EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Andy Dalton got hit hard by the New York Jets, early and often. In the end, the quarterback and the rest of the Cincinnati Bengals were the ones standing.
Mike Nugent kicked a 47-yard field goal with 54 seconds left, lifting the Bengals to a back-and-forth 23-22 season-opening victory Sunday.
Dalton threw for 366 yards and a touchdown, but was sacked a career-high 7 times by the Jets, including 2½ by Leonard Williams and two by Steve McLendon.
“Any time you can get a win on the road, you’ve got to take these games,” Dalton said. “This one was big.”
A.J. Green caught 12 passes for 180 yards, mostly against Darrelle Revis to help the Bengals beat the Jets for the first time in 10 meetings in New Jersey.
Josh Shaw sealed the victory with an interception of Ryan Fitzpatrick in the closing seconds, helping Cincinnati improve to 7-7 in openers under Coach Marvin Lewis.
Nick Folk kicked a goahead 23-yard field goal with 3:23 remaining, but Dalton marched the Bengals downfield for the winning drive. The first missed extra point in Folk’s career and a blocked 22-yard attempt came back to haunt the Jets.
Dalton finished 23 of 30 with the TD and an interception, and Jeremy Hill ran for 31 yards and a touchdown. The Bengals took the lead in the third quarter when Hill bulldozed his way up the middle for a 12-yard TD run.
The Jets drove to the Bengals 1 on their next possession, but stalled, leaving it to Folk to kick a 20-yard field goal to make it 20-19. After Nugent, a former Jet, was wide right on a 52-yard attempt, the Jets drove down the field and went ahead on Folk’s go-ahead 23-yarder.
Fitzpatrick finished 19 of 35 for 189 yards and touchdown passes to Quincy Enunwa and Eric Decker. The Jets were hurt by drives sputtering in the red zone and having to settle for field-goal attempts rather than touchdowns.
EAGLES 29, BROWNS 10 Carson Wentz had 278 yards passing and two touchdowns in a stellar NFL debut and the host Eagles beat Robert Griffin III and the Browns. Promoted from No. 3 quarterback to starter just eight days ago, the No. 2 overall pick from North Dakota State looked like a franchise player. Wentz played mistake-free football despite missing the last three preseason games with injured ribs. He finished 22 of 37 with a 101.0 passer rating. A new quarterback (Griffin) and new coach (Hue Jackson) couldn’t help the Browns avoid losing their opener for the 12th consecutive season. Wentz threw a 19-yard TD pass to Jordan Matthews on the opening drive and tossed a perfect 35-yard TD pass down the right side to Nelson Agholor for a 22-10 lead in the third quarter.
BUCCANEERS 31, FALCONS 24 Jameis Winston bounced back from an early interception to throw four touchdown passes, and visiting Tampa Bay claimed a winning record for the first time since 2012 by opening the season with a victory over the Falcons. Winston began his second year as a pro by going 23 of 33 for 281 yards in the matchup between NFC South rivals. He hooked up with receiver Mike Evans, running back Charles Sims III and tight ends Austin Sefarian-Jenkins and Brandon Myers on scoring plays. The Falcons grabbed a 10-3 lead late in the first quarter after Winston’s pass for Vincent Jackson was picked off by Desmond Trufant, who returned it 13 yards to the Tampa Bay 9.
VIKINGS 25, TITANS 16 Eric Kendricks returned an interception 77 yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter and Danielle Hunter scored a 24-yard TD off a fumble return and the visiting Vikings beat the Titans. The Vikings forced three turnovers in the span of just under seven minutes and also had two sacks. The defending NFC North champs needed the help from their defense to score 25 consecutive points after being shut out in the first half and Adrian Peterson, the NFL’s 2015 rushing leader, being smothered.
PACKERS 27, JAGUARS 23 Aaron Rodgers threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score, leading the visiting Packers to a victory against the Jaguars. Rodgers looked every bit like, well, a two-time league MVP. He extended plays with his feet, escaped sacks and had precision accuracy all over the field. He completed 20 of 34 passes for 199 yards, with TD passes to Jordy Nelson and Davante Adams. He was sacked once and didn’t turn it over. He helped the Packers win their second opener in the last five years.
RAVENS 13, BILLS 7 The host Ravens used a touchdown pass by Joe Flacco, two field goals and a throwback defensive performance to beat the Bills. Against former defensive coordinator Rex Ryan, now Buffalo’s head coach, the Ravens limited the Bills to 160 yards and sacked Tyrod Taylor twice. Returning from a knee injury that ended his season last November, Flacco went 23 for 34 for 258 yards, including a 66-yard touchdown pass to newcomer Mike Wallace in the second quarter that put the Ravens ahead for good.
TEXAS 23, BEARS 14 Brock Osweiler threw for 231 yards and two touchdowns in his debut with host Houston to lead the Texans and their revamped offense over the Bears. Osweiler, who signed a $72 million contract from Denver in the offseason, was helped by an offense filled with playmakers. He completed passes to eight different receivers, led by rookie first-round pick Will Fuller, who became the first Texans player to have 100 yards receiving in a debut with 107 and a touchdown. DeAndre Hopkins added 54 yards and a score and running back Lamar Miller had 106 yards rushing in his first game with the Texans.
SEAHAWKS 12, DOLPHINS 10 Hobbled by an ankle injury, Russell Wilson pulled off another fourth-quarter comeback, throwing a 2-yard touchdown pass to Doug Baldwin with 31 seconds left, giving host Seattle a victory. The Seahawks flawed offensively and buckled defensively in the fourth quarter, giving up an 86-yard touchdown drive to Ryan Tannehill that gave the Dolphins a 10-6 lead with 4:08 remaining. That’s when Wilson went to work, playing on a right ankle that twisted badly in the third quarter as he was sacked by Ndamukong Suh. Seattle converted fourthand-1 early in the drive on a 7-yard run by Christine Michael, but the big play was Wilson finding Baldwin for 22 yards on a crossing route on fourth-and-4 near midfield. Wilson hit Baldwin in the corner of the end zone to give Seattle the lead.
LIONS 39, COLTS 35 Matthew Stafford took advantage of one last chance Sunday and Matt Prater redeemed himself with a 43-yard field goal with eight seconds to give visiting Detroit the victory. Prater missed an extra point wide right with 4:04 left in the season opener, a miscue that nearly cost the Lions. Detroit won for only the second time in Indy, and it came 37 seconds after it looked like Andrew Luck had rallied the Colts for an improbable last-minute victory. Stafford was 31 of 39 for 340 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.
PATRIOTS 23, CARDINALS 21 Jimmy Garoppolo, starting in place of suspended Tom Brady, threw for 264 yards and a touchdown, leading the severely depleted New England Patriots to a road victory over Arizona. Arizona’s Chandler Catanzaro missed a 47-yard field goal with 41 seconds to play. The miss came after Garoppolo, in his first NFL start, directed the Patriots from their own 19 to the Arizona 15 to set up Stephen Gostkowski’s 23-yard field goal with 3:44 to play. Garappolo completed 24 of 33 passes with no interceptions. Arizona’s Carson Palmer threw for 271 yards and two touchdowns, both to Larry Fitzgerald. Not only were the Patriots without Brady, suspended for his role in Deflategate, but they also didn’t have tight end Rob Gronkowski, defensive end Rob Ninkovich and two starters on the offensive line.
Standings
Sports on 09/12/2016