The Washington Post - USA (2021-10-25)

MONDAY, OCTOBER 25 , 2021. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ SU D5

nfl Week 7

BY GREG BEACHAM

inglewood, c alif. — Jared G off

was under immediate pressure

from Aaron Donald when he

dropped back late in a one-score

game. He threw to the end zone

while being dropped, and Jalen

Ramsey picked it off.

Goff didn’t need a homecoming

game to remind him it’s much

easier to win when the Los Ange-

les Rams’ stars are on your side.

And Matthew Stafford is still

loving his spot on the other side of

the chasm between the Lions and

the Rams.

Stafford passed for 334 yards

and three touchdowns against his

former team, and Ramsey made

an interception with five minutes

left i n the Rams’ 28-19 victory over

Goff and winless Detroit on Sun-

day.

Stafford and Goff both ac-

knowledged high emotions in the

first game since they switched uni-

forms in a blockbuster trade last

winter. Their postgame reunions

with former teammates and

coaches were uniformly warm,

but their new teams stayed on the

same season trajectories with the

Rams’ narrow win.

“A m I happy it’s over with?

Yeah,” said Stafford, who passed

for 45,109 yards and never won a

playoff game in his dozen years in

Detroit. “Got a lot of great friends,

got a lot of people that I care a bout

that are on that team or from that

city, and just glad to have this one

over with. Can put the story lines

away and just go out and play

football the rest of the year and

just enjoy it.”

Goff passed for 268 yards and

led the Lions within striking dis-

tance of an upset before falling

short. Afterward, Goff chatted

with his former teammates and

exchanged pleasantries with

Coach Sean McVay, who slapped

his former quarterback’s helmet

after their hug.

“I didn’t think about it until

after, but there’s a lot of guys I

never saw after the trade,” Goff

said. “Being able to see them and

say hello and catch up for two

minutes was good. It was healthy.

And then once the game started, it

was very as usual.”

That was bad news for the

struggling Lions and good news

for t he Rams, w ho hung o n despite

a litany of mistakes.

The Rams led 25-19 when Goff

drove the Lions to the Los Ange-

les 12 while converting four third

downs. But on his 27th birthday,

Ramsey came up with his latest

game-changing play w hile Goff

was being hit by Donald, the

Rams’ other 2020 all-pro.

“Those two guys are the best at

their position for a reason and

made a great p lay on us,” Goff s aid.

Goff still hasn’t won an NFL

start without McVay as his coach,

falling to 0-14. McVay declined to

say much about his postgame con-

versation with Goff, but the coach

praised his replacement.

“He was great in the clutch,”

McVay s aid of S tafford. “A nd r eally,

even when things weren’t going

well, he just stays nice and even-

keeled, and that’s what a great

quarterback d oes. He’s our leader.”

— Associated P ress

Stafford wins first game vs. old team

RAMS 28,

LIONS 19

WADE PAYNE/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Though the Chiefs held star running back Derrick Henry mostly in check (86 yards on 29 carries), the Titans’ offense got going early — with Henry even throwing a touchdown pass on the opening drive Sunday.

BY TERESA WALKER

nashville — The Tennessee Ti-
tans wanted to start games faster
and score more points early.
They did just that against the
Kansas City Chiefs.
The Titans scored on their first
five possessions and led by four
scores a t halftime on their way to a
27-3 rout of the Chiefs on Sunday.
Ryan Ta nnehill threw for
270 y ards and a touchdown a nd he
also ran for a score as the Titans
won f or the fifth time in six games.
“We wanted to get going early
and score points early,” Tannehill
said of a team that had scored only
20 points in the first quarter this
season. “So we were able to do that,
and hopefully we can keep it going.”

The Titans also won their sec-

ond game in six days over teams

that played for the A FC champion-

ship in January.

They edged Buffalo, 34-31, on

Monday night and followed that

by dominating the two-time de-

fending AFC champs.

“It was a great win for every-

body,” Titans Coach Mike Vrabel

said. “Great job. The guys stepped

up.”

The Chiefs have lost two of three

and dropped to 1-4 in the AFC this

season. They a lso were held to their

fewest points since a 38-3 loss to

Denver on Dec. 30, 2012.

“They made more plays than

what we did, particularly on the

first few series there,” Chiefs

Coach Andy Reid said. “I’ve seen

our guys do it and make the plays.

We’re just not doing it right now.”

This was the first time Patrick

Mahomes trailed by 27 at halftime

and the third-largest halftime defi-

cit for the Chiefs since 1991. It was

the worst since the Chiefs trailed

Pittsburgh 29-0 at the half Oct. 2,

2016, and only the eighth time in

franchise history Kansas City

trailed by 27 or more at the half.

The Titans forced three turn-

overs — two by Mahomes — that

they turned into 10 points. Denico

Autry had two of the Titans’ four

sacks.

Mahomes was slow to get up

after taking a knee to his head o n a

sack by Autry. He went to the

medical tent and didn’t return,

and Chad Henne replaced him

late. He finished with 206 yards

passing and 35 yards rushing.

Reid said Mahomes cleared the

concussion protocols and will play

Nov. 1 a gainst the Giants. But Reid

chose not to put Mahomes back in

for the Chiefs’ final drive. Ma-

homes said he felt fine.

“You get hit pretty hard, some-

times you just want to lay there,”

Mahomes said. “Plus it was fourth

down.... It was a disappointing

day and disappointing way it end-

ed.”

Kansas City won the toss and

deferred. The Titans didn’t look

back despite three-time Pro Bowl

left t ackle Taylor L ewan sitting out

with a concussion.

The Titans went up-tempo ear-

ly, with Ta nnehill spreading the

ball around to 2020 Pro Bowl wide

receiver A.J. Brown and seven-

time Pro Bowl wide receiver Julio

Jones. Derrick Henry, the NFL’s

rushing leader, finished the drive

out of t he wildcat, throwing a five-

yard pass to tight end MyCole

Pruitt for the 7-0 lead.

After a sack by Bud Dupree

ended the Chiefs’ first possession,

Ta nnehill took the Titans 97 yards

on the ensuing drive, highlighted

by a 46-yard throw to Brown ini-

tially ruled an incompletion. Vra-

bel won his challenge, and Ta n-

nehill finished the drive with a

24-yard touchdown pass to

Brown.

After linebacker Rashaan Ev-

ans’s interception, Tannehill ran

for a two-yard touchdown and a

24-0 lead. Randy Bullock added

his second field goal off Ma-

homes’s fumble for the 27-0 half-

time lead.

Mahomes has been intercepted

in six straight games, the longest

stretch of his career. He had 11 in-

terceptions combined over 2019

and 2 020 a nd h as nine this season.

He has turned the ball over

11 times this year.

— Associated Press

Tennessee wastes no time in delivering knockout punch

TITANS 27,

CHIEFS 3

Outclassed Kansas City

drops to 3-4 this season

BY FRED GOODALL

tampa — Tom Brady says he’s not
one for collecting a lot of memen-
tos documenting his many accom-
plishments during an unsur-
passed 22-year career. Becoming
the first player to throw 600 ca-
reer touchdown passes is pretty
special, though.
So after Mike E vans bolted to the
stands and handed the ball to a fan
after scoring the milestone touch-
down, the star wide receiver re-
turned to the sideline to learn he
needed to negotiate a speedy re-
turn.
“It’s really cool. I got it in the bag
over there. Mike gave it away and
said, ‘Man, I’m sorry.’ I said: ‘That’s
all right. I’m sure they’ll figure out
a way to get it back,’ ” Brady said
after the defending Super Bowl
champion beat the Chicago Bears,
38-3.
“I don’t actually keep too many
things. In that circumstance I felt
like that might be a good one to
keep. He’s going to get something
nice in return,” Brady added of the
fan. “We’ll give him a helmet, a
couple of jerseys or something.

That was really cool of him to do

that.”

The Bucs won their fourth

straight game for the best seven-

game start in franchise history.

They also avenged one of their five

2020 regular season losses, with

Brady completing 20 of 36 passes

for 211 yards and four touchdowns.

“I just think about all the guys

that shared it with me,” the

4 4-year-old seven-time Super Bowl

champion said. “That’s the reality.

There’s nothing about this sport

that you do by yourself. It’s the

ultimate team sport. It challenges

you physically, mentally, emotion-

ally every week every day at prac-

tice.... I’m just grateful to have

amazing teammates, coaches.”

Ta mpa Bay’s defense did its job,

too, limiting the offensively chal-

lenged Bears to Cairo Santos’s sec-

ond-quarter field goal and sacking

rookie Justin Fields four times,

forcing two fumbles. Dee Delaney

had one of the Bucs’ three intercep-

tions, a first-quarter pick that led

to Brady’s 5 99th career touchdown

pass.

“Times like this, times when you

get beat, blown out, you’ve got two

choices,” said Fields. “ You can ei-

ther say, that’s it, I’m going to stop

working, I’m going to stop playing,

or you can go the other route and

say I’m going to keep working. I

know me, myself, no matter how

many picks I throw, no matter how

many L’s we take, I’m going to keep

going. That’s just the fact.”

The Bears are the only team

averaging more yards per game

rushing than passing this season.

With Antonio Brown and Rob

Gronkowski sidelined by injuries,

Evans had a big day with six catch-

es for 76 yards and three touch-

downs, including a nine-yarder

that gave Brady No. 600 with six

seconds remaining in the first

quarter.

Evans also had scoring recep-

tions of two and eight yards as the

Bucs built the lead to 35-3 at half-

time. Chris Godwin had eight

catches for 111 yards and a four-

yard touchdown reception.

— Associated Press

Brady tops 600 TD passes in blowout

BUCCANEERS 38,

BEARS 3

LEADERS

PASSING
CMP-ATT PCT. YARDS TD INT

Joe Burrow, Bengals 23-38 60.5 416 31

Matt Ryan, Falcons 25-40 62.5 336 21

Matthew Stafford, Rams 28-41 68.3 334 30

Derek Carr, Raiders 31-34 91.2 323 21

Mac Jones, Patriots 24-36 66.7 307 20

Tua Tagovailoa, Dolphins 32-40 80.0 291 42

Aaron Rodgers, Packers 27-35 77.1 274 30

Ryan Tannehill, Titans 21-27 77.8 270 11

Jared Goff, Lions 22-36 61.1 268 12

Taylor Heinicke, Washington 25-37 67.6 268 11

RUSHING

ATT YARDS AVG. TD

D’Ernest Johnson, Browns 22 146 6.6 1

Jonathan Taylor, Colts 18 107 5.9 1

Elijah Mitchell, 49ers 18 107 5.9 1

Damien Harris, Patriots 14 106 7.6 2

Khalil Herbert, Bears 18 100 5.6 0

Taylor Heinicke, Washington 10 95 9.5 0

Lamar Jackson, Ravens 12 88 7.3 0

Derrick Henry, Titans 29 86 3.0 0

Leonard Fournette, Buccaneers 15 81 5.4 1

Chase Edmonds, Cardinals 15 81 5.4 1

RECEIVING

TARGETS REC YARDS AVG. TD

Ja’Marr Chase, Bengals 10 8 201 25.1 1

Kyle Pitts, Falcons 87163 23.3 0

Cooper Kupp, Rams 13 10 156 15.6 2

A.J. Brown, Titans 98133 16.6 1

Terry McLaurin, Washington 12 7 122 17.4 1

Kalif Raymond, Lions 86115 19.2 0

Chris Godwin, Buccaneers 11 8 111 13.9 1

Michael Pittman, Colts 44105 26.3 1

Deebo Samuel, 49ers 11 7 100 14.3 1

D’Andre Swift, Lions 10 8 96 12.0 1