Jonas Gray
Jonas Gray rushed for 199 yards and a franchise-record four touchdowns in his fourth career game, leading the New England Patriots to a 42-20 victory over the Indianapolis Colts yesterday.
Tom Brady threw two TD passes as the AFC-best Patriots (8-2) earned their sixth consecutive victory, and finished with 19 of 30 for 257 yards with two interceptions.
Colts quarterback Andrew Luck was 23 of 39 for 303 yards with two scores. He extended his franchise record of consecutive 300-yard games to eight and moved within one of Drew Brees’ NFL record.
But the unheralded Gray was the surprise star. His first two scoring runs gave New England a 14-10 halftime lead. His other two helped put the game away in the second half. Brady sealed it with a late TD pass to Rob Gronkowski.
The St. Louis Rams defense made life miserable for Peyton Manning in a 22-7 victory over the AFC West-leading Denver Broncos, and Shaun Hill was effective in his first start since regaining the quarterback job.
Rookie Tre Mason had 29 carries for 113 yards, the most allowed by the Broncos’ top-ranked run defense.
Kenny Britt had four catches for 128 yards with a 63-yard score and Greg Zuerlein was a career-best 5 for 5 on field goals for the Rams (4-6).
Manning was 34 for 54 for 389 yards with two interceptions, but was held to a 42-yard touchdown pass to Emmanuel Sanders, ending a streak of 15 consecutive games with at least two touchdown passes.
At Glendale, Drew Stanton threw touchdown passes to Michael Floyd on Arizona’s first two possessions and the Cardinals held Detroit without a touchdown, beating the Lions 14-6 in a matchup of teams with two of the best records in the NFC.
Arizona won its sixth in a row to improve to an NFL-best 9-1. The Cardinals, with their best record through 10 games since 1948, have a three-game lead over Seattle and San Francisco in the NFC West.
The Kansas City Chiefs won a fifth straight game, stopping Seattle on fourth down three times late in the fourth quarter and holding on for a tense 24-20 victory in a matchup of playoff contenders.
At Cleveland, J.J. Watt caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Mallett, dominated on defense and Houston climbed back to .500 with a win a 23-7 win over the Browns. Along with his TD, Watt recorded a strip sack, made five tackles — three for a loss — recovered a fumble and hurried Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer.
The Packers had a 53-20 win over the Eagles, who were held to 11 points below their NFC-leading scoring average by a defense rejuvenated since Clay Matthews moved to inside linebacker.
In other games, the 49ers beat the Giants 16-10 to send New York to its fifth straight loss, the Bengals beat the Saints 27-10, the Bears won for just the second time in seven games — overcoming two of the worst blowout losses in the club’s history — with a 21-13 victory over the Vikings.
Atlanta moved into a share of first place in the NFC South with a 19-17 win over the Panthers, the Charges beat the Raiders 13-6, extending Oakland’s losing streak to 16, and Mike Evans led the Buccaneers to a 27-7 win over Washington.
Evans caught seven passes for 209 yards and scored two touchdowns, becoming the first rookie to post three consecutive 100-yard games with at least one touchdown in each since Randy Moss in 1998. AP
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