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NFL: Bills’ catch vs. Vikings should have been overturned

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — The Vikings beat the Bills in overtime. If not for an officiating mistake, they might have won in regulation.

The NFL’s senior vice president of officiating acknowledged there was a breakdown in the instant replay process after a pivotal play late in Minnesota’s 33-30 win over Buffalo on Sunday.

Gabe Davis’ 20-yard reception along the sideline with 24 seconds left in regulation should have been reviewed before the Bills ran another play, Walt Anderson told a pool reporter after the game. The catch happened during Buffalo’s five-play, 69-yard drive that ended with Tyler Bass hitting a 29-yard field goal to force overtime with 2 seconds left.

“Even though it happens fast and Buffalo hurries to the line of scrimmage for the next play, if the replay official can’t confirm that it was a catch on that long of a completed pass, we should stop play to ensure it was a catch,” Anderson said.

On replays, it appeared that Davis did not secure the ball while falling out of bounds.

“It would have been reversed to an incomplete pass because he did not maintain control of the ball after he hit the ground and the ball touched the ground out of bounds,” Anderson said.

Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said the catch happened in front of him on the sideline. He was unable to challenge the ruling because it occurred in the final 2 minutes, and said he did not get an explanation from officials.

“I didn’t think it was a catch,” O’Connell said. “In that mode, that needs to be something they need to review from up top, or possibly New York. We didn’t get any clarification on that. I did ask.”

Patrick Peterson intercepted Josh Allen with 1:12 left in overtime to finally end the sloppy, yet thrilling back-and-forth game between two of the NFL’s best teams.

Kirk Cousins threw for 357 yards, and Justin Jefferson had a monster game with 10 catches for 193 yards.

CARDINALS 27, RAMS 17

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Colt McCoy passed for 238 yards in his first start of the season, James Conner rushed for two touchdowns and Arizona hung on for a victory Sunday over the Los Angeles Rams, who lost Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp to a possibly serious ankle injury.

Both teams played their backup quarterbacks with starters Matthew Stafford and Kyler Murray sidelined by injury. McCoy threw a TD pass to A.J. Green and hit DeAndre Hopkins for 98 yards on 10 catches, while Los Angeles’ John Wolford passed for 212 yards in a much more inconsistent performance.

DOLPHINS 37, BROWNS 17

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Tua Tagovailoa maintained his scorching form since his return from a concussion, throwing three touchdown passes as Miami won its fourth straight.

In a game that was a blowout by the fourth quarter, Tagovailoa connected with three receivers for his third straight three-touchdown game.

GIANTS 24, TEXANS 16

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Daniel Jones threw two touchdown passes, Saquon Barkley ran for 152 yards and a TD and New York beat Houston.

TITANS 17, BRONCOS 10

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Ryan Tannehill threw two touchdown passes to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine as Tennessee rallied from a 10-point deficit to beat Denver.

The Titans (6-3) won for the sixth time in seven games. Tannehill returned after missing the last two games with a sprained right ankle, and he appeared rusty early as the Titans fell behind 10-0 in the second quarter and were trailing 208-53 in total yards shortly before halftime.

CHIEFS 27, JAGUARS 17

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 331 yards and four touchdowns as Kansas City rolled past Jacksonville.

STEELERS 20, SAINTS 10

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Kenny Pickett and George Pickens ran for 1-yard touchdowns and Pittsburgh pulled away from listless New Orleans.

COLTS 25, RAIDERS 20

LAS VEGAS (AP) –Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr is fed up.

Carr became emotional after the Raiders squandered a fourth-quarter lead in a loss to an Indianapolis Colts squad that is now under the direction of Jeff Saturday, who had never coached an NFL game before Sunday.

49ERS 22, CHARGERS 16

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Christian McCaffrey ran for the go-ahead touchdown with 7:54 to play and San Francisco beat Los Angeles.

The 49ers (5-4) returned from their bye as healthy as theyíve been all season on offense and with hopes of making a second-half run. They did just enough against the short-handed Chargers (5-4).

San Francisco fell behind by 10 points in the second quarter before rallying. Jimmy Garoppolo scored on a 1-yard sneak in the second quarter and then made the biggest play when he hit Brandon Aiyuk on a 24-yard pass on third-and-10 from the Chargers 26 midway through the fourth quarter.

McCaffrey ran it in on the next play and has now accounted for four touchdowns in three games since arriving from Carolina in a midseason trade.

Garoppolo went 19 for 28 for 240 yards while San Francisco relied heavily on the ground game, rushing 40 times for 158 yards.

Justin Herbert went 21 for 35 for 196 yards with a touchdown pass for the Chargers, who were playing without both starting tackles and receivers.

BUCCANEERS 21, SEAHAWKS 16

MUNICH (AP) — Tom Brady stayed undefeated abroad by throwing two touchdown passes as Tampa Bay beat Seattle in the first regular-season game played in Germany.

Brady connected with Julio Jones and Chris Godwin on scoring passes and Leonard Fournette ran one in as the Bucs (5-5) improved to .500 and snapped Seattleís four-game winning streak.

German fans packed Allianz Arena for the historic game and the Bucs delivered with a balanced offensive performance on three long scoring drives. Rachaad White ran for 105 yards on 22 carries.

Brady completed 22 of 29 passes for 258 yards to add Germany to his list of international wins after victories in London (twice) and Mexico City with the New England Patriots.

Trailing 21-3, Seattleís Geno Smith threw touchdown passes to Tyler Lockett and Marquise Goodwin to make the score 21-16 with 3:58 to play. But Brady and the Bucs didn’t let Seattle get the ball back.

Smith was 23 of 33 for 275 yards and the two touchdowns for the Seahawks (6-4), who are still atop the NFC West.

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