MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — De’Von Achane could hear the crowd at Hard Rock Stadium chanting “Three more points!” on Miami’s final drive. The Dolphins had the ball inside the Denver Broncos’ 30 with less than a minute left, and they were three points shy of breaking the NFL’s single-game scoring record.
Instead of sending out his kicker for a potential record-setting field goal, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel elected to take a knee and run out the clock.
“It felt like chasing points and chasing a record — that’s not what we came to the game to do," McDaniel said.
They almost got there anyway. The Dolphins scored the most points in a game by an NFL team since 1966, overwhelming the Broncos 70-20 on Sunday behind the rookie speedster Achane’s 203 yards rushing and Tua Tagovailoa’s no-look shovel-pass TD.
The Dolphins set a franchise record for scoring and finished two points shy of the NFL’s regular-season record — set in 1966 when Washington scored 72 points against the Giants. They are the fourth team in NFL history to score at least 70 points in a regular-season or playoff game.
Many of Miami’s starters, including Tagovailoa and star receiver Tyreek Hill, were pulled from the game early in the fourth quarter.
Achane caught a 10-yard TD pass from Tagovailoa — the quarterback’s fourth TD — in the fourth, and Jason Sanders converted the extra point that made it 56-13 and broke Miami’s franchise scoring record of 55 set against St. Louis on Nov. 24, 1977.
“Seventy points is crazy,” said Achane, who combined with veteran running back Raheem Mostert for eight touchdowns. “That’s like video game-type stuff.”
Hill caught a 54-yard touchdown pass on Miami’s opening drive en route to 157 yards receiving on nine catches.
Miami scored touchdowns on eight of nine drives before Mike White replaced Tagovailoa in the fourth. Mostert had his second straight multiple-touchdown game with three rushing TDs and a TD catch.
“To be able to put up 70 points, I think that is going to put a lot of teams on notice that we’re nothing to play with,” Mostert said. “We’re that team, just to put it bluntly.”
BILLS 37, COMMANDERS 3
LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — Josh Allen threw and ran for a touchdown, Buffalo's defence forced five turnovers and the Bills won their second in a row after a rough season opener, routing Washington 37-3 Sunday to hand the Commanders their first loss of the year.
Allen was 20 of 32 with 218 yards passing, including a 35-yard TD pass to Gabe Davis. He added a 10-yard scamper into the end zone among his 46 yards rushing. His interception in the third quarter on third-and-20 functioned more like a long punt than his four backbreaking giveaways that contributed to Buffalo's Week 1 loss at the Jets.
The Bills (2-1) tormented Howell, sacking him nine times and piling up four interceptions — one each by Terrel Bernard, Micah Hyde and Tre'Davious White and A.J. Epenesa — the last being a pick-6 that sent Commanders fans to the exits. They also forced a fumble, improving to 19-2 since 2019 when facing a quarterback who has made 16 or fewer NFL starts.
Making his fourth start for the Commanders (2-1), Howell lost for the first time as a pro, with many of the offensive line woes that were masked by wins against Arizona and Denver finally costing them. Howell was 19 of 29 for 170 yards.
CARDINALS 28, COWBOYS 16
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- Joshua Dobbs threw for a touchdown, James Conner and Rondale Moore ran for scores and the Arizona Cardinals stunned the mistake-prone Dallas Cowboys 28-16 on Sunday.
The Cardinals (1-2) never trailed and went ahead 21-10 on the final play of the first half when Matt Prater made a 62-yard field goal, a low liner that just cleared the uprights. Arizona scored on all five of its possessions before the break.
Jonathan Gannon got his first win as Arizona's coach as the franchise snapped a six-game home skid that lasted nearly a year.
Dobbs completed 17 of 21 passes for 189 yards and a touchdown. Conner ran for 98 yards.
The Cowboys (2-1) -- who were called for 13 penalties that set them back 107 yards -- cut the margin to 21-16 with 9:33 left in the game thanks to a pair of field goals by Brandon Aubrey. Dallas had three solid drives bog down inside the Arizona 10, including one that ended on a fourth-down stop when Dak Prescott threw an incomplete pass.
Prescott completed 25 of 40 passes for 249 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
CHIEFS 41, BEARS 10
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 272 yards and three touchdowns, Travis Kelce hauled in one of them to the delight of Taylor Swift, and the Kansas City Chiefs blew out the inept Chicago Bears 41-10 on Sunday.
Jerick McKinnon had a pair of touchdown catches and Isiah Pacheco and Clyde Edwards-Helaire added touchdown runs, helping the Super Bowl champion Chiefs (2-1) deal the Bears (0-3) their 13th consecutive loss dating to last season.
Kelce finished with seven catches for 69 yards and the 3-yard score, which made it 41-0 early in the second half. The All-Pro tight end celebrated by revving the engine of an imaginary motorcycle while Swift, whom Kelce had invited amid rumors of their budding relationship, joyfully pounded the glass of her Arrowhead Stadium suite and his mother, Donna Kelce, cheered alongside.
The game was so lopsided by the third quarter that Mahomes and most of the Chiefs’ starters got the rest of the day off.
Embattled Bears quarterback Justin Fields was 11 of 22 for 99 yards with an interception and a meaningless touchdown in the final minutes. He also led the Bears with 47 yards rushing, a good chunk of that coming on a 17-yard scramble, as the league’s 27th-ranked offense finished with just 203 yards against one of the NFL’s fast-improving defenses.
It was a brutal end to a dismal week of distractions for Chicago.
BROWNS 27, TITANS 3
CLEVELAND (AP) — Myles Garrett sacked quarterback Ryan Tannehill 3 1/2 times and fronted a Cleveland defence that limited Tennessee to 94 yards as the Browns rolled to a 27-3 win over the Titans on Sunday.
Six days after the Browns (2-1) lost star running back Nick Chubb to a season-ending knee injury in Pittsburgh, Garrett and Cleveland's defence stepped up with a dominant performance that overwhelmed the Titans (1-2).
The Browns' offence was solid, too, with Deshaun Watson having his best day since signing with Cleveland. He completed 27 of 33 passes for 289 yards and two touchdowns, and his 43-yarder to Amari Cooper put the Browns up 27-3 in the fourth quarter.
Jerome Ford, who moved into Chubb’s starting spot, had two touchdowns — a 19-yard reception from Watson and a 3-yard run.
Tennessee has never had a worse day on offence.
It was the fewest yards for the Titans since they relocated from Houston in 1997. The previous low was 98 against Jacksonville in 2006.
SEAHAWKS 37, PANTHERS 27
SEATTLE (AP) — Kenneth Walker III rushed for 97 yards and two second-half touchdowns, Jason Myers kicked four field goals, and the Seattle Seahawks pulled away in the second half for a 37-27 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.
Walker was a star on a day things didn’t come easily for Seattle’s offense for the first three quarters. But Walker produced big plays both on the ground and in the pass game. Walker’s 36-yard reception midway through the third quarter set up his 1-yard touchdown run after Seattle had settled for field goals every other time it reached Carolina’s side of the field.
Walker later restored a two-score lead for Seattle (2-1) when he sprinted untouched on a 7-yard touchdown run with 11:40 remaining.
Myers connected on field goals of 43, 35, 33 and 37 yards a week after starting the season just 3 of 6 on field-goal attempts through two games.
Seattle quarterback Geno Smith threw his first interception of the season, but still had a solid day in throwing for 291 yards and a 5-yard touchdown pass to undrafted rookie Jake Bobo with 4:17 left. DK Metcalf had six catches for 112 yards.
LIONS 20, FALCONS 6
DETROIT (AP) — Jared Goff threw a tiebreaking 45-yard touchdown pass to Sam LaPorta early in the second quarter, and the Detroit Lions beat the Atlanta Falcons 20-6 on Sunday.
The Lions (2-1) earned a much-needed win after following a hype-fueling victory at Kansas City with a deflating loss at home to Seattle.
The Falcons (2-1) failed to protect Desmond Ridder, who was sacked seven times by a team that had only one sack in two games.
TEXANS 37, JAGUARS 17
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Fullback Andrew Beck fumbled a kickoff and then broke five tackles during an 85-yard return for a touchdown — one of several special teams gaffes by Jacksonville — and the Houston Texans stunned the Jaguars 37-17 Sunday to give coach DeMeco Ryans his first victory.
Rookie C.J. Stroud threw for 280 yards and two touchdowns, including a 68-yarder to Tank Dell that sealed it, and the Texans won their fifth in a row in Jacksonville.
Houston (1-2) now has won 16 of the past 19, including 10 of 11, in the series.
As lopsided as the AFC South rivalry has been recently, Jacksonville’s performance as 7 1/2-point favourites at home might have been even more staggering.
The Jaguars (1-2) were flat from the start and struggled to get anything going. Their first five drives ended in a missed field goal, a punt, a blocked field goal, a punt and a fumble.
PATRIOTS 15, JETS 10
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Mac Jones threw a touchdown pass, Matt Judon had a late safety and the New England Patriots extended their winning streak over the New York Jets to 15 games with an ugly 15-10 victory on a rainy Sunday.
Bill Belichick's bunch avoided its first 0-3 start since the coach's first season in New England in 2000 while continuing the team's mastery over its AFC East rivals.
Zach Wilson made his second start in place of the injured Aaron Rodgers but was unable to produce much other than one solid drive in the fourth quarter that got the Jets (1-2) back into the game.
PACKERS 18, SAINTS 17
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Jordan Love rallied Green Bay from a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit in his first career home start — a comeback that began after New Orleans lost quarterback Derek Carr to a shoulder injury — and the Packers stunned the Saints 18-17 on Sunday.
The Packers (2-1) scored 18 points in the final 11 minutes to win their 11th consecutive home opener, the NFL’s longest active streak. They took the lead on Love’s 8-yard pass to Romeo Doubs in the right corner of the end zone with 2:56 left.
Carr's backup, Jameis Winston, drove the Saints (2-1) into scoring position, but Blake Grupe’s 46-yard field goal attempt with just over a minute left sailed wide right. It was the first career miss in seven attempts for Grupe, a rookie who played in college at Arkansas State and Notre Dame.
New Orleans led 17-0 when Carr left with a shoulder injury in the third quarter after one of Rashan Gary’s career-high three sacks. That set the stage for Love to spark the type of rally that his predecessor, Aaron Rodgers, orchestrated on this field so many times.
Love was making his fourth career start but first at home as he took over for Rodgers, a four-time MVP who was traded to the New York Jets in the offseason. The fourth-year pro from Utah State went 22 of 44 for 259 yards with one touchdown pass, a TD run and an interception.
Green Bay became the third team in the past 30 years to win after being shut out 17-0 or worse through three quarters. The others were Carolina against Philadelphia on Oct. 21, 2018, and Tennessee against the New York Giants on Nov. 26, 2006.
COLTS 22, RAVENS 19 (OT)
BALTIMORE (AP) — Matt Gay capped a terrific day of kicking with a 53-yard field goal in overtime, giving the Indianapolis Colts a 22-19 victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.
Gay made a record four kicks from beyond 50 yards, including a 53-yarder that tied it in the final minute of regulation. His chance in overtime didn't come until after both teams had been stopped on fourth down near midfield.
The Ravens (2-1) swarmed Zack Moss on fourth-and-1 from the Baltimore 46, stopping the Indianapolis running back and taking over the ball with 4:10 remaining. Then the Ravens went for it on fourth-and-3 from the Indy 47. Lamar Jackson threw incomplete as Baltimore called in vain for a penalty on linebacker E.J. Speed, who appeared to impede receiver Zay Flowers going over the middle.
There was no flag, and the Colts (2-1) were able to drive in position for Gay's fifth field goal of the game with 1:09 remaining.
Gardner Minshew, playing in place of injured rookie Anthony Richardson, threw for 227 yards and a touchdown for the Colts.
Lamar Jackson ran for 101 yards and two TDs for the Ravens but couldn't take advantage of two opportunities in overtime when Baltimore started with great field position.
CHARGERS 28, VIKINGS 24
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Justin Herbert passed for 405 yards and three touchdowns for Los Angeles and the Chargers kept Kirk Cousins and Minnesota out of the end zone twice in the last three minutes to preserve a wild 28-24 victory over the winless Vikings on Sunday.
Kenneth Murray Jr. made the game-sealing interception in the end zone with 7 seconds left, snagging a ball that deflected off the chest of diving tight end T.J. Hockenson. On Minnesota's previous possession, Michael Davis knocked down Cousins' fourth-down throw to Justin Jefferson at the goal line.
The Vikings had that second chance thanks to the bold choice by Chargers coach Brandon Staley to go for it on fourth-and-1 at his own 24 inside the 2-minute warning. Joshua Kelley was stonewalled in the hole by Jonathan Bullard. But the Vikings (0-3) have simply lacked the late-game touch they had last season on the way to 11 wins in one-score games.
Keenan Allen not only set career highs with 205 yards and 18 catches, but the 11th-year standout threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to Mike Williams on a trick play that gave the Chargers (1-2) a 21-10 lead midway through the third quarter.
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