The Green Bay Packers continued their strange November collapse losing to Detroit at home for the first time since 1991. Still, the Lions did everything they could to give another victory to their division rivals by missing two extra points, giving up a late touchdown and fumbling an onside kick before blocking Mason Crosby’s game-winning field goal attempt as time ran out.
Green Bay have now lost three straight games after looking like a Super Bowl contender in the season’s first two months. Their sudden demise is a bit of a mystery and they continue to struggle running the ball. James Starks had 42 yards on 15 carries, forcing quarterback Aaron Rodgers to throw 61 times.
The Packers are now 6-3 and seem stunned as to how they have fallen apart so quickly.
Dallas thought they had ended their six-game losing streak when they forced Tampa Bay quarterback Jameis Winston to fumble a game-winning touchdown on the goalline, but the play was nullified by a defensive holding call. On the next play, Winston jogged into the end zone on a bootleg to give the Buccaneers a 10-6 victory.
Tampa Bay’s win came despite a rocky day for Winston, who was intercepted twice and was unable to generate a touchdown until their final drive of the game. It was another dreadful day for the Cowboys who reportedly endured another Greg Hardy fiasco when the team’s radio network reported he scuffled with defensive end Demarcus Lawrence before the game.
Matt Cassel, filling in for injured starter Tony Romo, was intercepted in the endzone on a last chance for the Cowboys who are now 2-7.
Carolina continued their march toward perfection by beating Tennessee 27-10 The Panthers are now 9-0, mainly on the back of their defense, which held the Titans to just 242 yards – almost as much as Carolina quarterback Cam Newton generated himself. He threw for 217 yards and ran for 23 more. Marcus Mariota struggled for Tennessee with just 185 passing yards and one interception.
The Saints have a terrible defense and it appears to be getting worse. On a week in which cornerback Brandon Browner blew up at reporters after a practice, New Orleans fell to another defensive low in allowing 513 yards to Washington in a 47-14 defeat.
Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins has shown significant improvement in the last two months but even that growth alone couldn’t count for 324 yards passing, four touchdowns and a 132 passer rating. Washington running backs Alfred Morris, Chris Thompson and Matt Jones combined for 211 yards.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger missed the end of last week’s game and most of this week’s practice with a foot injury. But on Sunday he looked fine as he replaced his injured replacement – Landry Jones – and led the Steelers to a 30-9 victory over Cleveland. He passed for 379 yards and three touchdowns while throwing almost every down due to a limited running game that generated just 15 yards on 14 carries.
Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel played decently, throwing for 372 yards but was compromised by a series of Cleveland miscues including blowing a first-and-goal from the Steelers one-yard line.
Philadelphia lost starting quarterback Sam Bradford to a left shoulder injury in the third quarter of a 20-19 loss to Miami at home. His replacement, Mark Sanchez, moved the Eagles into position to win the game twice in the final quarter but was unable to deliver the win. Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill continued his development with 217 yards and two touchdowns.
Jay Cutler threw for three touchdowns at St Louis giving the Bears a desperately-needed 37-13 victory over the Rams. Cutler finished with a 151 passer rating, just 7.3 from a perfect score.
Baltimore’s Elvis Dumervil gave Jacksonville one final chance at a win when he grabbed the facemask of Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles as time expired on what would be Baltimore’s third victory of the year. Instead, the penalty allowed Jags kicker Jason Myers to hit a 53-yard field goal to give Jacksonville a 22-20 win.
The Ravens, who were expected to be a playoff team, are now 2-7 in a season of heartbreakingly close defeats.
