SCOREBOARD
Monday, Oct. 12
Los Angeles Chargers (1-3) at New Orleans (2-2), Monday 8:15 p.m. EDT, ESPN.
Drew Brees looks to improve on his 3-0 record against the team that drafted him two decades ago. The Chargers enter Monday night’s game having lost three straight and having fallen the past five times they’ve played on a Monday night. Brees was a second-round draft choice by the Chargers in 2001 and spent five seasons with the franchise before joining the Saints in 2006. Brees is now the NFL’s all-time leading passer.
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STARS
Passing
-Deshaun Watson, Texans, threw for a season-high 359 yards and three touchdowns as Houston got its first win, 30-14 over the Jaguars.
-Teddy Bridgewater, Panthers, threw for 313 yards - his eighth 300-yard game - and two touchdowns as Carolina won its third consecutive game, 23-16 over the winless Falcons.
-Kyler Murray, Cardinals, went 27 of 37 for 380 yards and a touchdown in a 30-10 win at the Jets.
-Derek Carr, Raiders, finished with 347 yards passing and three touchdowns in his first win at Kansas City after six defeats, 40-32. KC’s Patrick Mahomes finished with 340 yards passing and two touchdowns along with an interception.
-Jared Goff, Rams, threw for 309 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another in a 30-10 romp at Washington.
-Ryan Fitzpatrick, Dolphins, threw for 350 yards and three touchdowns as Miami upset San Francisco 43-17
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Rushing
-Todd Gurley, Falcons, had 121 yards on 14 carries, including a 35-yard TD in Atlanta’s 23-16 loss to Carolina.
-Ezekiel Elliott, Cowboys, ran 91 yards and two touchdowns in a 37-34 shootout victory against the Giants.
-Tyreek Hill, Chiefs, who rushed for a score against Las Vegas, now has 36 receiving touchdowns and five rushing touchdowns during his career. He joined Jerry Rice (197 receiving touchdowns, 10 rushing touchdowns overall) as the only players with at least 35 receiving touchdowns and five rushing touchdowns since 1970.
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Receiving
-Brandin Cooks, Texans, had a season-high 161 yards receiving and a TD in a 30-14 win over Jacksonville
-Chase Claypool , Steelers, scored four touchdowns, and the rookie became the first Pittsburgh player to score four times in a game since WR Roy Jefferson it in 1968. He’s also the first rookie since at least 1950 to catch three touchdowns and add another on the ground and the first Canadian to have three scoring catches in one game since Joe Rooney of the Duluth Eskimos on Oct. 23, 1927. Pittsburgh beat Philadelphia 38-29.
-Travis Fulgham, Eagles, caught 10 passes for 152 yards and a touchdown in the loss to the Steelers.
-Travis Kelce, Chiefs, had eight catches for 108 yards and a touchdown in a 40-32 loss to the Raiders.
-CeeDee Lamb, Cowboys, had eight receptions for 124 yards in the 37-34 win over the Giants. Lamb is the second player with at least five receptions in each of his first five career games in NFL history, joining Terry Glenn in 1996.
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Special Teams
-Jason Sanders, Dolphins, kicked three field goals in the final two minutes of the first half, something that hasn’t been done since at least 2000. Sanders made five field goals overall, giving him a franchise record 14 straight to open the season.
-Graham Gano, Giants, had three field goals of at least 50 yards for the Giants, from 55, 50 and 54, plus a 28-yarder in a loss at Dallas.
-Isaiah Rodgers, Colts, had the longest return by a player in the league this season, a 101-yard kickoff return at Cleveland.
Defense
-Rams DT Aaron Donald, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year, had four sacks in a dominating performance in the Rams’ 30-10 victory at Washington. He has 7 1/2 sacks through five games. Teammate Troy Reeder had three sacks. Donald and Reeder are the first teammates to get at least three sacks in the same game since Week 17 of the 2015 season.
-Rookie Patrick Queen highlighted Baltimore’s stout defensive performance with a 52-yard fumble return for his first NFL touchdown in a 27-3 win over Cincinnati. The Ravens had seven sacks, including one for Queen.
-Stephon Tuitt, Steelers, had 1 1-2 of the team’s five sacks of Carson Wentz in a 38-29 victory.
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MILESTONES
Philip Rivers, Colts, started his 229th consecutive game, tying him with Hall of Fame lineman Bruce Matthews for the second longest in league history. Brett Favre started 297 games in a row. Rivers also became the fifth quarterback with 5,000 completions, joining Favre, Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.
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STREAKS & STATS
Kansas City’s 40-32 home loss to Las Vegas snapped a franchise-record 13-game winning streak. … The Ravens have forced a turnover in 18 straight games, the longest active streak in the NFL and second-longest in franchise history. Baltimore has 32 takeaways during the 18-game run … Since Lamar Jackson became the Ravens starter in Week 11 of the 2018 season, Baltimore has scored at least 20 points in 28 straight regular-season games. That ties the 1999-2000 Rams for the second-longest such streak; Denver, from 2012-14, owns the longest at 30. … The Panthers won their third straight and snapped a five-game losing streak to their NFC South rival, beating Atlanta for only the second time in their past 10 meetings. … San Francisco is 2-0 this season at MetLife Stadium with blowout wins over the Jets and Giants, but has lost all three games at home. … Arizona scored touchdowns on drives of 96, 89, 75 and 70 yards in routing the Jets 30-10. … Bengals rookie QB Joe Burrow has been sacked 22 times in five games, seven on Sunday by Baltimore. Previously, he was sacked eight times in Philadelphia. … In the Browns’ 32-23 victory, they rolled up 228 yards passing in the first half and 383 total yards for the game on the Colts’ defense that was allowing the fewest passing yards, points and led the NFL in interceptions.
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STARTS
Baltimore (4-1) matched the best start in franchise history with a 27-3 victory over Cincinnati. The previous time was 2012, when they won the Super Bowl. … Pittsburgh is 4-0 for the first time since 1979 following a 38-29 win against Philadelphia. … At the other end of the standings, the Falcons and Jets fell to 0-5. Atlanta is there for the first time since 1997, turning up the heat even more on coach Dan Quinn. Same thing for Adam Gase in New York: The 0-5 start is the third in Jets history, joining 1980 and ’96. The ’96 team went 1-15 and had the worst start in franchise history at 0-8.
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SCHEDULE ADJUSTMENTS
The NFL has juggled its regular-season schedule because of coronavirus outbreaks with Tennessee and New England. Denver’s game at New England, originally scheduled for Sunday and then moved to Monday night when the Patriots had more positive COVID-19 tests, now will be played next Sunday afternoon. Kansas City’s game at Buffalo, which was supposed to be played Thursday night, has been moved back to Monday, Oct. 19.
Tuesday night’s game with the Bills at the Titans, which originally was to be played Sunday, remains on schedule despite another positive test result in Tennessee.
Other changes: Jets at Chargers moves from Week 6 to Week 11; Jaguars at Chargers moves from Week 8 to Week 7; Chargers at Broncos moves from Week 11 to Week 8; Chargers at Dolphins moves from Week 7 to Week 10; Dolphins at Broncos moves from Week 6 to Week 11.
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ALEX SMITH
QB Alex Smith completed his remarkable comeback 693 days after a broken tibia and fibula, 17 surgeries and a life-threatening infection put his career in jeopardy. Smith started off like his old self, completing 5 of 6 passes on short dump-offs after relieving injured starter Kyle Allen late in the second quarter as Washington lost to the Rams 30-10. He finished 9 of 17 for 37 yards in the rain behind a struggling offensive line.
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ROMEO, OH ROMEO
Romeo Crennel got a victory as Houston’s interim coach, replacing the fired Bill O’Brien, and at 73 become the oldest coach in NFL history, passing Hall of Famer and league founder George Halas, who was 72 in his last game with the Bears in 1967. Houston improved against the run under Crennel, a former defensive coordinator. After allowing an NFL-worst 181.8 yards a game under O’Brien, Houston limited the Jaguars to 75.
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ATTENDANCE
The Cowboys had another slight increase in the pandemic-reduced crowd at 25,147. AT&T Stadium has 80,000 permanent seats. … Cleveland had approximately 12,000 fans when it beat Indianapolis. … A sparse, socially distanced crowd of 6,656 attended Carolina’s win in Atlanta at 75,000-seat Mercedes-Benz Stadium. … Houston had 12,413 fans on hand to see its first win of the season. … There were 4,708 in attendance for the Steelers’ victory over the Eagles in Pittsburgh.
SIDELINED
Dallas QB Dak Prescott suffered a broken right ankle and was to undergo surgery. He was going down in the arms of DB Logan Ryan at the end of a 9-yard run when his lower right leg got caught under Ryan and appeared to snap. … Eagles guard Lane Johnson was carted to the locker room at Pittsburgh with an ankle injury. The Steelers lost Pro Bowl left guard David DeCastro (abdominal injury) and WR Diontae Johnson (back) … Cardinals star LB Chandler Jones was ruled out at the Jets after a first-half biceps injury. … Carolina lost three defensive starters at Atlanta: DE Brian Burns (concussion); CB Donte Jackson (toe) and tackle Kawann Short (shoulder). Falcons CB Kendal Sheffield left with an injured right ankle and DE Takk McKinley sustained a groin injury. … Cincinnati DT D.J. Reader (knee), WR A.J. Green (hamstring) and DT Sam Hubbard (left elbow) were hurt at Baltimore … Jacksonville WR D.J. Chark injured his ankle at Houston.
EJECTED
For the second week in a row a player was ejected for targeting after a hit on a Texans player. Jaguars safety Josh Jones was disqualified for his hit on Brandin Cooks after he made a 23-yard catch early in the third quarter. The penalty came a week after Minnesota’s Harrison Smith was ejected for his helmet-to-helmet hit on tight end Jordan Akins. Akins sustained a concussion from the hit by Smith. Cooks was not injured.
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SPEAKING
“I’ve been called every name in the book. People hate me, people love me, depending on the week. That outside noise isn’t important. The thing is important is practicing and getting everybody ready.” - Dolphins QB Ryan Fitzpatrick after leading a 43-17 victory at San Francisco.
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“It is definitely insane, it’s crazy. But I don’t really like to think about breaking records or making history. It’s super cool but it’s not something I go into the game thinking ‘I’m going to try to make history today.’” - Steelers rookie WR Chase Claypool after scoring four touchdowns in a 38-29 win against Philadelphia.
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