Confetti from an NFL weekend
First-place Falcons? Sub-,500 Rams?
Atlanta 37, Carolina 34 (OT)
— After he hauled in P.J. Walker’s brilliant 62-yard touchdown passes with :12 to go to tie the Falcons, D.J. Moore removed his helmet as he stepped behind the end zone. That, on most levels of football, is a penalty. It meant Eddy Piniero had to handle a 47-yard game-winning extra point attempt, which he missed, and thus the Falcons (4-4) were granted an overtime. Marcus Mariota’s interception nearly messed that up, but Piniero botched a 32-yarder, and Atlanta eventually prevailed to take the NFC South lead.
— Hats off to the Falcons, who got a 20-for-27 performance from Mariota and now look pretty smart for cutting the cord with quarterback Matt Ryan in the off-season.
— The Panthers (2-6) have fired coach Matt Rhule and traded Christian McCaffrey but have accelerated their effort. Thanks to D’Onta Foreman, they’ve had their two best rushing games of the season without McCaffey, now with San Francisco.
Philadelphia 35, Pittsburgh 13
— Avert your eyes, Joe Greene and James Harrison. The Chiffon Curtain took another shellacking up front, as the Eagles (8-0) had six sacks, 11 quarterback hits, two takeaways and seven tackles for loss. Afterward, rookie QB Kenny Pickett suggested that his teammates get busier at studying film.
— The Steelers are 4-for-12 in the red zone in the past four games and haven’t forced a turner in their past three. They are 2-6, and their two wins were by three in overtime (at Cincinnati) and two (Tampa Bay). They have not scored more than 23 points in any game.
— The Eagles (8-0) play Houston Thursday night as their fans start calculating their chances at a perfect season. They do go to Dallas and play the Giants twice, and this is the egalitarian NFL, but if Jalen Hurts keeps posting 140 QB ratings with four TDs and no picks, it might happen.
San Francisco 31, L.A. Rams 14
— Christian McCaffrey scored touchdowns by passing, rushing and catching, the first to do that since the Chargers’ LaDainian Tomlinson 13 years ago. But Jimmy Garoppolo continued his fine play against the Rams, going 21 for 25 with a 132.5 QB rating. San Francisco, getting healthier, is 4-4 going into a bye.
— The Rams’ longest run of the day was six yards, by Darrell Henderson. Their longest play of any kind was 23 yards, but L.A. is averaging 3.3 yards per carry, second-worst in the league.
— Aaron Donald was credited with no quarterback hits in this game, although Leonard Flyd picked up his first two sacks of the season for the Super Bowl champs, who are 3-4.
New England 22, N.Y. Jets 17
— The Patriots (4-4) went with Matt Jones at quarterback and got one offensive touchdown out of it, and the Jets had 13 tackles for loss. Three field goals of 49 or more yards by Nick Folk helped New England’s cause, six days after a dreadful home loss to the Bears.
— The Jets (5-3 with Buffalo next) missed Breese Hall (knee, out for season) as much as they feared, with 51 rush yards on 15 tries. Although Zach Wilson got 355 yards out of his 41 throws, three of those passes went to the Patriots.
— Bill Belichick, 70, now has more wins than anyone but Don Shula. He broke a tie with George Halas, who once coached Belichick’s dad Steve. Belichick’s 325th was also his 13th consecutive over the Jets. Shula had 347. If the Patriots go 9-8, Belichick will have 330, which means he can pass Shula with two more 9-8 seasons.
Seattle 27, N.Y. Giants 13
— Not even an interference penalty on coach Pete Carroll, who collided with an official on the Seattle sideline, could keep the Seahawks from rolling to a 5-3 record atop the NFC West.
— The Giants (5-2) could only scratch out 2.8 yards per carry against the Seahawks, although they won the time of possession battle for the fifth consecutive week.
— Geno Smith continues to rewrite his story, as he now leads the NFL in completion percentage (72.7) and has 13 TD passes with three picks.
Miami 31, Detroit 27
— The Dolphins are 5-3, and 4-0 in games Tua Tagovailoa has started and finished, including this one. He got the ball with 2:52 left and ended the game in the victory formation at Detroit.
— They have scored nine TDs in 11 red zone opportunities over the past four games, including Tagovailoa’s 11-yard pass to Mike Gesicki late in the third quarter that held up for the win.
— Detroit is 2-6 with six constsecutive losses, thanks to a defense that has held only one team under 27 points. The Lions have given up 32.1 points per game, worst in the league by a margin of 5.1 over the Chargers.
New Orleans 24, Las Vegas 20
— The Raiders (2-5) never thought they’d struggle offensively after they picked up Davante Adams in the off-season, but Derek Carr had a tough day with 101 yards on 26 pass attempts, and he was replaced by Jarrett Stidham. They didn’t get across midfield until two minutes remained in the fourth quarter.
— Raiders’ coach Josh McDaniels is 46, no longer the kid on the rise, and his head coaching record is now 13-22.
— Andy Dalton appears to have supplanted Jameis Winston as New Orleans’ quarterback but the story was the defense, which had given up 104 points the past three weeks. The Saints are 3-5 and, for the first time this season, did not commit a turnover.
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