The Associated Press
LANDOVER, Md. — Alfred Morris scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 4-yard run with under five minutes left Sunday, leading the Dallas Cowboys to a 27-23 victory over his former team, the Redskins, after Washington’s Kirk Cousins threw an end-zone interception.
With rookie quarterback Dak Prescott looking poised throughout and scrambling for a 6-yard TD run in the second half, Dallas (1-1) won for only the second time in its past 16 games without the injured Tony Romo — and both of those victories came at Washington (0-2).
Prescott finished 22 for 30 for 292 yards.
Morris was drafted by Washington in 2012 and played his first four seasons there. But his role was reduced last year and he was allowed to leave as a free agent.
His first TD in a Cowboys uniform capped an 80-yard drive that started when Barry Church picked off a pass from Cousins intended for Pierre Garcon.
Cousins went 28 for 46 for 364 yards, with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Jamison Crowder in the third quarter that gave Washington its first lead, 17-13 in the third quarter.
Washington led 23-20 and appeared on its way to adding to the margin after Cousins began a drive by completing a 57-yard pass to rookie Josh Doctson. But on third-and-goal at the 6 with 10 1/2 minutes left, Cousins put the ball right in Church’s gut.
Steelers 24, Bengals 16
PITTSBURGH — Ben Roethlisberger threw for 259 yards and three touchdowns to offset a pair of interceptions and the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Cincinnati Bengals 24-16 on Sunday.
DeAngelo Williams churned out 94 yards on a career-high 32 carries and added a 4-yard touchdown grab with 6:48 remaining to give the Steelers all the breathing room they would need. Tight ends Jesse James and Xavier Grimble also caught scoring passes from Roethlisberger as the Steelers (2-0) kept Cincinnati in check at rainy Heinz Field.
Andy Dalton passed for 366 yards and a touchdown but needed 31 completions to reach that total, working almost exclusively on dump offs to running backs and tight ends while Pittsburgh clamped down on star wide receiver A.J. Green, who had just two receptions for 38 yards.
Ravens 25, Browns 20
CLEVELAND — Joe Flacco threw two touchdown passes to wide receiver Mike Wallace and the Baltimore Ravens rallied from a 20-point deficit and beat the Cleveland Browns 25-20 on Sunday.
Justin Tucker kicked three field goals — the last with 2:56 left — and the Ravens (2-0), who trailed 20-0 in the first quarter, withstood Cleveland’s final drive.
Ravens linebacker C.J. Mosley intercepted Browns quarterback Josh McCown at the goal line with 13 seconds left to seal the win.
Baltimore was a point from trailing by three touchdowns in the opening quarter before blocking an extra point and returning it for two points and igniting the comeback.
McCown stayed in the game despite an injured left shoulder for the Browns (0-2), who were hurt by a missed field goal and three costly penalties in the fourth quarter.
Patriots 31, Dolphins 24
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Jimmy Garoppolo had three, first-half touchdown passes before leaving in the second quarter with a right shoulder injury as the New England Patriots outlasted the Miami Dolphins (0-2) 31-24 on Sunday.
Garroppolo ended his day 18 of 27 for 234 yards and the three scores for the Patriots (2-0)
He was replaced by rookie Jacoby Brissett, who led a touchdown drive on its first possession of the second half. Brissett was 6 of 9 for 92 yards. LeGarrette Blount rushed 29 times for 123 yards and a touchdown.
Texans 19, Chiefs 12
HOUSTON — DeAndre Hopkins had 113 yards receiving and a touchdown and Nick Novak kicked four field goals, helping the Houston Texans to a 19-12 win over the Kansas City Chiefs (1-1) on Sunday.
Novak connected from 32, 24, 31 and 43 yards for the Texans.
Cairo Santos made three field goals in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 19-12, but Houston (2-0) recovered the onside kick with less than a minute left to seal the victory.
Titans 16, Lions 15
DETROIT — Marcus Mariota converted a fourth down with a perfectly lofted 9-yard pass to Andre Johnson with 1:13 left, lifting the Tennessee Titans to a 16-15 win over the Detroit Lions on Sunday.
The Titans (1-1) ended a five-game losing streak, dating to last December, after Mariota threw two TD passes in the fourth quarter after trailing 15-3.
The Lions (1-1) had an opportunity to drive for a second straight game-winning field goal, but Matthew Stafford threw an interception to Perrish Cox at midfield in the final minute.
Giants 16, Saints 13
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Eli Manning hit Victor Cruz on a third-down 34-yard pass to set up Josh Brown’s winning 23-yard field goal as time expired and the New York Giants got off to their first 2-0 start since 2009 with a 16-13 win over New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
Brown’s third field goal capped an 11-play, 70-yard drive that featured two key third-down passes by Manning and a pass interference call on a pass to Odell Beckham Jr.
The Saints (0-2) rallied to tie it twice in the fourth quarter. A 17-yard touchdown pass from Brees to Willie Snead IV evened things at 10 early in the quarter. After Brown, who returned from a one-game suspension, gave New York a 13-10 lead with a 19-yard field goal on the next series, Brees led an eight-play, 47-yard drive that ended with Will Lutz kicking a 45-yarder to tie it with 2:54 to play.
Panthers 46, 49ers 27
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Cam Newton threw for 353 yards and four touchdowns, and the Carolina Panthers (1-1) overcame four turnovers to beat the San Francisco 49ers (1-1) 46-27 on Sunday.
Newton threw two TD passes to Kelvin Benjamin and one each to Greg Olsen and Devin Funchess to pass Jake Delhomme for most TD passes in franchise history with 122.
Cardinals 40, Buccaneers 7
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Carson Palmer threw for 308 yards and three touchdowns and the Arizona Cardinals intercepted Jameis Winston four times in a 40-7 rout of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.
Marcus Cooper, acquired off waivers from Kansas City on Sept. 2, had two interceptions, returning the second 60 yards for a score. Winston also fumbled the ball away once.
Winston completed 27 for 243 yards.
Palmer completed 18 of 31 passes with no interceptions before sitting out most of the fourth quarter.
All three of Palmer’s scoring passes came in the first half,— to Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Floyd and Jaron Brown.
The Cardinals (1-1), coming off a season-opening home loss to New England, scored two touchdowns in a 1:16 span in the final two minutes of the first half for a 24-0 lead into the break.
Broncos 34, Colts 20
DENVER — Von Miller gave the Denver fans a reminder of his Super Bowl 50 MVP performance, sweeping in for the sack-strip of Andrew Luck that sealed the Broncos’ 34-20 win over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
With the Broncos clinging to a six-point lead with 1:51 remaining, Miller burst past right tackle Joe Reitz and swiped the ball from Luck’s grasp. Fellow linebacker Shane Ray scooped up the ball and returned it 15 yards for a touchdown.
Miller added a sack on the last play as the Broncos (2-0) sent the banged-up Colts limping to their third consecutive 0-2 start.
They did it by rattling Luck, who started 5 for 18 before he engineered a couple of second-half touchdown drives. Luck completed just 21 of 40 passes for 197 yards and was sacked five times.
Trevor Siemian outshone Luck, just as he did Cam Newton in the opener. He completed 22 of 33 passes for 266 yards.
Chargers 38, Jaguars 14
SAN DIEGO — Philip Rivers matched his career-high with four touchdown passes, including two to Travis Benjamin, Melvin Gordon ran for one score and had his first 100-yard game in the San Diego Chargers’ 38-14 victory against the mistake-prone Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.
The Chargers (1-1) bounced back from their stunning loss at Kansas City, when they blew a 21-point third-quarter lead and fell 33-27 in overtime.
The Jaguars started 0-2 for the fourth time in five seasons. They crossed midfield only six times and committed three turnovers.
Casey Hayward led the Chargers’ defense with two interceptions of Blake Bortles. His first set up a short drive Rivers capped with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Benjamin for a 14-0 lead on the first play of the second quarter.
Falcons 35, Raiders 28
OAKLAND, Calif. — Justin Hardy caught a deflected 8-yard touchdown pass to break a tie midway through the fourth quarter and the Atlanta Falcons held on to beat the Oakland Raiders 35-28 on Sunday.
Matt Ryan threw three TD passes, but got a little lucky on the go-ahead one in the fourth quarter. His third-down throw to Tevin Coleman was broken up, but the ball bounced high in the air and Hardy caught it in the end zone to put Atlanta (1-1) up 28-21.
The Raiders (1-1) appeared to have tied the game on the next drive when Amari Cooper caught a 51-yard touchdown pass from Derek Carr.
But officials ruled Cooper went out of bounds voluntarily before making the catch, although the Raiders contended he was pushed by Desmond Trufant.
Oakland coach Jack Del Rio then decided to go for it on fourth-and-2, but Jalen Richard was stopped on a 1-yard gain.
Del Rio had successfully gone for it on fourth-and-goal earlier in the game, leading to a 2-yard TD pass to Michael CrabtreeBut this latest gamble proved costly as Atlanta added an insurance touchdown on a 13-yard touchdown run by Tevin Coleman to deny the Raiders their first 2-0 start since their 2002 AFC championship season.
