Defence lifts Titans past Rams for 5th straight win

Kevin Byard returned Matthew Stafford's second consecutive interception 24 yards for a touchdown, and Tennessee's defense carried the Titans to a 28-16 victory over the Los Angeles Rams in a showdown between conference co-leaders Sunday night.

Jeffery Simmons had three of Tennessee's five sacks of Stafford during a stifling performance against the Rams' prolific passing offense. Stafford crucially threw back-to-back interceptions that the Titans turned into 14 points in 11 seconds of the second quarter, sending them well on their way to their fifth consecutive victory.

Ryan Tannehill passed for 143 yards and a touchdown and rushed for another score for the Titans (7-2), who managed just 194 offensive yards in their first game without injured NFL rushing leader Derrick Henry.

Adrian Peterson rushed for just 21 yards, but the veteran running back made a 6-yard TD run with 3:00 left in the first game of his 15th NFL season.

Kansas City downs Green Bay

Patrick Mahomes threw for 166 yards and a touchdown, Kansas City relentlessly blitzed the Packers' Jordan Love in his highly anticipated first start in place of Aaron Rodgers, and Kansas City held off Green Bay 13-7 on Sunday.

Rodgers tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week, forcing the reigning MVP to miss his first game since the 2017 season. Love responded by going 19 of 34 for 190 yards with a touchdown and an interception, both of them coming in the fourth quarter when the Packers were trying to rally from a 13-0 deficit against the defending AFC champs.

Travis Kelce had five catches for 68 yards and a touchdown for Kansas City (5-4), who have won their three of their last four games despite a problematic offence. They finished with just 237 yards against Green Bay.

The Packers (7-2) only managed 301 yards off offence as their seven-game winning streak came to an end. Green Bay also fell to 6-12-1 without Rodgers since 2008.

Packers kicker Mason Crosby yanked a 40-yard field-goal attempt in the first quarter. He had a 37-yarder blocked in the second period. And when the Packers punted later in the half, one of their downfield blockers accidentally touched the ball with his toe and Kansas recovered, eventually turning it into a chip-shot field-goal.

Green Bay finally put together a solid drive early in the fourth quarter, when Love completed seven straight passes. But after back-to-back incompletions, Love threw a pass toward Davante Adams — who was back from his own positive COVID-19 test last week — that was picked off by L'Jarius Sneed near the Kansas City goal line.

Jags' defence leads way in upset win over Bills

Jacksonville had the better Josh Allen on this Sunday, with the standout linebacker intercepting a pass, making a sack and recovering a fumble in a 9-6 upset of the Buffalo Bills.

Buffalo's star quarterback with the same first and last names turned over the ball three times, including twice in the second half. He didn't have a second-half turnover in any previous game this season.

The Bills (5-3) lost for the second time in seven games. The Jaguars (2-6) rebounded from a debacle at Seattle a week ago.

Buffalo's Allen completed 31 of 47 passes for 264 yards, with the two interceptions and a fumble.

The first of two deciding moments came on a third-and-2 play at the Jaguars 37 with about 5 1-2 minutes remaining. Allen fumbled after getting pressured by Dawuane Smoot. The other Josh Allen recovered.

Buffalo got the ball back in the waning minutes and advanced to the Jaguars 39. But Smoot sacked Allen on third down. It was Jacksonville's fourth sack of the day.

Allen and Allen had been looking forward to this meeting, although Buffalo's Allen made it clear he didn't want to get acquainted with Jacksonville's Allen in the backfield. It nonetheless happened when Allen beat Dion Dawkins off the edge.

The players with the same first and last name had never meet before Sunday even though they were both selected with the seventh pick in consecutive NFL drafts. They have exchanged messages via social media.

Broncos spoil Prescott's return in win over Cowboys

Teddy Bridgewater threw for a touchdown and had a sneak for another, and the Denver Broncos stymied the NFL's No. 1 offence when it mattered in a 30-16 victory over Dallas on Sunday, ending the Cowboys' six-game winning streak.

The Broncos (5-4) sacked Prescott twice, both by rookie Jonathon Cooper for the first of his career, and generally made him uncomfortable in their first game since trading star pass rusher Von Miller.

Still, the Broncos got their offence moving with the running game. They handed Dallas its first double-digit deficit of the season at 13-0 on Bridgewater's 41-yard touchdown pass to Tim Patrick, who beat NFL interceptions leader Trevon Diggs at the goal line.

The lead reached 30-0 in the Broncos' seventh consecutive victory in the series, a streak that goes back to 1995. Prescott threw two touchdown passes to Malik Turner in the final five minutes.

Short-handed Cardinals get past 49ers

James Conner ran for two touchdowns and caught a 45-yard TD pass from backup quarterback Colt McCoy as the short-handed Arizona Cardinals beat the San Francisco 49ers 31-17 on Sunday.

Conner scored on TD runs on back-to-back drives in the first quarter to stake the Cardinals to a big lead they never relinquished. Conner's long catch-and-run TD on Arizona's first drive of the second half helped put the game out of reach.

Conner finished with 173 yards from scrimmage and now leads the NFL in TDs with 11, all scored in the past seven games.

San Francisco lost a pair of fumbles in the first half and struggled defensively even against McCoy, a career backup who had won two starts in the past 10 seasons. McCoy went 22 for 26 for 249 yards.

Tucker's FG lifts Ravens over Vikings in OT

Justin Tucker kicked a 36-yard field goal with 16 seconds left in overtime to give the Baltimore Ravens a 34-31 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

It was another agonizing loss for the Vikings (3-5), who have not dropped a game all season by more than seven points.

The Ravens took a 31-24 lead on Le'Veon Bell's 1-yard run with 3:29 remaining in regulation. The Vikings tied it on a 1-yard scoring pass from Kirk Cousins to Adam Thielen with 1:03 to play.

Cousins had thrown a 12-yard pass to Justin Jefferson on fourth-and-9 from the Baltimore 16 to keep that drive going.

Jackson threw for 266 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions. He also ran for 120 yards on 21 carries. It was his 10th career 100-yard rushing game, tying Michael Vick's regular-season record for quarterbacks.

Browns steamroll rival Bengals

The Browns (5-4) came in desperate for a win after dropping three of four. Their situation turned dramatic on Wednesday when star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. was exiled for poor behaviour and the team decided to release him.

But like last year, when Mayfield played more freely after Beckham suffered a season-ending knee injury — at Cincinnati — Cleveland's QB was on target and the Browns put together their most complete game this season to humble the Bengals (5-4).

Burrow threw two interceptions and was sacked five times — three by blitzing cornerback Troy Hill — and Bengals rookie receiver Ja'Marr Chase dropped two passes, one in the end zone.

Leading 24-10 at halftime, the Browns put it away on Chubb's 70-yard TD sprint in the third quarter, triggering a wild celebration along Cleveland's sideline.