NFL
Dak Prescott threw for 404 yards and four touchdowns while running for another score, and the Dallas Cowboys routed the New York Giants for the second time this season, 49-17. The victory extended their home winning streak to 12. The Cowboys won 40-0 in the opener in New Jersey. The 72-point margin was their largest in a sweep of an NFC East opponent. The previous mark was a 66-point edge against Philadelphia in 1969. The Giants were outgained 368-27 in the first half with Tommy DeVito at quarterback. He's the first undrafted rookie to start for them at quarterback in the common draft era, save for a strike-replacement game in 1987.
Jonathan Taylor ran for a first-quarter touchdown and Mac Jones threw a crucial interception in the fourth quarter and the Indianapolis Colts held on for a 10-6 win over New England Patriots in Germany. Jones was sacked five times in the first half and was replaced with backup Bailey Zappe late in the fourth quarter. Trailing 10-6, Jones drove the Patriots inside the red zone but was intercepted by Julian Blackmon on a pass intended for tight end Mike Gesicki at the 1-yard line. After eventually forcing the Colts to punt, Zappe replaced Jones with 1:52 remaining. After converting on a fourth down, Zappe attempted a fake spike, but threw into triple coverage and was picked off by Rodney Thomas to seal the game.
Josh Jacobs rushed for 116 yards, Aidan O’Connell connected with fellow rookie Michael Mayer for the game’s only touchdown, and the Las Vegas Raiders improved to 2-0 under interim coach Antonio Pierce, beating the New York Jets 16-12. The Raiders turned away two late attempts by the Jets to rally. Robert Spillane intercepted Zach Wilson’s pass at the Las Vegas 15 with 1:22 left. After the Raiders punted, Wilson’s heave to the end zone fell incomplete on the game’s final play. Jacobs ended a 14-game streak of failing to gain 100 yards, getting 27 attempts as Pierce committed to a run-first attack.
New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers says his goal is to return from a torn Achilles tendon by mid-December. That's according to NBC's Melissa Stark, who spoke to Rodgers and reported his comments during the telecast of the Jets' game at Las Vegas. Rodgers had hinted recently he hopes to return before the end of the season, but this is the most specific he has been. Rodgers suffered what was thought to be a season-ending injury in the opener against the Buffalo Bills.
Jason Myers converted his fifth field goal of the game, a 43-yarder as time expired, and the Seattle Seahawks held off the Washington Commanders 29-26. Seattle quarterback Geno Smith and Washington QB Sam Howell traded big throws and touchdown passes in the final 5 minutes, but it was Smith who had the the final chance at the victory and came through. Howell pulled Washington even at 26-26 on a 35-yard touchdown pass to Dyami Brown with 52 seconds remaining. Smith took over and made a pair of big throws to DK Metcalf to get the Seahawks into field goal range.
Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris combined for 183 yards rushing and two touchdowns and the Pittsburgh Steelers edged the Green Bay Packers 23-19. The Steelers improved to 6-3 with the win heading into a pivotal stretch that includes road games at AFC North rivals Cleveland and Cincinnati. Jordan Love threw for 289 yards and two scores for the Packers but also had two passes picked off in the final four minutes. Green Bay dropped to 3-6 with the loss.
Dustin Hopkins kicked a 40-yard field goal as time expired to cap a furious Cleveland rally in the fourth quarter, and the Browns edged the Baltimore Ravens 33-31. Cleveland trailed 31-17 before Deshaun Watson delivered the type of victory the Browns have been waiting for from their high-priced quarterback. Watson threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Moore with 8:57 remaining. Then one of Lamar Jackson’s passes caromed high into the air and was picked off by Greg Newsome II, and he returned the interception 34 yards for a TD just 41 seconds later. Still down one because of a missed extra point, Cleveland drove 58 yards for the winning kick.
Rookie C.J. Stroud directed a last-minute, game-winning drive for the second straight week, finishing with 356 yards passing and leading the Houston Texans to a 30-27 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. With the game tied at 27-all and 1:33 remaining, Stroud moved the Texans 55 yards in six plays to set up a 38-yard field goal by Matt Ammendola as time expired. Noah Brown had 172 yards receiving for the Texans and Devin Singletary ran for 150 yards and a score. Joe Burrow threw for 357 yards and two touchdowns for the Bengals but was intercepted twice in the fourth quarter.
Joshua Dobbs threw for a career-high 268 yards and contributed two touchdowns in his first start for Minnesota as the Vikings held on to beat the New Orleans Saints 27-19 for their fifth straight victory. The Vikings built a 24-point halftime lead and improved to 6-4. T.J. Hockenson outgained the Saints by himself in the first half with 10 catches for 128 yards and a score. Mekhi Blackmon and Byron Murphy had fourth-quarter interceptions of downfield heaves by Jameis Winston that ended consecutive Saints possessions. Winston replaced the injured Derek Carr in the third quarter. The Saints fell to 5-5.
Brock Purdy threw three touchdown passes, including a 66-yarder to George Kittle, and the San Francisco 49ers seemingly fixed all their woes with a cross-country trip and a 34-3 drubbing of Jacksonville that ended a three-game skid. Deebo Samuel returned from a three-game absence and added a 23-yard scoring run for the 49ers, who stopped Jacksonville’s five-game winning streak and reestablished themselves as a Super Bowl contender following a bye week. San Francisco dominated both lines of scrimmage and controlled the game from the opening drive. The Niners ran for 144 yards against one of the league’s top run defenses and sacked Trevor Lawrence five times.
Baker Mayfield threw for 278 yards and two touchdowns to help the Tampa Bay Buccaneers stop a four-game losing streak with a 20-6 victory over the Tennessee Titans. Rachaad White turned a first-quarter screen pass into a 43-yard TD. Mike Evans redeemed himself from dropping a pass in the end zone with a 22-yard scoring catch. Evans finished with six receptions for 143 yards for the Bucs. Titans rookie quarterback Will Levis was sacked four times and intercepted once while failing to get Tennessee into the end zone.
Kyler Murray threw for 249 yards and ran for a touchdown in his return from a serious knee injury, Matt Prater made a game-winning 23-yard field goal as time expired and the Arizona Cardinals snapped a six-game losing streak by beating the Atlanta Falcons 25-23. Murray made a pair of important plays on the game-winning drive. The plays provided reminders of why he was the No. 1 overall pick in 2019 and also why the Cardinals signed him to a $230.5 million contract before the 2022 season. Prater made four field goals. The Falcons have lost three straight.
Jared Goff threw for 333 yards and two touchdowns, Riley Patterson kicked a 41-yard, game-winning field goal as time expired, and the Detroit Lions prevailed in a 41-38 shootout over the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers tied it at 38-all with 3:34 remaining when Justin Herbert threw his fourth touchdown pass of the day, a 38-yarder to Keenan Allen on fourth-and-1. Goff responded by leading the Lions on a nine-play, 53-yard drive, culminating in Patterson’s kick. Amon-Ra St. Brown had 156 yards and a touchdown on eight catches for the Lions. Keenan Allen had 11 receptions for 175 yards and two TDs for the Chargers.
Five games ended with field goals in regulation Sunday, the most in one day in NFL history. The Cardinals, Browns, Seahawks, Texans and Lions each kicked a field goal as time expired. The previous high in a single day was three. Cleveland and Arizona were trailing before their kicks. Dustin Hopkins hit a 40-yarder to give the Browns a 33-31 victory at Baltimore. Matt Prater made a 23-yard field goal to lift the Cardinals to a 25-23 win over Atlanta. Seattle, Houston and Detroit were tied before their decisive field goals.
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
On Monday night football, Denver is at Buffalo tonight at 8:15
NBA
Julius Randle had 23 points, five rebounds and five assists, and the New York Knicks scored a season-high in their 129-107 win over the Charlotte Hornets Sunday. R.J. Barrett scored 24 points, Jalen Brunson had 23 points and Immanuel Quickley had 17 points. The Knicks shot a season-high 54% from the field to win their third straight game. LaMelo Ball led Charlotte with 32 points, seven rebounds and six assists, Mark Williams had 10 points and Brandon Miller had 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting before exiting with an ankle injury during the second quarter.
Mikal Bridges had 27 points and 13 rebounds, and the Brooklyn Nets recovered after blowing a 17-point lead to beat the Washington Wizards 102-94. Cam Johnson added 14 points and starting center Nic Claxton, in just his second game of the season, had 10 points and 13 rebounds to spark a huge rebounding advantage and help the Nets finish strong after they had coughed up the lead. Rookie Bilal Coulibaly, Victor Wembanyama’s teammate last season in France, had a season-high 20 points for the Wizards.
Tyrese Maxey scored a career-high 50 points, Joel Embiid had 37 points and the Philadelphia 76ers improved to 8-1 with their eighth straight victory, beating the Indiana Pacers 137-126. Maxey was 20 for 32 from the field and had seven rebounds, five assists and three blocks in the first of two straight games in Philadelphia between the teams. His previous high was 44 against Toronto on Oct. 28, 2022. Embiid had 13 rebounds in 33 minutes. The 76ers are off to their best nine-game start since opening 10-0 in 2000-01 en route to the NBA Finals. Philadelphia played without Kelly Oubre Jr. after he broke a rib when hit by a car in a hit-and-run incident. Tyrese Haliburton led Indiana with 25 points.
NHL
Alexis Lafreniere’s second goal of the game tied it with 11 seconds left in regulation, and then he had the only score in the shootout as the New York Rangers beat the Columbus Blue Jackets in a shootout, 4-3. Chris Kreider had a goal and an assist for the Metropolitan Division-leading Rangers, who are 9-0-1 in their last 10 games. Artemi Panarin had two assists to extend his season-opening point streak to 14 games. Jonathan Quick made 26 saves. Justin Danforth, Adam Fantilli and Sean Kuraly scored for Columbus, with lost its fifth straight (0-3-2). Erik Gudbranson had two assists and Elvis Merzlikins finished with 37 saves. In the tiebreaker, Lafreniere backhanded the puck past Merzlikins in the third round, and Quick denied Alexandre Texier to secure the win.
Sam Reinhart had two goals and two assists, Carter Verhaeghe got the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the Florida Panthers withstood two highlight-reel scores from rookie Connor Bedard to beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3. Oliver Ekman-Larsson had a goal and an assist for Florida. Matthew Tkachuk and Evan Rodrigues each had a pair of assists for Florida. The Panthers have won a season-high four straight and are 9-2-1 in their last 12 games.
Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston each had two goals and an assist as the Dallas Stars beat the Minnesota Wild 8-3. Matt Duchene had a goal and an assist, and Joe Pavelski, Radek Faksa and Evgenii Dadonov also scored for the Stars, who completed a perfect three-game road trip. Miro Heiskanan had three assists, Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin each had two, and Jake Oettinger stopped 24 shots. Brandon Duhaime, Vinni Lettieri and Mats Zuccarello scored for the Wild, who have lost three straight. Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves. The Stars scored five power-play goals on six chances to tie a franchise record, and also had two short-handed goals. The Wild set a new record for the most power-play goals allowed.
Conor Garland, Dakota Joshua and Brock Boeser each had a goal and an assist and the Vancouver Canucks rebounded from a loss the night before to beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-2. Ilya Mikheyev and Phillip Di Giuseppe also scored and Casey DeSmith made 30 saves to help Vancouver — a 5-2 loser in Toronto on Saturday night — improve to 11-3-1. Montreal traded DeSmith to Vancouver in September. Filip Hronek had an assist to become the fourth Vancouver defenseman with a double-digit points streak. NHL points leader Elias Pettersson was held off the scoresheet to end his eight-game streak. Mike Matheson and Arber Xhekaj scored for Montreal, a night after the Canadiens beat Boston 3-2 in overtime at home. Jake Allen made 31 saves.
Frank Vatrano scored twice in the first period and the Anaheim Ducks beat the San Jose Sharks 4-1. Mason McTavish and Radko Gudas also scored, John Gibson made 25 saves and the Ducks ended a two-game losing streak and won for the seventh time in nine games. Vatrano’s goals increased his team lead to 11 and gave him three multi-goal games to go along with hat tricks Oct. 15 at home against Carolina and Oct. 28 at Pittsburgh. Luke Kunin scored for the Sharks, while Mackenzie Blackwood made 40 saves. San Jose has lost two straight after getting its first two wins of the season following an 0-10-1 start. San Jose dropped to 0-7 on the road and has totaled four goals away from home.
MLS
Columbus scored three goals in the first 33 minutes and the Crew advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals with a 4-2 victory over Atlanta United in the rubber match of a first-round MLS Cup series. Columbus (17-9-9) upped its unbeaten streak at home in all competitions to 17, but the third-seeded Crew will hit the road for a semifinal matchup with No. 2 seed Orlando City on Nov. 25. Top-seeded FC Cincinnati will host the fourth-seeded Philadelphia Union in the other semifinal, also on Nov. 25. The Crew hit the ground running against Atlanta United, grabbing the lead in the 9th minute on an unassisted goal by Darlington Nagbe. It was Nagbe’s third career postseason goal and his second with the Crew.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Final (19)North Carolina 90 Lehigh 68
Final (20)Baylor 77 Gardner-Webb 62
Final Weber St. 61 (23)Saint Mary's (Cal.) 57
Saniya Rivers had a career-best 33 points to go with 10 rebounds and five assists to help North Carolina State stun second-ranked Connecticut 92-81 on Sunday, earning the program’s first win against the Huskies in more than a quarter-century. Aziaha James added 18 points for the Wolfpack. N.C. State ran off an 11-0 burst early in the fourth quarter to stretch out a double-digit margin in what had otherwise been a tense tussle. Preseason Associated Press All-American Paige Bueckers scored 27 points for UConn, while Aaliyah Edwards added 21.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Texas A&M fired coach Jimbo Fisher on Sunday, a move that will cost the school $75 million. The move ends a tenure that began six years ago with the Aggies presenting him an engraved national championship trophy missing only the year. Fisher was lured away from Florida State, where he had won a national championship in 2013, by a massive 10-year, fully guaranteed contract at the end of the 2017 season. The deal was extended back to 10 years after the 2020 season.
Georgia extended its streak of weeks being top-ranked in the AP Top 25 to 22, giving the Bulldogs the second-longest run of being No. 1 in the history of the college football poll. The Bulldogs received 54 first-place votes. Georgia broke a tie with Miami, which made 21 straight appearances at No. 1 from 2001-02. The longest No. 1 streak belongs to Southern California. The Trojans spent 33 straight polls at No. 1 from 2003-2005. The entire top eight of this week’s Top 25 remained unchanged, with No. 2 Michigan receiving seven first-place votes and No. 3 Ohio State getting one. Louisville and Oregon State entered the top 10.
TENNIS
Novak Djokovic has secured the year-end top ranking for a record-extending eighth time. Djokovic needed only one match win at the ATP Finals to be sure of keeping the No. 1 spot and the 24-time Grand Slam champion did it in his opener by beating Holger Rune 7-6 (4), 6-7 (1), 6-3. The 36-year-old Djokovic had already moved ahead of previous record holder Pete Sampras two years ago. Sampras finished No. 1 six times. Carlos Alcaraz of Spain took the honors last year. Djokovic has won 19 straight matches since his five-set loss to Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final in July. Jannik Sinner beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-4 in an earlier match.
SKIING
American skier Mikaela Shiffrin has won a women’s World Cup slalom after first-run leader Petra Vlhova looked set for a clear victory until straddling a gate and not finishing her final run. Vlhova extended her lead of 0.76 seconds over Shiffrin from the opening leg to more than a second when the Slovakian failed to clear a gate in the steep section midway down the Levi Black course. Shiffrin finished 0.18 ahead of Leona Popovic of Croatia and 0.30 ahead of third-placed Lena Duerr of Germany. Shiffrin says Vlhova “earned this victory today. Actually, that was really bad luck for her.”
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