The Latest on NFL Week 3 (all times EDT):
5:30 p.m.
The Chargers got off to a strong early start with contributions from the running back duo filling in for holdout Melvin Gordon.
Justin Jackson rushed for 32 yards and had a touchdown taken off the board by a holding call, while Austin Ekeler had five catches for 31 yards.
The Texans started slowly on offense, but a 38-yard gain on a flea flicker nearly doubled their total yards. Deshaun Watson then found tight end Darren Fells for a TD, trimming Los Angeles’ lead to 10-7.
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5:25 p.m.
On a day when the NFL’s quarterback depth is being tested, the teams with backups are mostly holding their own.
With Cam Newton, Drew Brees and Ben Roethlisberger all sidelined, the Panthers are leading Arizona 14-10 at halftime, the Saints lead Seattle 13-7 in the second quarter, and the Steelers lead San Francisco 6-0 in the second.
The Giants, with rookie Daniel Jones taking over for Eli Manning, trail Tampa Bay 18-10 in the second, but Jones ran for a touchdown.
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4:30 p.m.
Kyler Murray is clicking early against Carolina.
The Arizona Cardinals were plagued by slow starts in their first two games, but jumped on the Panthers early for a 7-0 lead.
Murray hit 6 of 7 passes for 28 yards on Arizona’s opening drive and was more involved with the run game, carrying three times for 28 yards.
He hit Larry Fitzgerald on 1-yard touchdown pass to cap the 14-play, 74-yard drive.
-John Marshall reporting from Glendale, Arizona.
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4:25 p.m.
The Daniel Jones era is underway.
The sixth pick in this year’s draft made his first start for the New York Giants, replacing two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The 22-year-old rookie played one series during New York’s season-opening loss to Dallas two weeks ago.
Manning was benched after the Giants started 0-2. He started 232 of New York’s previous 233 regular season games. Jones posted outstanding numbers during the preseason, playing mostly against second- and third-stringers.
Jones is 4 of 5 for 53 yards Sunday, and the Giants trail 6-3.
-Fred Goodall reporting from Tampa, Florida.
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4:05 p.m.
Frank Gore ran for a 1-yard touchdown with 1:50 remaining to give the Buffalo Bills a 21-17 lead over Cincinnati.
The Bills blew a 14-0 halftime lead and fell behind in the final quarter, but they drove 78 yards in seven plays to move back ahead.
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4 p.m.
For a third straight week, the Detroit Lions are trying to protect a lead late in the fourth quarter.
Detroit leads Philadelphia 27-24 and stopped the Eagles on fourth down with 2:18 remaining. Philadelphia had all three timeouts remaining and could still get the ball back.
Detroit lost a late lead in a season-opening tie at Arizona but held on to beat the Los Angeles Chargers last weekend.
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3:50 p.m.
Jarrett Stidham relieved Tom Brady with the Patriots holding a comfortable lead over the New York Jets midway through the fourth quarter, and the rookie quarterback immediately threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown. Brady came back in for the next series.
Stidham made his NFL debut when New England took over with 8:41 left in the game leading 30-7.
Stidham completed his first two passes before overthrowing Brandon Bolden right to Jets safety Jamal Adams. He ran it back 60 yards for a touchdown to make it 30-14.
-Jimmy Golen reporting from Foxborough, Massachusetts.
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3:45 p.m.
Cincinnati has rallied to tie Buffalo 14-all early in the fourth quarter. The Bengals trailed 14-0 at the half but evened the score with a 1-yard pass from Andy Dalton to Joe Mixon with 12:27 remaining.
Before Mixon’s touchdown, the Bills had a fumble recovery near their own goal line negated by a penalty. Defensive tackle Jordan Phillips clearly jumped offside.
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3:35 p.m.
T.Y. Hilton has been ruled out of the game for the Indianapolis Colts with a quad injury.
Indianapolis leads Atlanta 27-17 in the fourth quarter.
Hilton has not played in the second half. The Pro Bowl receiver was listed as questionable before the game with the same injury.
Atlanta safety Keanu Neal also was carted off the field with what the team called an Achilles injury. Neal tore an ACL in last season’s opener and missed the rest of the season.
-Mike Marot reporting from Indianapolis.
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3:10 p.m.
Eagles running back Miles Sanders’ facemask was yanked so viciously on a kickoff return, his neck twisted and his helmet flew off his head.
And the officials missed the call.
Detroit safety Miles Killebrew grabbed at Sanders’ facemask with his right hand and the Eagles helmet about turned. There was no penalty call on the play.
Eagles fans howled as the replay was shown on the big screens at Lincoln Financial Field. Sanders appeared fine after the play.
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2:55 p.m.
Matt Ryan threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Austin Hooper with 10:30 left in the third quarter, No. 301 of his career.
That breaks a tie with John Elway for No. 11 in league history.
Ryan became the 12h player with 300 TD passes when he hooked up with Julio Jones on the game-winning touchdown last Sunday night.
Earlier in the drive, Ryan also passed Elway for No. 9 on the career list for completions. Elway had 4,123. Ryan now has 4,126.
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2:50 p.m.
Super Bowl MVP Julian Edelman did not come out for the second half against the New York Jets because of what the Patriots say is a chest injury.
Edelman went to the locker room shortly before the half. The team says it is questionable whether he will return.
Edelman was apparently injured with 1:18 left in the first half after a 3-yard reception, when 301-pound defensive lineman Henry Anderson landed on top of him. Edelman came up holding his ribs.
New England leads 23-0.
-Jimmy Golen reporting from Foxborough, Massachusetts.
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2:45 p.m.
The Bengals went nowhere in a dreadful first-half offensive performance against the Bills in Buffalo’s home opener.
Cincinnati didn’t register a first down until Andy Dalton hit Auden Tate for a 24-yard completion coming out of the 2-minute warning – on the Bengals’ sixth drive of the game. The Bengals’ only snap in Buffalo territory came with 2 seconds left after Stephen Hauschka missed a 62-yard field goal attempt.
Cincinnati had 77 yards of offense at the half, including Dalton’s 33-yard completion to Tate on the final play. Buffalo led 14-0.
-John Wawrow reporting from Orchard Park, New York.
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2:40 p.m.
The Chiefs scored four times in the second quarter for the second straight week, this time a trio of touchdowns and Harrison Butker’s 42-yard field goal to take a 23-6 lead on Baltimore into halftime.
They scored four TDs in the second quarter last week in Oakland.
Patrick Mahomes is so far winning his showdown with Ravens counterpart Lamar Jackson, throwing for 273 yards and two touchdowns. Jackson was 8 of 17 for 51 yards with another 29 yards rushing.
Baltimore took a point off the board in the first quarter when a penalty gave the Ravens a chance to try a 2-point conversion from the 1-yard line. Jackson was stuffed short of the goal line.
Jackson also was stuffed for no gain on fourth-and-2 early in the second quarter.
-Dave Skretta reporting from Kansas City, Missouri.
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2:20 p.m.
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Jacoby Brissett opened the game by completing his first 16 passes, including one for a touchdown, before throwing an incompletion on second-and-goal from the Atlanta 3-yard line.
He threw the ball away to avoid a sack on the next play, too, setting up Adam Vinatieri for a 21-yard field goal to give the Colts a 13-0 lead.
The streak is tied for the fifth-longest in franchise history.
Brissett is now 19 of 24 for 197 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. Indianapolis leads the Falcons 13-3.
-Mike Marot reporting from Indianapolis.
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2:05 p.m.
Tom Brady has passed injured Saints quarterback Drew Brees for second place on the NFL’s career list for touchdown passes.
Brady connected with Phillip Dorsett for a 25-yard score in the first quarter against the New York Jets. It was Brady’s 523rd career TD pass, moving him past Brees into second place on the career list.
Peyton Manning is first with 539.
Brady later added another TD pass to give New England a 20-0 lead. He also has 73 touchdown passes in the postseason. Including those, his total of 597 is the most in NFL history.
-Jimmy Golen reporting from Foxborough, Massachusetts.
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2 p.m.
Denver Broncos defensive end Derek Wolfe has left the game against the Green Bay Packers because of an ankle injury.
Wolfe was going for the tackle on a run by Jamaal Williams. Safety Will Parks missed a tackle and appeared to roll into the right ankle of Wolfe, who stayed down a few minutes before being taken off on a cart.
Parks grabbed his left ankle, but got up and stayed in the game.
-Andrew Seligman reporting from Green Bay, Wisconsin.
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1:35 p.m.
Miami Dolphins receiver Allen Hurns had to be taken off the field after a jarring play at the home of the Cowboys, just as he did in the playoffs last season when he played for the Cowboys.
Hurns stayed down for a couple of minutes after a huge hit from Dallas safety Jeff Heath that resulted in an incompletion. While trainers attended to Hurns, Heath knelt on one knee with his helmet off just a few feet from his former teammate.
When Hurns sat up, several other Dallas defenders also greeted him. Hurns seemed a little woozy when he stood up, but was able to walk off the field mostly on his own.
During Dallas’ wild-card win over Seattle last January, Hurns had to be taken off on a cart after sustaining a gruesome-looking broken ankle when he was tackled awkwardly. Hurns was on the way to a recovery and had gone through offseason workouts with the Cowboys when they released him just before training camp.
-Schuyler Dixon reporting from Arlington, Texas.
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1:20 p.m.
Detroit’s Jamal Agnew ran a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown against the Philadelphia Eagles. Agnew burst to his left and sprinted along the sideline for his first career kickoff return touchdown. The Eagles had scored a field goal on the opening drive. Lions coach Matt Patricia rubbed his returner’s head after the big score.
Patricia had benched Agnew last week after he fumbled the ball on a punt return in the second quarter.
-Dan Gelston reporting from Philadelphia.
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1:15 p.m.
Adam Vinatieri made a 49-yard field goal to open the scoring in Indianapolis.
He didn’t exactly erase doubts, though, banking the line drive kick off the left upright. The league’s career scoring leader’s slow start had some wondering if time had finally caught up to the 46-year-old Vinatieri, the third-oldest player to ever appear in an NFL game.
He missed five of eight kicks during the first two weeks, including a career-high three extra points.
-Mike Marot reporting from Indianapolis.
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1:10 p.m.
The Buffalo Bills honored late superfan Ezra ”Pancho Billa” Castro in a pregame ceremony at New Era Field.
Castro, a mortician from El Paso, Texas, who regularly attended Bills games, died in May after a lengthy battle with cancer.
Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula presented game balls and No. 19 Pancho Billa jerseys to Castro’s mother, Aurora, longtime girlfriend, Veronica Borjon, and their two children, Gino and Lourdes. The family members watched the Bills’ home opener against the Cincinnati Bengals from Buffalo coach Sean McDermott’s suite.
The presentation at midfield also included 100 children who received backpacks with school supplies through the Pancho Pack program in Castro’s honor.
Some fans held up signs with images of Castro attending Bills games in his customary Bills-themed pancho and wrestling mask.
Shortly after Castro was diagnosed with cancer, the Bills honored his wish by bringing him to Dallas to announce their third-round selection of defensive tackle Harrison Phillips at the 2018 NFL Draft.
-John Wawrow reporting from Orchard Park, New York.
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11:49 p.m.
Who are these guys?
Already, eight NFL teams are starting quarterbacks they didn’t plan to have behind center about a month ago. That’s one-quarter of the league.
Included are two of the more obscure names: the Jets’ Luke Falk in for Sam Darnold (mononucleosis), and the Panthers’ Kyle Allen, starting Sunday for Cam Newton (foot). Falk actually is New York’s third-stringer; Trevor Siemian damaged his ankle in last Monday night’s loss to Cleveland.
New York’s other team, the Giants, made the switch this week to sixth overall draft pick Daniel Jones, benching longtime starter Eli Manning.
Two of the league’s biggest stars, Drew Brees (thumb surgery) of New Orleans and Ben Roethlisberger (elbow surgery) of Pittsburgh, are sidelined. Teddy Bridgewater takes over for the Saints and Mason Rudolph gets the assignment for the Steelers.
Miami has switched from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Josh Rosen, and, of course, Andrew Luck retired and Jacoby Brissett is the man in Indianapolis.
Gardner Minshew started for Jacksonville in a Thursday night win over Tennessee; Nick Foles is hurt.
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