Falcons 21, Jaguars 14
Cordarrelle Patterson scored twice in his return from an ankle injury, and the Atlanta Falcons found the end zone and the win column for the first time in three weeks in a 21-14 victory over woeful Jacksonville on Sunday.
The Falcons (5-6) managed just a field goal in their previous two games, lopsided losses to Dallas and New England.
It surely helped that the Jaguars (2-9) made all the early mistakes.
Trevor Lawrence threw an interception on Jacksonville’s second series. James Robinson fumbled on the team’s next drive.
Patterson finished with 108 yards rushing and 27 more receiving.
Dolphins 33, Panthers 10
Jaylen Waddle had nine catches for a season-best 137 yards and a touchdown, and the Miami Dolphins forced Cam Newton into one of the worst statistical days of his career on the way to beating the Carolina Panthers 33-10.
Myles Gaskin had two short rushing scores for Miami (5-7), which became the sixth team in NFL history to immediately follow a 1-7 start with four consecutive wins. Duke Riley blocked a punt that led to a score for Miami.
The quarterback matchup was totally one-sided. Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa completed 27 of 31 passes for 230 yards and a score. Newton was pulled in the fourth quarter after completing just five of 21 passes for the Panthers (5-7), who lost for the seventh time in their past nine games.
Newton finished with 92 yards passing, no touchdowns and two interceptions. It all added up to a quarterback rating of 5.8, by far the worst of his career. He did have Carolina’s lone touchdown, a 1-yard spin in the first quarter.
Patriots 36, Titans 13
Mac Jones threw two touchdown passes, New England’s defense forced four turnovers and the Patriots earned their sixth straight win, rolling past the Tennessee Titans 36-13 on Sunday.
New England (8-4) improved to 6-1 against AFC opponents this season.
Jones completed 23 of 32 passes for 310 yards. Kendrick Bourne had both of the Patriots’ TD receptions, finishing with five catches for 61 yards.
The Titans (8-4) stayed close early, but couldn’t survive a bevy of errors that included three fumbles by their running backs and an interception by Ryan Tannehill. He finished 11 of 21 for 93 yards and a touchdown.
Jets 21, Texans 14
Zach Wilson threw for 145 yards and ran for a touchdown in his return from a sprained right knee, helping the New York Jets rally for a 21-14 win over the Houston Texans on Sunday that snapped a three-game skid.
Wilson, the No. 2 overall pick in April who missed the last four games, was rusty early and threw an interception but put the Jets (3-8) on top with a 4-yard scamper in the third quarter.
The Jets converted two fourth-down attempts on a drive that ended with a 37-yard field goal by Matt Ammendola that made it 21-14 with about 3 1/2 minutes to go.
The Texans (2-9) hoped to build on an upset of Tennessee last week that ended an eight-game skid and looked good early. Tyrod Taylor threw two touchdown passes in the second quarter to give Houston 14-3 lead, but the Texans couldn’t do anything offensively after that.
Giants 13, Eagles 7
The New York Giants’ defense rose up to intercept Jalen Hurts three times and held Philadelphia to a season-low in points in beating the error-prone Eagles 13-7 Sunday.
Daniel Jones hit Chris Myarick with a 1-yard score and Graham Gano kicked field goals of 35 and 39 yards as the Giants (4-7) somewhat responded to the firing of offensive coordinator Jason Garrett by ending the Eagles’ two-game winning streak.
The Eagles (5-7) were their own worst enemy. They had four turnovers, with running back Boston Scott losing a fumble that Julian Love recovered at the New York 40 with 1:34 to play.
Bengals 41, Steelers 10
Joe Mixon rushed for a career-high 165 yards and two touchdowns, Joe Burrow scrambled ran for a score and passed for another one and the Cincinnati Bengals crushed the Pittsburgh Steelers 41-10, sweeping the season series for the first time since 2009.
Mixon pounded away for 117 yards in the first half and helped the Bengals cruise to a third straight win over their AFC North rival after losing 11 straight in the series.
The Steelers (5-5-1) are winless in their past three games. The Bengals (7-4), dominated by Pittsburgh for so many years, have stamped themselves as a legitimate playoff contender.
Buccaneers 38, Colts 31
Leonard Fournette capped a four-touchdown game with a 28-yard scoring run with 20 seconds left, giving Tampa Bay a 38-31 come-from-behind victory at Indianapolis.
Tom Brady led the Buccaneers (8-3) on the eight-play, 75-yard tiebreaking drive after getting the ball back with 3:29 to go. Fournette rushed 17 times for 100 yards and three scores. He also caught Brady’s only touchdown pass.
Indy (6-6) had a chance to force overtime when Isaiah Rodgers returned the kickoff 71 yards to the Bucs 32-yard line with 10 seconds left. But Carson Wentz‘s first pass to Jack Doyle fell incomplete and former Colts cornerback Pierre Desir picked off Wentz near the goal line as time expired.
Broncos 28, Chargers 13
Rookie Patrick Surtain II picked off Justin Herbert twice, returning the second one 70 yards for a touchdown and sparking the Denver Broncos’ 28-7 win over the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Broncos’ big win sets up a showdown for the AFC West lead next weekend in Kansas City, where the game between Denver (6-5) and the Chiefs (7-4) already was flexed to Sunday night.
Denver’s defense came up big on a day the injury-riddled offense lost Teddy Bridgewater temporarily to a lower right leg injury, left tackle Calvin Anderson (knee), and left guard Dalton Risner (back).
Bridgewater returned after halftime and the Broncos closed out the win by running the ball behind a makeshift line, finishing with 147 yards rushing against the league’s leakiest run defense.
Running back Melvin Gordon gained 83 yards on 17 carries against his former team.
49ers 34, Vikings 26
Deebo Samuel ran for two touchdowns before leaving with an injury and Elijah Mitchell ran for 133 yards and a score, leading the San Francisco 49ers to a 34-26 victory over the Minnesota Vikings.
The matchup between two .500 teams fighting for wild-card spots featured six scores in the third quarter alone, including a 99-yard kickoff return score by Minnesota’s Kene Nwangwu.
But the 49ers (6-5) made just enough plays, including a fourth-down stop near the goal line midway through the fourth quarter to win their third straight following a stretch of five losses in six games.
Jimmy Garoppolo threw for 230 yards and a TD, but the Niners once again did more of their work on the ground with Samuel’s two scores making him the first receiver since the merger to run for five TDs in a season. Samuel had six carries for 66 yards and also caught one pass for 15 yards before leaving with a groin injury.
San Francisco finished with 208 yards rushing on 39 carries.
Kirk Cousins threw for 238 yards and two TDs to Adam Thielen for the Vikings (5-6). But he also had an interception that set up a short San Francisco scoring drive in the third quarter and couldn’t connect with Justin Jefferson on the fourth down from the 3 after burning a timeout when he lined up under the guard instead of the center.
Packers 36, Rams 28
Aaron Rodgers withstood pain from a toe injury, threw two touchdown passes and also ran for a score in the Green Bay Packers’ 36-28 victory over the Los Angeles Rams.
The Rams outscored Green Bay 11-0 in the fourth quarter, but their comeback attempt ended when Adrian Amos recovered an onside kick with 17 seconds left.
Rodgers went 28 of 45 for 307 yards as the Packers bounced back from a 34-31 loss at Minnesota. The reigning MVP threw touchdown passes of 7 yards to Randall Cobb and 5 yards to A.J. Dillon.
Green Bay (9-3) has never lost consecutive games within the same season during Matt LaFleur’s three-year coaching tenure.
Rodgers, who didn’t practice all week, says he has a fracture of his pinky toe. The injury had caused him to practice just once in the week leading up to his 385-yard, four-touchdown performance at Minnesota.
The Rams (7-4) dropped their third straight game and continually made mistakes to create scoring opportunities for Green Bay, which scored 16 points off three Rams turnovers.
Matthew Stafford went 21 of 38 for 302 yards with three touchdown passes. But he also lost a fumble to set up a touchdown and had an interception returned for a touchdown. Stafford has thrown a pick-6 in each of the last three games.
Odell Beckham Jr. had five catches for 81 yards with a 54-yard touchdown in his second game as a Ram.
SUNDAY NIGHT: Ravens 16, Browns 10
Lamar Jackson’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Mark Andrews in the third quarter was enough to lift the Baltimore Ravens to a 16-10 victory over the Cleveland Browns.
Jackson threw a career-high four interceptions in this mistake-filled game.
The Ravens (8-3) held on to take over the top spot in the AFC standings.
Cleveland (6-6) never could get its running game — which entered ranked No. 1 in the league — going against the Baltimore defensive front. Nick Chubb managed only 16 yards on eight carries, and Kareem Hunt had 20 yards on seven attempts.
Baker Mayfield threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to David Njoku late in the third quarter, but Cleveland didn’t score again.
THANKSGIVING DAY SCORES:
Chicago Bears 16, Detroit Lions 14
Las Vegas Raiders 36, Dallas Cowboys 33 OT
Buffalo Bills 31, New Orleans Saints 6
TONIGHT on MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL:
(4-6) Washington will host the (3-7) Seattle Seahawks.
