Kansas City had this one. Patrick Mahomes hit a 73-yard touchdown in the second quarter, added a short score late in the third, and the Chiefs walked into the fourth up 24-13.
Then it flipped.
Bo Nix found Adkins for a two-yard touchdown with nine minutes left, and Waddle caught the two-point conversion that pulled Denver within three. The Broncos defense, which had hit Mahomes ten times on the day, kept the Chiefs off the board. With two minutes to play, Coleman ran it in from five yards out. Final: 28-24.
The box score tells a stranger story than the result. Kansas City out-gained Denver 399 yards to 294 and Mahomes finished 30 of 41 for 321 yards and three touchdowns with no turnovers. The Chiefs also took 11 penalties for 105 yards, and kicker Harrison Butker missed a long attempt. Denver took six flags for 45. Close games get decided in the margins, and Sunday's margins belonged to the Broncos.
Hard to find a bright spot here.
Trevor Lawrence put Jacksonville ahead with a 12-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, and the Jaguars never really stopped. By halftime it was 28-0. The knockout came with 25 seconds left in the second quarter, when Colts quarterback Jones threw a short pass that Lane picked off and carried 92 yards the other way. Jones finished 21 of 30 for just 152 yards, two interceptions and four sacks. Indianapolis averaged 4.1 yards a play. Jacksonville averaged 6.9.
Lawrence attempted only 17 passes and completed 11 of them for 218 yards and three touchdowns, good for a passer rating of 147.7. The running game did the heavy lifting with 183 yards on 33 carries, including a 39-yard touchdown run by Tuten in the second quarter. Tuten later caught a 25-yard score to close the third quarter. Rodriguez added a 28-yard touchdown run.
It was a 42-7 game that never needed to be as hard as it looked on paper.
The Eagles started Sunday night well. A field goal, then a three-yard Saquon Barkley touchdown run, and it was 10-0 in Washington before the Commanders had settled in.
That was it. That was the whole night.
Washington answered with a 56-yard field goal late in the first quarter and then took over. Jayden Daniels threw an eight-yard touchdown to Diggs in the second quarter to tie it. Kicker Stevens went on to make four of five field goals. The Commanders sacked Philadelphia five times and picked off one pass, and the Eagles finished with 268 total yards at 3.9 a play. A one-yard touchdown run by White and a two-point conversion in the final two minutes made it 27-10.
Washington outscored Philadelphia 24-0 over the last three quarters. The Eagles also lost a fumble and threw an interception, two giveaways against a Washington team that gave the ball away once. Philadelphia ran 68 plays to Washington's 57 and still had nothing to show for it.
Cincinnati held off Tennessee 43-36, the highest-scoring game of the slate. Buffalo ran away from Baltimore, 36-10, a result that will get attention given how little resistance the Ravens offered.
Tampa Bay shut out Atlanta 16-0, the only goose egg of the week. Pittsburgh handled Cleveland 27-6, and the Rams beat the Chargers 24-9.
Arizona won a back-and-forth game in Dallas 33-30. Las Vegas escaped New York with a 38-33 win over the Jets, and New England beat Miami 24-19. Detroit edged Minnesota 19-15.
Back on Thursday night, Green Bay beat Carolina 27-19 to open the week.
Seattle plays host to Chicago on Monday Night Football, and the Seahawks enter as the favorites. Jacksonville travels to Baltimore on Thursday, and Denver visits Carolina next Sunday.
