NFL roundup: Dolphins defeat Browns to keep playoff hopes alive

Tyler Huntley completed 22 of 26 passes for 225 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions and ran for another score to lead the Miami Dolphins to a 20-3 victory over the host Cleveland Browns on Sunday.

Huntley made his fourth start of the season, and did so in place of Dolphins’ injured starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who sat out with a hip injury.

With the win, the Dolphins (8-8) kept their playoff hopes alive heading into week 18. Miami must beat the New York Jets next week and needs the Denver Broncos to lose to the Kansas City Chiefs in order to secure the AFC’s final wild-card playoff berth.

Cleveland (3-13) lost its fifth in a row and seventh in its past eight games.

The Dolphins were also missing wide receiver Jaylen Waddle due to a wrist injury. But Tyreek Hill gave Huntley a reliable target in Miami’s passing game as he caught all nine passes thrown his way for 105 yards as the Dolphins won for the sixth time in eight games.

Leading 13-3 in the fourth quarter, the Dolphins sealed the outcome when Huntley connected with Jonnu Smith on a 7-yard touchdown pass with 3:38 to go. Smith tied the Dolphins’ franchise record for receiving touchdowns by a tight end with his seventh of the year.

Dorian Thompson-Robinson started for the Browns, but struggled and completed only 24 of 47 passes for 170 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. Jerry Jeudy led the Browns with a career-high 12 catches for 94 yards.

Emmanuel Ogbah’s strip sack of Thompson-Robinson and fumble recovery by Da’Shawn Hand ended an advance into Dolphins’ territory with 5:23 left in the third quarter.

Trailing 13-3, Cleveland had a chance to make it a one-score game early in the fourth quarter. But instead of attempting a field goal at the Dolphins’ 3-yard line, the Browns went for it on fourth-and-goal and failed when Jalen Ramsey deflected a pass intended for Jeudy in the end zone. The Browns went 0 for 4 on fourth downs.

Dolphins left tackle Terron Armstead suffered a knee injury and was ruled out in the second half. Cleveland lost a key defender during the game when cornerback Denzel Ward left with a right shoulder injury and did not return.

Saquon Barkley hits 2K yards, Eagles crush Cowboys to win division

Saquon Barkley rushed for 167 yards to join the 2,000-yard club and the Philadelphia Eagles clinched the NFC East title with a lopsided 41-7 victory against the visiting Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.

The Eagles (13-3) swept the rival Cowboys (7-9) for the first time since 2011 and locked up at least the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs.

With his 11th 100-yard game of the year, Barkley became the ninth player in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season. Sitting on 2,005 yards, he needs 101 to break Eric Dickerson’s NFL single-season record of 2,105 set in 16 games in 1984.

Starting for Philadelphia with Jalen Hurts in the concussion protocol, Kenny Pickett tallied a touchdown pass and a touchdown run before exiting early in the third quarter with a rib injury.

Tanner McKee, making his NFL debut, replaced Pickett and threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Brown to put the Eagles up 34-7 with 2:44 left in the third quarter.

McKee added a 25-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter to DeVonta Smith, who finished with six catches for 120 yards and two scores.

The Cowboys turned the ball over four times. Cooper Rush threw two interceptions and one touchdown pass and Rico Dowdle rushed for 104 yards to notch his first 1,000-yard season (1,007).

Philadelphia built a 24-7 halftime lead by scoring 17 points off three Dallas turnovers.

The Cowboys’ opening drive ended in a 69-yard interception return for a touchdown by C.J. Gardner-Johnson.

Rush shook off the pick-6 and fired a game-tying 4-yard TD pass to Jalen Tolbert with 5:38 left in the first quarter.

Pickett’s 22-yard strike to Smith put Philadelphia ahead for good at 14-7 midway through the second quarter.

Jake Elliott’s 31-yard field goal made it 17-7 after Jordan Davis recovered a fumble by the Cowboys’ Jake Ferguson.

Gardner-Johnson’s second interception gave Philadelphia the ball back with 36 seconds left in the half. Smith’s 49-yard catch got the Eagles to the doorstep and Pickett punched it in.

Elliott’s 26-yarder extended the lead to 27-7 on the first drive of the third quarter, but Pickett’s day was over after absorbing a hit from Micah Parsons.

Buccaneers rout Panthers, keep pace in race for first in NFC South

Baker Mayfield threw for five touchdowns and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers stayed in the race atop the NFC South by pounding the visiting Carolina Panthers 48-14 on Sunday afternoon.

Mike Evans and Jalen McMillan both caught two TD passes and Bucky Irving rushed for 113 yards as Tampa Bay’s second victory of the month against Carolina came much easier than the road version in overtime.

Mayfield completed 27 of 32 passes for 359 yards and Evans caught eight balls for 97 yards. The Buccaneers (9-7) collected 551 yards of total offense.

The Panthers (4-12) have lost five of their last six despite Bryce Young throwing two touchdown passes to Adam Thielen (five catches, 110 receiving yards). Young finished 15-for-28 passing for 203 yards, but Carolina managed only 39 rushing yards as it played without injured top running back Chuba Hubbard.

Both of Mayfield’s TD tosses to Evans were short (2 yards, 1 yard). Mayfield’s scoring throws to McMillan covered 10 and 16 yards. He also had a 5-yard throw to Payne Durham to open the second-half scoring.

The Buccaneers also scored off J.J. Russell’s blocked punt return during a 25-second span of the third quarter when they racked up 14 points.

Chase McLaughlin kicked field goals of 23 and 34 yards for the Buccaneers, who need to finish with a better record than the Atlanta Falcons in the divisional race because the tiebreaker favors Atlanta, which lost to Washington in overtime on Sunday night. Tampa Bay hosts New Orleans next weekend, while Carolina plays at Atlanta.

After scoring on its first possession, Carolina’s next three series on offense resulted in a total of minus-6 yards and three punts. The Buccaneers cashed in for 17 points following those defensive stops.

The Panthers perked up by going 70 yards in 21 seconds to score on Young’s 40-yard pass to Theilen with 50 seconds left in the half. They got the ball back following a Tampa Bay punt, and were in position to post 10 points in the last minute of the half until Eddy Pineiro’s 53-yard field-goal attempt was off the mark.

Carolina has surrendered more points this year than in any season in franchise history, though Tampa Bay came four points shy of matching the most points ever allowed by the Panthers in a game.

Raiders find winning formula again in topping Saints

Aidan O’Connell threw two touchdown passes, Daniel Carlson kicked four field goals, Ameer Abdullah had the first 100-yard rushing game of his career and the visiting Las Vegas Raiders defeated the New Orleans Saints 25-10 on Sunday afternoon.

Abdullah, playing in the 141st game of his 10-year career, finished with 115 yards on 20 carries. O’Connell completed 20 of 35 passes for 242 yards as the Raiders (4-12) won their second straight after a 10-game losing streak.

Brock Bowers added seven receptions for 77 yards, giving him 1,144 receiving yards, which broke the NFL single-season record for a rookie tight end, set by Mike Ditka with 1,076 yards in 14 games in 1961.

Bowers also eclipsed the single-season rookie reception record with his 106th catch, besting Puka Nacua’s 105 grabs for the Los Angeles Rams in 2023.

Rookie Spencer Rattler passed for 218 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions and fell to 0-5 as the starter for the Saints (5-11).

Las Vegas’s first possession of the third quarter resulted in Carlson’s 54-yard field goal, which increased its lead to 16-10 at the end of the period.

Carlson’s 25-yard field goal pushed the lead to 19-10 on the third play of the fourth quarter. O’Connell added an 18-yard touchdown pass to Tre Tucker to complete the scoring.

The Raiders received the opening kickoff and held the ball for 17 plays before stalling. Carlson kicked a 31-yard field goal and the 3-0 lead held up through the end of the first quarter.

On the first play of the second quarter, Rattler threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to former Raiders tight end Foster Moreau and the Saints took a 7-3 lead with their first points in the first half in three games.

The ensuing possession ended with Carlson kicking a 39-yard field goal that trimmed the lead to 7-6.

O’Connell threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Jakobi Meyers to give Las Vegas a 13-7 lead with 57 seconds left in the second quarter. Rattler completed 5 of 7 for 54 yards in driving New Orleans to Blake Grupe’s 34-yard field goal as time expired that trimmed the lead to 13-10 at halftime.

Josh Allen, Bills crush Jets, secure No. 2 seed in AFC

Josh Allen passed for two touchdowns and rushed for one more as the Buffalo Bills clobbered the New York Jets 40-14 on Sunday afternoon in Orchard Park, N.Y.

The Bills clinched the No. 2 seed in the AFC with the victory.

Allen was showered with “M-V-P” chants after putting the game away with a pair of third-quarter touchdown passes — a 30-yard connection with Amari Cooper and a 14-yard strike to a leaping Keon Coleman with 12 seconds left in the frame.

Those scores sandwiched a 1-yard touchdown run by James Cook. Buffalo (13-3) took a 33-0 lead into the fourth quarter thanks to its 21-point third.

Allen, who turned things over to backup quarterback Mitchell Trubisky for the final 15 minutes, finished with 182 yards on 16-for-27 passing. Trubisky hit Tyrell Shavers for a 69-yard TD on his first pass of the contest to make it 40-0 with 12:37 to go.

It marked Shavers’ first career catch.

The Bills’ defense was in the spotlight just as much as Allen, forcing three turnovers and racking up four sacks. Aaron Rodgers struggled under center for New York (4-12), completing 12 of 18 passes for 112 yards. He was picked off twice.

Second-string signal-caller Tyrod Taylor broke the shutout with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson with 6:59 left in the game. The Jets proceeded to convert a two-point try to trim their deficit to 40-8.

Wilson hauled in seven receptions for 66 yards and the TD. Tyler Conklin grabbed a 20-yard touchdown with 1:55 remaining to complete the scoring. Taylor ended up with 83 yards and the two TDs on 11-of-14 passing.

A.J. Epenesa gave the Bills a boost just before the break, sacking Rodgers for a safety that put Buffalo up 9-0 with 2:31 remaining in the second quarter.

Tyler Bass extended the Bills’ lead with a 39-yard field goal as time expired in the first half.

The teams combined for five penalties on the game’s first drive, with a 5-yard defensive pass interference call setting Buffalo up at the Jets 1. Allen then got pushed into the end zone for his franchise-record-tying 65th rushing touchdown.