (128 yards
rushing, one touchdown) looked like
All-Pros against the comically bad
Cowboys defense, and just to empha-
size how rough things have been in the
N.F.L.’s worst division, the team with
the worst record in the N.F.C. West
would be comfortably leading the East.
Ohio suddenly has
an intrastate rivalry.
A game between Cincinnati and Cleve-
land got off to an inauspicious start
when Joe Burrow and Baker Mayfield
were intercepted on their first drives.
Odell Beckham Jr. of the Browns was
lost to injury on that opening drive, and
the Bengals were leading by 17-10 at
halftime. But in the second half, the
game morphed into a heavyweight
bout. And Mayfield, the No. 1 pick in the
2018 draft, just barely outlasted Burrow,
the No. 1 pick in 2020, by finding Dono-
van Peoples-Jones for a 24-yard touch-
down with 11 seconds remaining that
put Cleveland ahead to stay.
After starting with five consecutive
incompletions, Mayfield went 22 of 23
the rest of the way for 297 yards pass-
ing and five touchdowns, and Cleveland
scored on all four of its second-half
possessions. Burrow nearly kept up,
with 406 yards passing and three touch-
downs, but his Hail Mary as time ex-
pired fell incomplete in the end zone.
An immovable object beats
an unstoppable force — barely.
In a game of unbeaten teams, Pitts-
burgh got off to a 27-7 start — effec-
tively knocking Derrick Henry out of
the game — yet watched the game turn
into a 27-24 nail-biter. The Titans’ re-
birth came courtesy of three intercep-
tions, the last of which came with less
than three minutes remaining and the
Steelers clinging to a 3-point lead. But
Stephen Gostkowski’s 45-yard kick to
tie the game with 19 seconds remaining
sailed wide right, leaving Pittsburgh
(6-0) as the A.F.C.’s last unbeaten team.Kansas City can win a game without
much help from its offense.Playing in snowy conditions in Denver,
the Chiefs were nowhere near their best
when they had the ball. Patrick Ma-
homes threw for 200 yards and one
touchdown, Clyde Edwards-Helaire and
Le’Veon Bell were both held to fewer
than 50 yards rushing, and Kansas City
went 0 for 8 on third downs. But Daniel
Sorensen contributed a pick-6, Byron
Pringle had a 102-yard kickoff return
and the Chiefs demolished a team that
had huge advantages in total yards and
time of possession.It’s time for the Bills to worry.Sounding an alarm for a team that im-
proved to 5-2 doesn’t seem very friendly,
but the fact that Buffalo couldn’t score a
single touchdown against the Jets —
getting all of its points on field goals in
an 18-10 win — continued a downward
trajectory for a once-promising offense.
The Bills averaged 30.75 points a game
during a 4-0 start, but they have not
topped 18 points since.Atlanta can always find
a new way to lose.The Falcons were trailing Detroit by 6 in
the game’s final two minutes when
Atlanta’s Todd Gurley II broke free for
an easy 10-yard touchdown. Aware of
the amount of time remaining, Gurley
tried to fall down at the 1-yard line, in
hopes of giving his team a chance to rundown the clock. Unfortunately, he mis-
judged the distance, barely breaking
the plane of the end zone for a go-ahead
touchdown. That mistake gave the
Lions 1 minute 4 seconds to go 75 yards,
and they did just that, with Matthew
Stafford hitting tight end T.J. Hocken-
son for an 11-yard touchdown as time
expired in Detroit’s 23-22 victory.Every. Yard. Counts.In his return to New Orleans after
signing with Carolina in the off-season,
Teddy Bridgewater of the Pantherskept things far closer than most pre-
dicted. He threw for 254 yards and two
touchdowns and got some laughs by
taking a brief break on the Saints’
bench after being pushed out of bounds.
But with Carolina trailing by 3 with just
over two minutes to play, Bridgewater
took an 8-yard sack, which essentially
decided the game.
With Carolina forced back to the
Saints’ 47-yard line, the team sent out
Joey Slye for what would have been an
N.F.L.-record 65-yard field goal in hopes
of tying the game. Slye’s kick was
straight, but it fell less than a yard
short of the crossbar, handing New
Orleans a 27-24 win.One* Sentence
About Sunday’s Games*Except when it takes more.BUCCANEERS 45, RAIDERS 20To m
Brady continued to spread the ball
around, throwing touchdown passes to
four different receivers, and Tampa Bay
kept its momentum from last week’s
blowout win over the Packers.
STEELERS 27, TITANS 24Tennessee’s
beleaguered defense snagged three
interceptions, making the game far
closer than it should have been, but
Pittsburgh had to be happy to see
James Conner (20 carries, 82 yards)
outgain Derrick Henry (20 carries, 75
yards).
CHIEFS 43, BRONCOS 16Despite a per-
formance that fell well below his typical
standards, Patrick Mahomes extended
his streak to 17 consecutive regular-
season games with a touchdown pass.
BROWNS 37, BENGALS 34The Browns’
Rashard Higgins came into the day
with five catches this season, but after
Odell Beckham Jr. was lost to a knee
injury, Higgins stepped up with six
catches for a career-high 110 yards.
49ERS 33, PATRIOTS 6Jimmy Garop-
polo wasn’t perfect against his former
team, but Patriots Coach Bill Belichick
had to be a little jealous watching his
ex-pupil complete 20 of 25 passes for
277 yards in a blowout, as Cam Newton
and Jarrett Stidham combined for 147
yards passing and four interceptions.
PACKERS 35, TEXANS 20Deshaun Wat-
son had a nice second half and made
his team look respectable, but Aaron
Rodgers seemed to be making a point
by putting together a passer rating
(132.4) that was nearly 100 points
higher than what he managed last
week (35.4).
SAINTS 27, PANTHERS 24This game
was surprisingly close considering New
Orleans completed 12 of its 14 third-
down attempts, and got field goals from
Wil Lutz after the team’s only two fail-
ures.
BILLS 18, JETS 10Sam Darnold came
back from a shoulder injury, but after
he barely completed 50 percent of his
passes (12 of 23), threw two intercep-
tions and was sacked six times, he
might be wondering why he didn’t take
another week to heal.
CHARGERS 39, JAGUARS 29Justin Her-
bert got his first career win, and he did
it in a big way by throwing for 347
yards and three touchdowns and also
running in a score. Herbert has thrown
for at least 250 yards in each of his first
five starts, a feat previously accom-
plished only by Patrick Mahomes, who
did it in his first 10.
LIONS 23, FALCONS 22Detroit didn’t get
much out of its running backs, but
Matthew Stafford threw for 340 yards
and a touchdown and the Lions won for
the third time in four games.
FOOTBALLERS 25, COWBOYS 3Ezekiel
Elliott was held to 45 yards rushing,
fumbled once, had a ball bounce off him
for an interception and made mistakes
in pass protection. Blame the team’s
struggles on Dallas’s second- and third-
string quarterbacks all you want, but
Elliott isn’t getting the job done.The N.F.C. East Race? It’s More of a Crawl
Cowboys Lose Game and Another Quarterback •An Ohio Slugfest• Saints Win a Game of Inches
N.F.L. Week 7
Washington’s Jon Bostic was ejected for a hit to the head of Cowboys quarterback Andy Dalton, who left the game with a concussion. Washington won, 25-3, and the Eagles (2-4-1) lead the division.
PATRICK McDERMOTT/GETTY IMAGESBy BENJAMIN HOFFMANZack Moss rushed seven times for 47 yards for the Bills, who continued their
struggles on offense but defeated the hapless Jets, 18-10, with six field goals.FRANK FRANKLIN II/ASSOCIATED PRESSBaker Mayfield, left, threw for five touchdowns and outdueled Joe Burrow as the Browns edged the Bengals, 37-34.MICHAEL CONROY/ASSOCIATED PRESS MICHAEL CONROY/ASSOCIATED PRESS.