The Washington Post - 21.10.2019

MONDAY, OCTOBER 21 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 D7

BY MICHAEL MAROT

indianapolis — The Indian-
apolis Colts kept insisting Jacoby
Brissett could win games with his
arm.
On Sunday, he showed every-
one else what the team knew all
along.
With Indianapolis’s suddenly
strong running game essentially
grounded, Brissett shouldered
the burden by throwing for
326 yards and a career-high four
touchdowns to lead the Colts past
Houston, 30-23, to retake the
AFC South lead.
“It just says he’s legit. He’s the
man,” Colts Coach Frank Reich
said. “We believed that from Day
1, and we’ve never wavered in our
conviction or our faith in Jacoby.

But he knows he’s still got to

prove it. He’s still got to make

plays to win this game, and he did

that today.”

Brissett was masterful with the

exception of a dropped snap the

Texans (4-3) recovered at the

Indianapolis 4-yard line.

He finished 26 for 39, with six

of the incompletions being

throwaways. He had a career best

passing total and a career best

passer rating (126.7), endured

only one sack and had the perfect

counterpunch each time Hous-

ton fought its way back into

contention.

The Colts (4-2) also were tough

against Houston’s running game,

holding tailback Carlos Hyde to

just 35 yards on 12 carries and

finishing their 24th consecutive

game without allowing a 100-

yard rusher.

Indianapolis has won two

straight overall and three

straight in the series.

“It just makes us more bal-

anced, and I think that’s what we

proved today — that we can

throw the ball,” Brissett said. “It

was just a great day for us as a

whole.”

And it only added to the Tex-

ans’ misery.

They were held to field goals

on three red-zone trips in the first

half. Houston also had to contend

with a rare “in the grasp” call that

took one touchdown off the

board, an overturned replay re-

view that put another one on the

board for Indianapolis and a

plethora of penalties that Brissett

used to his advantage.

“I’m not going to answer any

officiating questions,” Texans

Coach Bill O’Brien said twice

after Houston was called for

10 penalties.

Then there was the fourth

quarter.

Houston (4-3) started it by

failing to convert a second

fourth-and-one attempt, and De-

shaun Watson threw an intercep-

tion on the Texans’ next series

before Darius Leonard sealed the

win by picking off a tipped ball

with 26 seconds left.

Watson was 23 for 34 for

308 yards and one touchdown

and was sacked three times as the

Texans were forced to play catch-

up. Houston’s modest streak of

consecutive games without al-

lowing Watson to be sacked end-

ed at two.

Brissett started the opening

flurry with an 11-yard touchdown

pass to Zach Pascal, who finished

with six catches for 106 yards. He

rebounded from the fumbled

snap by connecting with T.Y.

Hilton on a nifty two-yard touch-

down pass, one of Hilton’s six

receptions for 74 yards, to make it

14-6 late in the second quarter.

After the Texans made it 14-9,

Brissett opened the second half

with a four-yard scoring pass to

Eric Ebron, who was originally

ruled out of bounds at the end

line. But the replay showed he got

both feet down to give Indian-

apolis a 21-9 lead.

Houston cut the deficit to 21-16

on Keke Coutee’s four-yard scor-

ing run, but Brissett — with the

help of three of the Texans penal-

ties — answered with a three-

yard touchdown pass to Pascal.

Watson made it 28-23 with a

four-yard touchdown pass to De-

Andre Hopkins, but the Texans

couldn’t get any closer.

“[Brissett] is a very productive

player, a very smart player,”

O’Brien said. “He makes good

decisions, just a good player.”

— Associated Press

BY KEITH JENKINS

green bay, wis. — The Green
Bay Packers gave the NFL its first
true glimpse of what Matt La-
Fleur’s offense can look like with
Aaron Rodgers at the helm.
And it was scary.
Rodgers had his best game by
far under his new coach, throwing
for 429 yards and five touchdowns
and running for another as Green
Bay beat the Oakland Raiders, 42-
24, on Sunday.
Rodgers completed 25 of
31 passes to eight targets and fin-
ished with the first perfect passer
rating of his career, leading to a
season high in points.
“A lot of times that ball leaves
his hand, I’m always like in awe.
So, yeah, he’s pretty good,” LaFleur
said of the two-time MVP.
Even with top target Davante
Adams sidelined for the third
straight game with turf toe, Rodg-
ers threw for his most touchdowns
in a game since Sept. 28, 2015,
against the Chiefs.
“Yeah, I think this was the most
complete that I’ve played,” Rodg-
ers said. “I felt good about the

timing. There was a lot of balls

thrown on time, and obviously the

line played fantastic.”

Derek Carr finished 22 for 28 for

293 yards, two touchdowns and

two costly turnovers for the Raid-

ers (3-3), who lost their eighth

straight against Green Bay dating

from 1990. The Packers (6-1) have

scored 30-plus points in each of

their past five games against the

Raiders.

“Carr was rolling,” Oakland

Coach Jon Gruden said. “We were

rolling offensively today. It was an

offensive game. We just had a cou-

ple turnovers, and they finished

some drives.”

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’ longest drive of the sea-

son — and made it 14-10.

Carr put the Raiders in position

to retake the lead with a 48-yard

completion down the middle to

Waller, giving Oakland first and

goal at the 3-yard line. On second

down, as Carr scrambled for the

pylon, Blake Martinez forced a

fumble and the ball went through

the end zone for a touchback.

“I’ll have to look at it again. I

think he’s trying to give a great

effort, trying to lay out for the

score,” Gruden said of Carr on the

play. “I think the ball slipped out of

his hands. If he would have scored,

we would have felt pretty good.

But, unfortunately, after that play,

the next time we got the ball we

were down 28-10. We were going

in to make it 17-14 Raiders. That

was a big play in the game.”

Kevin King picked off Carr in

the end zone with 8:09 to play.

That led to Rodgers’ sixth score of

the day, a 74-yard pass to Marquez

Valdes-Scantling, who finished

with the two catches for 133 yards.

“We had a lot of guys step up,

specifically Marquez and G-mo,”

LaFleur said. “Shoot, two days ago,

we didn’t even know if they were

going to play.”

— Associated Press

Rodgers simply perfect for Green Bay

BY TERESA M. WALKER

nashville — The Tennessee Ti-

tans came up with an amazing

goal-line stand to stop the Los

Angeles Chargers.

Not once or twice but thrice.

Each time, they needed the

replay official to overturn a call on

the field, reversing what the Char-

gers thought were a pair of go-

ahead touchdowns and a downed

running back and instead giving

the ball — and the game — to the

Titans.

Jurrell Casey recovered a fum-

ble by Melvin Gordon at the goal

line with 15 seconds left, and

Tennessee pulled out a 23-20 vic-

tory after a frantic finish.

Gordon initially was ruled

down shy at the 1-yard line. Casey

came out of the pile with the ball,

and the Titans started celebrat-

ing. The play was reviewed, and

the on-field ruling that Gordon

was down was overturned.

The call was a fumble forced by

Titans linebacker Wesley

Woodyard that was recovered by

Casey for a touchback. Ryan Tan-

nehill knelt down to run out the

clock as the Titans (3-4) snapped

a two-game skid.

“Once I felt the ball come out,

I’m like: ‘I got to recover it. I got to

recover it,’ ” Casey said. “And

shoot, sure enough, the ball sat in

my hands. Kind of popped out for

a quick second, and I thought I

was about to lose it. Kind of pan-

icked for a moment. If I let them

recover it, that’s a touchdown.”

“You don’t get one yard, you

don’t deserve to win the damn

game, and that’s the way it is,”

Chargers Coach Anthony Lynn

said.

First, Philip Rivers’s pass that

Austin Ekeler took 16 yards was

ruled a touchdown only to be

reversed by the replay official,

who said he did not break the

plane before he was tackled by

Kenny Vaccaro and Logan Ryan.

After a false start, Malcolm Butler

then was flagged for defensive

pass interference on Mike Wil-

liams in the end zone.

Then Gordon went over right

tackle with 34 seconds left for

what officials ruled a one-yard

touchdown, and the replay offi-

cial reversed the call for the sec-

ond time to make it a run for no

gain. That set up Gordon’s final

run with 19 seconds left.

Titans Coach Mike Vrabel said

there has to be obvious visual

evidence the ball had come out

and a clear recovery.

“By the grace of God, we had

both of those in that play for it to

be able to be overturned,” Vrabel

said.

Tannehill threw for 312 yards

and two touchdowns in his first

start since the Titans benched

Marcus Mariota after losing four

of their previous five. The Titans

not only won their first game at

home this season but posted a

season-high 403 yards. He outdu-

eled Rivers on a day the 16-year

veteran moved to sixth in career

passing yards.

The Chargers (2-5) have lost

three straight and five of their

past six. Rivers finished with

329 yards and two touchdowns.

— Associated Press

On further review, Tennessee survives

nfl Week 7

TITANS 23,

CHARGERS 20

DOUG MCSCHOOLER/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jacoby Brissett shows the Colts still have life after Andrew Luck’s retirement by throwing for 326 yards and a career-high four touchdowns as Indianapolis improved to 4-2 with a win over Houston on Sunday.

Brissett rewards Indianapolis’s faith in him with big day

COLTS 30,

TEXANS 23

Quarterback helps seize

control of AFC South

PACKERS 42,

RAIDERS 24

LEADERS

PASSING
CMP-ATT PCT. YARDS TDINT
Aaron Rodgers, Packers 25-31 80.6 429 50

Matthew Stafford, Lions 30-45 66.6 364 41

Kirk Cousins, Vikings 24-34 70.5 337 40

Philip Rivers, Chargers 24-38 63.1 329 20

Jacoby Brissett, Colts 26-39 66.6 326 40

Ryan Tannehill, Titans 23-29 79.3 312 21

Deshaun Watson, Texans 23-34 67.6 308 12

Derek Carr, Raiders 22-28 78.5 293 21

Ryan Fitzpatrick, Dolphins 23-35 65.7 282 11

Teddy Bridgewater, Saints 23-38 60.5 281 20

RUSHING

ATT YARDS AVG. TD

Dalvin Cook, Vikings 25 142 5.7 2

Leonard Fournette, Jaguars 29 131 4.5 0

Chase Edmonds, Cardinals 27 126 4.7 3

Josh Jacobs, Raiders 21 124 5.9 0

Latavius Murray, Saints 27 119 4.4 2

Lamar Jackson, Ravens 14 116 8.3 1

Ezekiel Elliott, Cowboys 22 111 5.0 1

Derrick Henry, Titans 22 90 4.1 1

Adrian Peterson, Redskins 20 81 4.0 0

Saquon Barkley, Giants 18 72 4.0 1

RECEIVING

TARGETS REC YARDS AVG. TD

Stefon Diggs, Vikings 8 7 142 20.3 0

Alex Erickson, Bengals 14 8 137 17.1 0

Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Packers 3 2 133 66.5 1

Michael Thomas, Saints 11 9 131 14.6 0

Darren Waller, Raiders 8 7 126 18.0 2

Austin Ekeler, Chargers 8 7 118 16.9 1

Amari Cooper, Cowboys 5 5 106 21.2 0

DeAndre Hopkins, Texans 12 9 106 11.8 1

Zach Pascal, Colts 7 6 106 17.7 2

Danny Amendola, Lions 11 8 105 13.1 0