By The Associated Press
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Rayshawn Jenkins intercepted Dak Prescott’s bobbled pass and returned it 52 yards for a touchdown that gave the Jacksonville Jaguars a 40-34 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in overtime Sunday.
Noah Brown failed to secure Prescott’s low throw, and Jenkins made a shoelace grab and went untouched the other way to end Jacksonville’s NFL-record 20-game skid against NFC teams.
The Cowboys (10-4) ended a five-game winning streak and failed to secure a playoff spot. Jacksonville (6-8), meanwhile, could gain ground on Tennessee in the topsy-turvy AFC South.
Jacksonville won the toss in overtime and had a chance to win it with Trevor Lawrence, who threw for 318 yards and four touchdowns. But the Jaguars went three-and-out, giving the Cowboys a chance to win after squandering a 27-10 lead. Prescott’s third-down pass proved to be a difference-maker.
Prescott completed 23 of 30 passes for 256 yards, with three touchdowns and two interceptions. Two of his TD passes went to Brown.
Prescott found Brown for a 13-yard score with 3:02 remaining. Lawrence fumbled while scrambling on the ensuing possession, but he got the ball back and drove his team into position for Riley Patterson’s 40-yard, game-tying field goal on the final play of regulation.
Lawrence threw three TD passes to Zay Jones. Travis Etienne ran for 103 yards.
CHIEFS 30, TEXANS 24, OT
HOUSTON (AP) — Jerick McKinnon ran for a 26-yard touchdown in overtime and Kansas City beat Houston to clinch its seventh straight AFC West title.
The Chiefs (11-3) got the ball first in overtime but had to punt after Patrick Mahomes was sacked by Blake Cashman on third down. Texans quarterback Davis Mills fumbled on a scramble on Houston’s first play, and it was recovered by Kansas City’s Willie Gay on the Texans 26.
McKinnon, who also had a TD reception, dashed untouched into the end zone on the next play.
Mahomes threw for 336 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a score as Kansas City overcame two turnovers and a season-high 102 penalty yards to win for the seventh time in eight games.
The Chiefs trailed most of the day. Mahomes dashed 5 yards into the end zone early in the fourth quarter and hit McKinnon for the 2-point conversion to give Kansas City a 24-21 lead. Houston (1-12-1) tied it on Ka’imi Fairbairn’s 29-yard field goal with 5:11 left in regulation.
Mills threw for 121 yards and two touchdowns while sharing time at quarterback with Jeff Driskel. The Texans dropped their ninth straight game, their longest skid since losing the final 14 games of the 2013 season.
LIONS 20, JETS 17
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Jared Goff threw a go-ahead 51-yard touchdown pass to Brock Wright on fourth-and-1 with 1:49 remaining, and Detroit held on to beat Zach Wilson and New York.
Coming out of the two-minute warning, Goff looked to his left and found Wright wide open, and the tight end rumbled untouched into the end zone.
Wilson and the Jets had one more chance. He completed a 20-yard pass to Elijah Moore on fourth down, setting up Greg Zuerlein for a 58-yard field-goal try. But the kick went wide left, sending the Lions (7-7) to their third straight win and sixth in their past seven games.
The loss further damaged the playoff hopes for the Jets (7-7), who are looking to snap an 11-year postseason drought.
Wilson threw a go-ahead 1-yard touchdown pass to C.J. Uzomah with 4:41 remaining. Starting after being benched for three games, Wilson finished 18 of 35 for 317 yards with two touchdown throws to Uzomah — and a costly interception. Wilson played in place of Mike White, who’s dealing with fractured ribs.
Goff was 23 of 38 for 252 yards and the touchdown to Wright.
EAGLES 25, BEARS 20
CHICAGO (AP) — Jalen Hurts tied a career high by running for three touchdowns and Philadelphia outlasted Chicago.
The Eagles (13-1), with the best record in the NFL, made just enough plays to come away with a tighter-than-anticipated win.
Chicago’s Justin Fields rushed for 95 yards to reach exactly 1,000 on the season, joining Michael Vick and Lamar Jackson as the only quarterbacks to rush for 1,000 or more. He also set a franchise single-season rushing record for a QB. But the Bears (3-11) lost their seventh straight game — their worst skid since dropping eight in a row in 2002 to match a franchise record.
Hurts is also closing in on history as a rusher. He has 13 rushing touchdowns, one short of the NFL record for a QB, set by Cam Newton during his rookie year in 2011.
Hurts finished with 61 yards rushing and has 747 this season. He also threw for 315 yards, completing 22 of 37 passes with two interceptions.
A.J. Brown caught nine passes for 181 yards for the Eagles. DeVonta Smith had five receptions for 126 yards.
Fields hit a wide-open Byron Pringle for a 35-yard touchdown that pulled Chicago within five with 2:43 remaining, but the Bears didn’t get the ball back.
STEELERS 24, PANTHERS 16
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Mitch Trubisky threw for 179 yards and engineered three long touchdown drives as Pittsburgh dealt a major blow to Carolina’s playoff hopes.
Trubisky, filling in for concussed rookie Kenny Pickett, ran for a 1-yard touchdown and played turnover-free football. Najee Harris carried 24 times for 86 yards and a touchdown and Jaylen Warren added a 2-yard TD run for Pittsburgh (6-8), which has won three of its last four.
The Panthers (5-9) entered the weekend in control of their playoff destiny, needing four wins in four games to win the unimpressive NFC South.
But Carolina, a run-first team, couldn’t get anything going on the ground. The Panthers managed just 21 yards on 16 carries as the Steelers stacked the box and dared Sam Darnold to beat them.
Darnold finished 14 of 23 for 225 yards with a 5-yard touchdown pass to D.J. Moore. But he was sacked four times, and the Panthers struggled in the red zone.
Trubisky led the Steelers on touchdown drives of 67 and 75 yards on Pittsburgh’s first two possessions. Pittsburgh got the ball to start the second half and put together a 21-play, 91-yard drive that took nearly 12 minutes off the clock, culminating in Trubisky’s QB sneak for a TD.
SAINTS 21, FALCONS 18
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Andy Dalton and Taysom Hill combined to throw three touchdown passes, and New Orleans beat Atlanta in rookie quarterback Desmond Ridder’s debut.
Juwan Johnson had career-high 67 yards receiving and caught both of Dalton’s scoring passes. Hill, a utility player who lines up mostly at tight end, threw his second touchdown pass of the season on a 73-yard connection with rookie receiver Rashid Shaheed.
New Orleans (5-9) remained mathematically alive in the anemic NFC South.
Atlanta (5-9) was down by a field goal and threating to score with less than three minutes remaining when Ridder hit Drake London over the middle for first-down yardage on fourth-and-5. But safety Justin Evans punched the ball from London’s grasp, and cornerback Bradley Robey snagged it out of the air.
Ridder completed 13 of 26 passes for 97 yards without an interception. Rookie running back Tyler Allgeier helped the Falcons sustain drives with 139 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries.
Dalton was efficient for the Saints, going 11 of 17 for 151 yards and two touchdowns.
