NFL Week 2 Live: Packers Tie Vikings; Chiefs Top Steelers – New York Times

September 17, 2018


• Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers toughed it out after suffering a knee injury last week but couldn’t get the win against the Minnesota Vikings. The game ended in a 29-29 tie.

• The Cleveland Browns came close to grabbing their first victory since 2016 but fell short to the New Orleans Saints, 21-18, after a missed field goal at the end of the game.

• Refresh here for live scores, updates and analysis from N.F.L. Week 2.

Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers played through the pain Sunday, but the Packers could only manage a tie against the Minnesota Vikings.

Morry Gash/Associated Press

How to watch: Here is the Week 2 TV schedule and our picks against the spread.

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Bills Cornerback Vontae Davis Retired at Halftime

The Buffalo Bills have followed up last year’s playoff appearance with an 0-2 start, but their season took a turn for the bizarre on Sunday when Vontae Davis, a veteran cornerback, appeared to retire in the middle of a game.

Davis, the brother of Washington tight end Vernon Davis, was inactive in Week 1 but was one of just four cornerbacks that suited up for Buffalo in its 31-20 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

The team got even thinner at the position when Phillip Gaines was injured, but Davis did not enter the field and was nowhere to be seen on the team’s sideline.

Asked about Davis’s whereabouts after the game, Coach Sean McDermott seemed perplexed by the entire sequence of events.

“He pulled himself out of the game,” McDermott said. “He told us he was done.”

Lorenzo Alexander, a linebacker for the Bills, went a step further, telling reporters that Davis had, in fact, retired. He called the action “completely disrespectful.”

Davis, a 10-year veteran, was named to two Pro Bowl teams during his time with the Indianapolis Colts, and he signed with the Bills this off-season.

Davis later posted a statement on Instagram confirming his retirement.

Kansas City Chiefs 42, Pittsburgh Steelers 37

Patrick Mahomes came into the season with a big arm and a lot of potential. Through two weeks it appears he plans to deliver on that potential as he has more touchdown passes at this point in the season than any quarterback ever.

Mahomes, a 22-year-old in his second season, threw for 326 yards and six touchdowns in the Kansas City Chiefs’ 42-37 road win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, further cementing that the team was right to trade Alex Smith. The incredible game by Mahomes, which generated a nearly-perfect passer rating of 154.8, left him with 10 touchdown passes, and no interceptions, so far this season.

While Mahomes’s big day was certainly something to be excited about, especially with the touchdowns going to five different receivers, there was some cause for concern in how much the Chiefs’ defense let Pittsburgh stay in the game. Initially up 21-0 in the first quarter, the Chiefs let the Steelers tie the game by halftime. Mahomes’s 5-yard touchdown to Sammy Watkins got the lead back up to 42-28 late in the third quarter, but a safety, a fumble and a rushing touchdown by Ben Roethlisberger got the lead all the way down to 5 points in the game’s final minute.

Mahomes was drafted out of Texas Tech with the 10th pick of last year’s draft. Based on what he had shown in practice, and in the final game of last year’s regular season, Kansas City decided to trade Smith, who had gone 50-26 for the team over five seasons, to Washington.

Moving to such an inexperienced quarterback came with some risk, but Mahomes’s 10 touchdown passes through the first two weeks of the season broke the previous record of nine that was shared by and Charley Johnson of the Chicago Cardinals (1965), Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints (2009) and Peyton Manning of the Denver Broncos (2013).

Minnesota Vikings 29, Green Bay Packers 29

Many thought an N.F.C. North rivalry matchup between Green Bay and Minnesota would come down to the left leg of Aaron Rodgers, but instead it was the right legs of Mason Crosby and Daniel Carlson that decided the final score, with the place-kickers of both teams missing field goal attempts that could have won the game late in what ended in a 29-29 tie.

The unsatisfying final result underplayed the excitement in a game that stumbled along for three quarters before turning into a nail-biter.

At the start of the fourth quarter, the Packers were up, 13-7, and would eventually stretch that lead to 20-7, but Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins was undeterred. The free agent addition, who was brought in to replace Case Keenum, threw for 134 yards and three touchdowns in the fourth quarter alone, and his 22-yard pass to Adam Thielen and 2-point conversion pass to Stefon Diggs with 31 seconds left to play evened the score.

With time on the clock, and needing just a field goal to win, Rodgers seemed to have a situation tailor-made for leading another game-winning drive. But after taking the Packers 41 yards to Minnesota’s 34-yard line, he had to leave the game in Crosby’s hands. The 12-year veteran at kicker, who already had five field goals in the game, initially made what appeared to be a game-winning 52-yard field goal, but thanks to a savvy Vikings timeout, Crosby had to make a second attempt, missing wide-left as time expired.

Momentum seemed to favor Minnesota, with the Vikings getting the ball to start overtime, but after they stalled out at Green Bay’s 31-yard line, Carlson came out and missed from 49 yards. After a Packers punt, Carlson got yet another chance, this one from 35 yards, and the strong-legged kicker missed wide-right as time expired.

It was often painful to watch Rodgers try to move on the knee, which he injured in the first half of last week’s win over Chicago. He repeatedly had to settle for short passes underneath coverage, rather than his typical downfield attack, and because of that generated just 281 yards despite having completed 30 of his 42 passes.

He had one play in overtime where he tried to roll out to his right and simply lost control of the ball, helping the drive stall out. But he also set up a few key plays with careful movement behind the line of scrimmage, and even ran for a first down at one point.

Cousins, who was brought in to get the Vikings through big games like these, had 425 passing yards and four touchdowns, doing most of his best work when the game was on the line. He did throw an interception in the fourth quarter, however, which helped set up a Packers field goal.

The Vikings will get a chance to rebound from the tie when they host the struggling Buffalo Bills next week, while Green Bay will go on the road to face Alex Smith and the Washington Redskins.

In Case You Missed It

• It was a mostly forgettable game between the Tennessee Titans and Houston Texans, but some N.F.L. history was made when Kevin Byard, a third-year safety, threw a 66-yard touchdown pass which was the longest ever recorded by a defensive player. Byard set up as a blocker on a punt attempt in the first quarter, and after the ball was snapped directly to him, he threw a left-handed strike to the rookie wide receiver Dane Cruikshank who made a nice move in the open field to get into the end zone. Byard’s flat-footed toss broke the previous record of 13 yards which was set by Ed Meador, a defensive back for the Los Angeles Rams, in 1967.

• Frank Gore ran for just 25 yards in Miami’s 20-12 victory over the Jets, but that was enough to push him past Curtis Martin for fourth place on the N.F.L.’s career rushing list. The 35-year-old Gore now trails only Emmitt Smith, Walter Payton and Barry Sanders, and while he is unlikely to get the 1,157 he would need to pass Sanders for third place, he has a chance to leapfrog both Sanders and LaDainian Tomlinson on the career yards-from-scrimmage list if he can stay healthy this season.

• The Saints barely escaped with a home win over the Cleveland Browns, but Michael Thomas continued his hot start to the season, with 12 receptions. He has 28 through two games, passing Andre Rison’s 26 in 1994 for the most by a player through the first two games of the season.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27, Philadelphia Eagles 21

If it seemed unlikely for Ryan Fitzpatrick to throw for more than 400 yards and four touchdowns last week, then what were the odds that he would do it again a week later, this time against the defending Super Bowl champions?

That is just what the 14-year veteran quarterback did in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ surprising 27-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.

Fitzpatrick, who is filling in for the suspended Jameis Winston, got things started against Philadelphia with a 75-yard touchdown pass to the former Eagle, DeSean Jackson, on the first play of the game, and ended up completing 27 of 33 passes for 402 yards. He was intercepted once, holding his passer rating down to 144.4 a week after he registered a 156.3.

While it is unlikely that a quarterback controversy is brewing in Tampa Bay, Fitzpatrick has certainly made his mark on the team with the best two-game stretch of his career. Similarly, Nick Foles, who won a Super Bowl Most Valuable Player award in place of Carson Wentz last year, has performed well enough for Philadelphia, with a Week 1 win and a solid comeback attempt this week, but will likely head to the bench whenever Wentz is cleared to return.

Browns kicker Zane Gonzalez, center, had a rough day Sunday against New Orleans, missing multiple extra points and field goals in a game Cleveland had a chance to win.

Derick E. Hingle/USA Today Sports, via Reuters

Be Glad You’re Not a Kicker

It’s been a long day for kickers so far:

Cleveland Browns vs. New Orleans Saints

• Browns kicker Zane Gonzalez missed two extra points, including one with just over a minute left in the game that would have broken a tie, a 44-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter and a 52-yarder that could have forced overtime.

Minnesota Vikings vs. Green Bay Packers

•The Vikings successfully iced Packers kicker Mason Crosby at the end of regulation, nullifying his good 52-yard field goal and locking his subsequent miss. But the angry fingers are pointing at …

• Vikings kicker Daniel Carlson who missed two — two! — field goals in overtime. The second attempt would have won the game; instead the Vikings had to settle for a tie.

Falcons Safety Ejected After Scary Hit on Cam Newton

Atlanta Falcons safety Damontae Kazee was ejected in the second quarter of Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers after a frightening late hit on Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton.

Newton was sliding when Kazee dove in for the tackle, striking Newton in the head. The Panthers quarterback was (somehow) able to return for the next play, and finished the day 32 of 45 for 335 passing yards, with three touchdowns and one interception. He also had 42 yards on the ground.

The Panthers went on to lose the game, 24-31.

Miami Dolphins 20, New York Jets 12

Ryan Tannehill threw two touchdown passes, Kenyan Drake ran for a score and the Miami Dolphins took advantage of several mistakes by Sam Darnold and the New York Jets for a 20-12 victory.

T.J. McDonald and Xavien Howard each intercepted the Jets’ rookie quarterback, helping the Dolphins to their first 2-0 start to a season since 2013.

[Read our game report from the Jets’ home opener here.]

Tannehill finished 17 of 23 for 168 yards and also ran for 44 yards on eight carries for the Dolphins, coming off a win in the longest N.F.L. game since 1970 merger by outlasting Tennessee in 7 hours, 8 minutes last Sunday.

With the Jets (1-1) holding on to hopes for a late comeback, Frank Gore — who earlier passed Curtis Martin for fourth on the NFL’s career rushing list — took a short pass and gained 19 yards on third-and-19 to effectively seal the win.

Darnold was 25 of 41 for 334 yards and a touchdown with the two interceptions in his second N.F.L. start, but struggled to get the offense moving throughout the day.

— AP

N.F.L. Week 2 Top Story Lines

• The Jacksonville Jaguars have a defense that excels at every level, home field advantage, and some momentum from a Week 1 victory, which had them in an ideal position to give the New England Patriots quite a fight in a rematch of last season’s A.F.C. championship game. Things could get complicated, though, as a result of significant injuries on both offense and defense.

• The seven new head coaches in the N.F.L. this season combined to go 0-7 in Week 1, with none seemingly falling on their face harder than Jon Gruden, the Super Bowl-winning coach who was lured back to the game by Oakland’s Mark Davis (and $100 million) and then watched as his team fell apart in the second half of a 20-point loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Gruden’s Raiders are on the road for a division rivalry game against Denver, so a better bet to be the first of the new coaches to get a win would be Tennessee’s Mike Vrabel (at home against Houston) or Chicago’s Matt Nagy (at home against Seattle).

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