The Kansas City Chiefs' long unbeaten run finally came to
an end at the hands of the Buffalo Bills in one of a number of statement wins
in the NFL on Sunday.
After 15 straight wins the defending Super Bowl champions
were outplayed in Buffalo as the Bills deservedly ran out 30-21 winners.
The Pittsburgh Steelers were also big winners as they beat
arch rivals Baltimore despite not scoring a touchdown.
The Detroit Lions scored a half century against lowly
Jacksonville as they continue to look the stand out side in the NFC, while the
Green Bay Packers defeated Chicago on the last play of the game.
Bills end Chiefs' perfect start
Right from intercepting Patrick Mahomes' first pass of the
game, Buffalo looked the better side as they moved just a game behind their big
rivals in the race for the AFC play-offs top seed.
Mahomes kept the Chiefs in it with three touchdown passes,
but just as they threatened yet another escapology act Bills quarterback Josh
Allen took the game into his own hands and settled it with a barnstorming
26-yard touchdown run.
That makes four straight regular season wins over the Chiefs
for Buffalo, who have lost three play-off meetings between the sides in the
past four years.
This was a more controlled and complete performance than
usual by the Bills, without Allen having to do everything by himself and a
sixth successive victory takes them to nine wins and two losses.
It was also a rare convincing defeat of Kansas City - their
first by more than a score since October 2021 - as they finish the weekend 9-1.
Buffalo kept Mahomes' offence to a season-low 259 yards and
scored 30 points against a Chiefs defence that had gone 30 games without
conceding that many.
Steelers defence bottles up Baltimore
Also hot on the Chiefs' heels are Pittsburgh, who showed why
they may just have the best defence in the league. They shackled Lamar
Jackson's top-ranked offence to beat Baltimore in a tight affair.
Jackson only generated one touchdown himself, just over a
minute before the end, but could not then run in a two-point conversion as the
Ravens lost 18-16.
Kicker Chris Boswell booted six field goals to score all 18
points for Pittsburgh, who have now won eight of the past nine against their
big division rivals.
But two-time NFL most valuable player Jackson has just one
win in five games against a Steelers side he just cannot figure out. And the
Ravens' inability to win tight low-scoring games continued. All four of their
defeats this season have come in matches in which they failed to score 25
points.
The Steelers, meanwhile, improve to 8-2 to take control of
the AFC North but will want to see more out of Russell Wilson and the offence.
Lions rout Jags & Packers pip Bears
The Detroit Lions are looking unstoppable in the NFC as they
recorded the biggest win in their history with a 52-6 rout of the Jacksonville
Jaguars - who suffered their heaviest defeat as they slumped to 2-9.
Jared Goff threw a career-worst five interceptions last week
but responded with 412 yards, four touchdown passes and a perfect passer rating
as the Lions made it eight wins in a row to move to 9-1.
It is their best start to a season since 1934 as Dan
Campbell's side reinforced their position as the NFC favourites to make what
would be their first ever Super Bowl.
The NFL's most-played rivalry saw the Green Bay Packers win
in their 209th game against the Chicago Bears thanks to a blocked field goal on
the final play.
Rookie Caleb Williams did all the hard work with a great
drive to set-up the field goal, but Green Bay got a hand on it to earn a 20-19
victory and an 11th straight win over the Bears.
The Minnesota Vikings won their third in a row - 23-13 over
the Tennessee Titans - to go 8-2 and remain a game behind Detroit and one ahead
of Green Bay in the tough NFC North.
Is the end in sight for Aaron Rodgers?
The Aaron Rodgers fairytale in New York seems over as the
Jets lost 28-27 against the Indianapolis Colts to slip to 3-8 and all-but out
of play-off contention.
Rodgers lost his first season with the Jets to an Achilles
tendon injury, but this one is not much improvement and it will take a huge
turnaround after their bye week to salvage something from this position.
In contrast to the 40-year-old oldest quarterback in the
league, Anthony Richardson is the second youngest in the NFL at the age of 22
and has given his side play-off hopes by dragging his team to 5-6.
It could also be curtains for the Cincinnati Bengals who
again showed plenty of heart and ability but yet again came up short against
the Los Angeles Chargers to slump to 4-7.
Joe Burrow led a 21-point second-half comeback but a late
missed field goal gave the Chargers the chance to win it and JK Dobbins rushed
for a 29-yard touchdown 18 seconds from the end to seal a 34-27 victory. LA are
now 7-3 for the season.
NFL Week 11 round-up - QBs come up big
Geno Smith scored a dramatic late touchdown with just 12
seconds left to give Seattle a surprise 20-17 win in San Francisco and leave
the 49ers bottom of the NFC West.
They both sit on 5-5 though, as do the Los Angeles Rams
after Matthew Stafford threw four touchdown passes to help them beat the New
England Patriots 28-22.
Denver look to have found their franchise quarterback if
rookie Bo Nix continues his recent form. Nix tossed four touchdowns as the
Broncos battered Atlanta 38-6 to improve to 6-5.
The most versatile man in the NFL, Taysom Hill, had an
extraordinary game with three touchdown runs and 248 combined yards from also
acting as a receiver, passer and returner - all of which helped the New Orleans
Saints beat Cleveland 35-14.
Tua Tagovailoa threw three touchdowns as Miami moved to 4-6
by beating Las Vegas 34-19 to cling to their play-off hopes.
