The Latest: Patriots, 49ers stay perfect going into Week 9
The Latest on Week 8 of the NFL regular season (all times EDT):
7:40 p.m.
Both of the NFL's remaining undefeated teams will take that distinction into Week 9.
The New England Patriots beat the Cleveland Browns 27-13 in coach Bill Belichick's 300th career victory, playoffs included. The San Francisco 49ers rolled past Carolina, ending the Panthers' four-game winning streak with a 51-13 thumping.
The Patriots are 8-0, while the 49ers are 7-0 with their open week already behind them.
San Francisco is up next in trying to keep the perfect record intact, facing Arizona in an NFC West matchup Thursday night. New England plays AFC North-leading Baltimore next Sunday.
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7:20 p.m.
Kyle Allen's interceptions came in bunches once the Carolina quarterback threw the first of his career.
Allen threw three picks in a 51-13 loss to undefeated San Francisco. The last was a point-blank grab by pass rusher Nick Bosa, who returned it 46 yards to the Carolina 9 on the final play of the third quarter to set up a field goal.
The first interception of Allen's career in 160 attempts was by Emmanuel Moseley at the Panthers' 27 early in the second quarter. The 49ers converted that one into a touchdown for a 21-3 lead.
Richard Sherman had the other interception in the third quarter.
Allen finished 19 of 37 for 158 yards and no touchdowns for a 28.9 rating. The second-year player had led the Panthers to four straight victories with Cam Newton recovering from a mid-foot sprain.
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6 p.m.
The Cleveland Browns turned the ball over on three straight plays in the first quarter, leading to two Patriots scores as the undefeated defending champions opened a 17-0 lead on a wet and cold day in New England.
First, Nick Chubb coughed up the ball as he headed into the line of scrimmage at the Cleveland 23. Dont'a Hightower picked it up and ran it in for a touchdown.
After the extra point and kickoff, the Browns took over at their own 40 and on the first play Chubb broke free for 44 yards. But as Chubb approached the end zone, Jonathan Jones punched the ball out and Devin McCourty recovered at the 4.
The Cleveland defense held. But on the first play after the Patriots punted, Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield tried a shovel pass but it was intercepted by defensive end Lawrence Guy, who ran 5 yards to the 11. Two plays later Tom Brady hit Julian Edelman for a touchdown to make it 17-0.
Cleveland did make it 17-7 with a 21-yard pass from Mayfield to Demetrius Harris midway through the second quarter. That ended a 71-0 scoring streak for the Patriots over three games.
— Jimmy Golen reporting from Foxborough, Massachusetts
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5:40 p.m.
Tevin Coleman scored on a 48-yard run to become the first San Francisco 49ers player since Jerry Rice 24 years ago to score three TDs in the first half.
Coleman's long run late in the second quarter followed a 19-yard run in the first quarter and a 10-yard catch early in the second quarter to help San Francisco break out to a 27-3 halftime lead against Carolina.
Coleman is the first 49ers player with three TDs in the first half since the Hall of Famer Rice did it against Minnesota on Dec. 18, 1995.
San Francisco and New England were the only remaining unbeaten teams going into Week 8.
— Josh Dubow from Santa Clara, California
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5 p.m.
It didn't take long for Emmanuel Sanders to have an impact in his first game with San Francisco, and the receiver helped spark a fast start for the 49ers.
Sanders was acquired from Denver in a trade this past week. He caught a 4-yard scoring pass from Jimmy Garoppolo on the opening drive, and the 49ers turned the first career interception thrown by Carolina's Kyle Allen into a touchdown for a 21-3 lead over the Panthers.
Emmanuel Moseley intercepted a pass from Allen at the Panthers' 27 early in the second quarter. That was Allen's first interception in 160 career passes.
Garoppolo then hit Tevin Coleman on a 10-yard TD pass on a screen pass three plays later to give the undefeated Niners an 18-point lead.
After Sanders' TD, Coleman scored on a 19-yard run.
— Josh Dubow from Santa Clara, California
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4:40 p.m.
Cooper Kupp of the Los Angeles Rams has set a record for yards receiving in an international NFL game.
Kupp finished with a career-high 220 yards and a touchdown in the Rams' 24-10 win over the winless Cincinnati Bengals in London. The previous record was 169 yards by Denver's Brandon Lloyd against San Francisco in 2010.
Kupp scored the tiebreaking touchdown late in the second quarter on a 65-yard catch-and-run. He has 792 yards and five touchdowns on the season.
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4:20 p.m.
The NFL will have at least one winless team for at least another week.
Cincinnati dropped to 0-8 with a 24-10 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in London. Jared Goff's tiebreaking touchdown pass to Cooper Kupp late in the second quarter put the Rams ahead for good.
Miami is 0-6 going into a Monday night game at Pittsburgh.
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3:55 p.m.
Mike Evans is having quite a day against the Tennessee Titans, and has become Tampa Bay's career leader in receptions.
Evans caught a 2-yard touchdown pass early in the third quarter, giving him 431 receptions for his career. That helped him pass James Wilder (430).
Evans had the 23rd game of his career with 100 yards or more receiving by halftime, padding his team lead in that category. He had 11 catches for 198 yards and two TDs early in the fourth quarter.
— Teresa M. Walker reporting from Nashville, Tennessee
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3:40 p.m.
The Detroit Lions scored on a 41-yard flea-flicker from Matthew Stafford to Kenny Golladay to take a 31-19 lead over the New York Giants early in the fourth quarter.
Stafford pitched the ball to J.D. McKissic, who ran a bit to the right before throwing a backward pass back to Stafford. The Detroit quarterback then had time to find Golladay deep downfield.
The Lions, who are trying to snap a three-game losing streak, have not trailed in this game.
— Noah Trister reporting from Detroit.
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3:30 p.m.
Marlon Mack's 10-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter ended the Denver Broncos' streak of consecutive red-zone trips without allowing a touchdown at 10.
The Colts' drive was helped when Denver defensive lineman Mike Purcell was called for roughing the passer call on the previous play.
But Adam Vinatieri missed the potentially game-tying extra point wide left to make it 13-12. Vinatieri also missed a 45-yard field goal wide right on Indy's first drive and has now missed four extra points this season.
Vinatieri played in his 200th career game with Indy and only trails Reggie Wayne (211), Peyton Mannig (208) and John Unitas (206) in franchise history.
— Michael Marot reporting from Indianapolis
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3:20 p.m.
The Atlanta Falcons are showing some second-half offensive resilience without injured quarterback Matt Ryan.
After trailing 24-0 at halftime, Matt Shaub has led the Falcons to a touchdown drive, capped by Brian Hill's 23-yard run and 2-point conversion pass to Calvin Ridley. Matt Bryant's 47-yard field goal has cut Seattle's lead to 24-11 late in the third quarter.
Ryan is missing his first start since 2009 because of a sprained right ankle.
Matt Schaub is making his first start since 2015 with Baltimore. The 38-year-old backup started his career with the Falcons, starting twice in three seasons before going to Houston.
__ Charles Odum reporting from Atlanta
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3:10 p.m.
The Buffalo Bills avoided having one of their own touchdowns negated when officials ruled coach Sean McDermott threw the challenge flag after the ball was snapped on Devin Singletary's 28-yard touchdown catch.
McDermott was attempting to have officials review whether there was pass interference against receiver John Brown on the previous play on second-and-13.
Singletary scored when Allen found him open to the left. The rookie then broke two tackles on a catch and run that cut the Eagles' lead to 17-13 with 9:36 left in the third quarter.
— John Wawrow reporting from Orchard Park, New York
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2:50 p.m.
The bye week doesn't seem to have helped Jameis Winston or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Winston had two turnovers in the first half after accumulating six in a loss to Carolina in his previous game on Oct. 13. The Buccaneers are trailing the Titans 17-15 at halftime.
The first turnover was credited to Winston with a quick shotgun snap that caught the quarterback by surprise.
The second came when Winston overthrew Chris Godwin with Titans cornerback Malcolm Butler intercepting the pass and returning the ball 23 yards.
That set up Tennessee's second TD off turnovers for a 14-3 lead at the end of the first quarter. Winston escaped a third turnover when review overturned the ruling Titans cornerback Logan Ryan intercepted a pass near the goal line.
Then with third-and-goal at the Titans 4, Winston handed the ball off to Dare Ogunbowale who was knocked to the ground by Bucs wide receiver Breshad Perriman who was in motion running across from the right side.
But Jason Pierre-Paul had a sack on his first snap of the season with the Bucs activating the linebacker Saturday after a neck injury in an offseason car accident.
— Teresa M. Walker reporting from Nashville, Tennessee
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2:35 p.m.
Drew Brees' numbers have been good in his comeback from thumb surgery that sidelined him for five games, but he left the field frustrated at halftime after a holding penalty wiped out what would have been his first touchdown pass since the injury.
Because there was no time left on the clock at the time of the offensive penalty, a drive that reached the Arizona 20 produced no points and New Orleans' lead remained 10-6.
Brees was 20 of 27 passing for 197 yards in the first half, completing seven passes to Michael Thomas for 86 yards.
Saints running back Latavius Murray scored the lone TD of the half on a 7-yard run. Seeing more action with Alvin Kamara sidelined by ankle and knee injuries, Murray rushed 12 times for 60 yards and also caught six passes for 29 yards in the first half.
— Brett Martel reporting from New Orleans
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2:15 p.m.
Buffalo Bills running back Frank Gore has become the fifth player to reach 19,000 career yards from scrimmage.
The 15-year veteran hit the total exactly with an 8-yard rush just before the two-minute warning of the second half in Buffalo's home game against Philadelphia.
Gore entered the game with 18,980 yards from scrimmage.
With 20 yards rushing against the Eagles, the 36-year-old is now 154 yards from scrimmage behind Marshall Faulk.
— John Wawrow reporting from Orchard Park, New York
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1:55 p.m.
The Seattle Seahawks have lost an offensive lineman to injury almost as soon as they got another one back.
Seahawks center Justin Britt suffered a left knee injury on the opening drive and was ruled out for the remainder of the game against Atlanta.
Britt walked off the field under his own power and was replaced by Joey Hunt. Britt has started 86 of his 87 regular-season games for Seattle and hasn't missed a game since 2016.
The injury to Britt came amid the returns of right guard D.J. Fluker and left tackle Duane Brown from injuries. Fluker missed two games and most of a third with a hamstring injury. Brown was out the past two with a biceps injury.
— George Henry reporting from Atlanta
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1:30 p.m.
Jameis Winston has another turnover, though this one really wasn't the Tampa Bay quarterback's fault.
Winston was in the shotgun on second-and-12 at the Tampa Bay 16-yard line on the Buccaneers' second drive when the ball was snapped sooner than expected, and Titans rookie Isaiah Mack recovered the ball. That set up a 5-yard touchdown pass by Ryan Tannehill and a 7-3 lead for Tennessee.
The No. 1 pick overall in the 2015 draft had six turnovers, including five interceptions, in a loss to Carolina on Oct. 13. The Buccaneers are coming off their open week.
— Teresa M. Walker reporting from Nashville, Tennessee.
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1 p.m.
New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold won't be able to avoid jokes about "seeing ghosts" anytime soon.
A plane circled TIAA Bank Field before Darnold's game at Jacksonville pulling a huge banner that read: "Gardner Minshew ain't afraid of no ghost."
And then Jacksonville's mascot, Jaxson De Ville, ran onto the field shortly before kickoff wearing a white sheet.
Darnold was wearing a microphone for ESPN's broadcast of New York's 33-0 loss to New England on Monday night. After the third of his five turnovers in the game, the Jets' frustrated quarterback was sitting on the sideline in the second quarter when he made his comment that quickly went viral on social media after it aired.
— Mark Long reporting from Jacksonville, Florida
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12:45 p.m.
Jason Hanson has paid off a debt and gotten a good laugh.
The former Detroit kicking great handed a $25 check to reporter Kyle Meinke on Sunday at Ford Field and shared a true tale involving one of the writers who covers the Lions.
Hanson, with reporters gathered around in the Ford Field press box, read aloud from a letter Meinke mailed him 25 years ago.
Meinke, who penned the note when he was 8, asked Hanson to send him a $25 check to make up for money he cost him in a squares pool after the two-time Pro Bowl kicker missed a 30-yard field goal in the second quarter of a loss to Green Bay in a wild-card game in 1994.
Hanson made the connection that the young boy who wrote him a letter, which he has kept laminated, became a sports writer after reading a story Meinke wrote about Lions long snapper Don Muhlbach.
"The check is the coolest piece of memorabilia I've gotten doing this job," the 33-year-old Meinke said 30 minutes before reporting on the New York Giants-Lions game. "The full circle part of this is blowing my mind right now."
— Larry Lage reporting from Detroit
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11:15 a.m.
Drew Brees is back for New Orleans while Atlanta's Matt Ryan will miss a game for the first time in 10 years in Week 8 of the NFL's regular season.
The star quarterback of the Saints has missed five games with a right thumb injury that required surgery. New Orleans won all five games without him with Teddy Bridgewater as the starter. The Saints are playing Arizona and rookie No. 1 overall pick Kyler Murray at home.
Ryan has a sprained right ankle that will end his streak of 154 consecutive regular-season starts. Matt Shaub is starting for the Falcons, who are taking a five-game losing streak into a home game against Seattle.
San Francisco is going for its first 7-0 start since 1990 after getting receiver Emmanuel Sanders in a trade with Denver. The 49ers have lacked a No. 1 receiver for Jimmy Garappolo.
New England is the league's only other unbeaten team at 7-0. The Patriots are home against Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns. Winless Cincinnati is playing the Los Angeles Rams in London.
Kansas City will be without Patrick Mahomes because of a knee injury when facing Aaron Rodgers and NFC North-leading Green Bay.
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