Sunday’s NFL roundup: Vikings get past Jaguars

Jacksonville, Fla. — Just about everything that could have gone wrong for Minnesota did.

The Vikings lost the turnover battle, failed to score twice inside the 1 and allowed a fourth-down conversion on a fake punt. Those kinds of mistakes normally would doom a team. Not against the hapless Jacksonville Jaguars.

Matt Asiata scored on a short touchdown run , Kai Forbath kicked four field goals and the Vikings beat the Jaguars 25-16 on Sunday, winning for just the second time in nine weeks.

“This was huge to win today,” tight end Kyle Rudolph said. “The situation we put ourselves in, we feel we have to win out. You can’t win out until you win the first one.”

Asiata had a chance to score three times, but he was stopped on a fourth-and-goal run in the second quarter and fumbled at the goal line in the fourth. Those turned out to be mere speedbumps against Jacksonville (2-11), which dropped its record-tying eighth consecutive game and fell to 0-6 at EverBank Field this season.

Minnesota (7-6) hadn’t won on the road since Sept. 25 at Carolina and needed a victory to keep pace in the NFC playoff picture.

“We know what lies ahead for us and we felt we needed to win this one to get us going,” running back Jerick McKinnon said.

Sam Bradford’s 3-yard TD toss to Rudolph with 2:13 remaining sealed the victory.

“It was big for us just to get back on a winning track in general,” Rudolph said.

(At) N.Y. Giants 10, Dallas 7: With a no-huddle offense and no-fooling-around defense, the Giants stopped the Cowboys’ 11-game winning streak, preventing Dallas from clinching the NFC East. Dallas (11-2) hadn’t lost since the season opener against the Giants (9-4), who solidified their position in the NFC playoff chase as the top-wild card team. New York still hopes to catch Dallas in the division, and it can thank a stingy, aggressive defense for still having that opportunity.

Missing star defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, the Giants couldn’t stop rookie sensation Ezekiel Elliott from rushing for 107 yards. But New York’s pressure stymied the other Cowboys rookie standout, quarterback Dak Prescott, blanked receiver Dez Bryant until 2:13 remained — he fumbled away the ball on that play — and held Dallas to one conversion in 15 third-down attempts.

The Giants had three sacks, continually made Prescott uncomfortable, and he threw two picks.

New York’s offense was unsightly much of the night, blanked at halftime with only 84 net yards. Then it switched to the no-huddle and put together a short drive to Robbie Gould’s 39-yard field goal, making it 7-3.

But Odell Beckham Jr., stepped up, as he often does, and sped through the Cowboys on a 61-yard touchdown play. Beckham caught Eli Manning’s pass at the Giants 48 and raced all the way to the end zone for the lead the defense preserved.

Manning was 17 for 28 for 193 yards, one TD, one interception and two fumbles. His main adversary was linebacker Sean Lee, who had 18 tackles. Prescott finished 17 for 37 for 165 yards and a touchdown.

Washington 27, (at) Philadelphia 22: Chris Thompson’s 25-yard touchdown run with 1:54 remaining lifted Washington.

Kirk Cousins (Michigan State) threw two touchdown passes, including an 80-yard toss to DeSean Jackson, and had a pick-six.

The Eagles took a 22-21 lead when Caleb Sturgis hit a 41-yard field goal with 4:59 left after holder Donnie Jones got the high snap from third-string long snapper Trey Burton down in time.

Carson Wentz drove Philadelphia to the Redskins 14 in the final minute, but Ryan Kerrigan sacked him to force a fumble and seal the win for Washington.

The Redskins (7-5-1) ended a two-game losing streak. The Eagles (5-8) have lost four in a row and eight of 10 after a 3-0 start.

(At) Miami 26, Arizona 23 (OT): Ryan Tannehill threw three touchdown passes before being sidelined with a knee injury, and Andrew Franks kicked a 21-yard field goal as time expired.

The Cardinals mounted touchdown drives of 99 and 50 yards to tie the game, but Miami forced a punt to start at the Arizona 47 with 1:29 left. Moore threw a 12-yard completion to Kenny Stills for a first down, and then threw long to Stills for 29 yards to set up Franks’ winning kick.

The Dolphins (8-5) won for the seventh time in the past eight games.

Pittsburgh 27, (at) Buffalo 20: Le’Veon Bell (Michigan State) scored three times and set a franchise record with 236 yards rushing.

The Steelers overcame three interceptions by Ben Roethlisberger to win their fourth straight and improve to 8-5. The loss all but mathematically eliminated the Bills (6-7), and puts them in jeopardy of extending the NFL’s longest active playoff drought to 17 years.

After scoring in the first half on 3- and 7-yard runs, Bell put the game away on the opening drive of the third quarter. He had nine rushes for 72 yards alone and capped the 82-yard drive by waltzing into the end zone from 5 yards.

(At) Tampa Bay 16, New Orleans 11: The streaking Buccaneers (8-5) bolstered their playoff hopes with their fifth straight victory on Sunday.

Doug Martin scored on a 1-yard run, Roberto Aguayo kicked three field goals and the defense intercepted Brees three times while holding the NFL passing leader without a touchdown pass.

Brees failed to throw for a touchdown for the second straight week, the first time he’s done that in consecutive games since 2009.

Atlanta 42, (at) Los Angeles 14: Matt Ryan passed for 237 yards and three touchdowns and the Falcons forced five turnovers.

Deion Jones returned an interception 33 yards for a touchdown, and Vic Beasley forced a fumble by Jared Goff and returned it for another TD. The Rams (4-9) have lost four straight and eight of nine.

Tevin Coleman caught a TD pass and rushed for another score for the Falcons (8-5).

(At) Tennessee 13, Denver 10: DeMarco Murray ran for 92 yards and a touchdown, and the Titans retained a piece of first place in the AFC South. With the win, the Titans (7-6) also climbed above .500 for the first time all season.

Trevor Siemian tried to rally Denver (8-5) despite a sprained left foot that kept him out last week. He threw a 3-yard TD pass to Emmanuel Sanders with 9:58 left and drove the Broncos to a 34-yard field goal by Brandon McManus on fourth-and-goal at the 16 with 4:28 left.

Siemian was driving the Broncos again when A.J. Derby fumbled after a catch. Titans safety Daimion Stafford recovered with 53 seconds left.

Houston 22, (at) Indianapolis 17: Lamar Miller scored Houston’s only touchdown and the Texans defense stopped Andrew Luck on Indy’s final drive. Houston (7-6) retained a share of the AFC South lead by ending its three-game losing streak.

The Texans won for the second straight year in Indy, have won nine straight against division foes and got their first sweep of the Colts in franchise history.

Luck drove the Colts (6-7) to the Texans 42 with 1:24 left. But on fourth-and-1, a blitz forced an errant screen pass to Robert Turbin.

Cincinnati 23, (at) Cleveland 10: Robert Griffin III returned from injury but couldn’t keep Cleveland (0-13) from falling closer to infamy.

Andy Dalton threw two touchdown passes to Tyler Eifert for the Bengals (5-7-1).

Griffin started for the first time since getting hurt in the opener.

Griffin did score on a 1-yard sneak in the third quarter, but the Browns lost their 16th straight dating to Dec. 13 last season. Cleveland has lost 23 of 24 and 31 of 34 since the end of 2014.

(At) Carolina 28, San Diego 16: Carolina’s defense forced five turnovers by Philip Rivers and had five sacks and a safety as the Panthers (5-8), ended a two-game losing streak.

Despite playing without middle linebacker Luke Kuechly and defensive end Charles Johnson, the Panthers had four sacks on Rivers and forced three turnovers in the first half to build a 23-7 lead.

N.Y. Jets 23, (at) San Francisco 17 (OT): Bilal Powell ran for 145 yards, including the game-ending 19-yard touchdown in overtime, to help Bryce Petty and the New York Jets rally from 14 points down to beat the San Francisco 49ers 23-17 in overtime.

Petty threw an interception on his first pass of the game and the Jets (4-9) trailed 14-0 less than 5 minutes into the game. San Francisco (1-12) led 17-3 at halftime, but fell flat after that and lost a franchise-worst 12th straight.