Lamar Jackson threw for 323 yards and a touchdown to spark the Baltimore Ravens over Washington 30-23 on Sunday in a showdown of the NFL’s top-scoring squads.
NFL rushing leader Derrick Henry ran 24 times for 132 yards and two touchdowns while Zay Flowers had 132 yards on nine catches, all in the first half for a Ravens record.
“Just giving my guys the opportunities, making guys miss and getting yards after the catch,” said Jackson. “It was just an all-around team effort.”
Two-time NFL Most Valuable Player Jackson completed 20 of 26 passes and ran 11 times for 40 yards, guiding the Ravens on two scoring drives from beyond 90 yards for a fourth consecutive victory after an 0-2 start.
“Just taking accountability,” Jackson said “We made a lost of mistakes the first two games. That’s the NFL — everything’s not perfect.
“But we’ve just been trying to minimize our mistakes and put points on the board and that’s what we’ve been doing.”
Washington rookie Jayden Daniels completed 24 of 35 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns and rushed six times for 22 yards for the Commanders (4-2) against the NFL’s top run defenders.
“Great player,” Jackson said of Daniels. “Just his sixth game in the league, rookie year. The sky is the limit for him.”
In the only other game between clubs with winning records, the Detroit Lions crushed host Dallas 47-9, scoring their second-most road points behind a 52-point outburst in 1952.
Detroit reached 40 points in consecutive games for the first time since 1962, improving to 4-1, but suffered a major injury setback.
Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, the NFL sacks leader, went down early in the third quarter with a gruesome leg injury after sacking Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott and was carted off the field with what was later diagnosed as a broken left tibia.
“Obviously, he’s going to be down for a little while,” said Lions coach Dan Campbell, who said Hutchinson will stay in Texas for evaluation.
Detroit’s Jared Goff threw for 315 yards and three touchdowns while David Montgomery ran for 80 yards and two touchdowns.
Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield threw for 325 yards and four touchdowns to spark the Buccaneers over host New Orleans 51-27.
Sean Tucker ran for 136 yards and a touchdown while Chris Godwin caught 11 passes for 125 yards and two touchdowns for the Bucs (4-2).
Bears roll in London
At London, top NFL Draft pick Caleb Williams completed 23 of 29 passes for 226 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Chicago Bears over Jacksonville 35-16.
Cole Kmet and Keenan Allen each caught two touchdown throws and D’Andre Swift ran for 91 yards and another touchdown for the Bears (4-2).
At New England, C.J. Stroud threw for 192 yards and three touchdowns and Joe Mixon ran for 102 yards and scored twice in Houston’s 41-21 rout of the host Patriots.
“Awesome job. We played really well. We brought energy,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “Proud of everybody.”
New England rookie Drake Maye threw for 243 yards and three touchdowns but the Texans (5-1) forced four turnovers.
Green Bay’s Jordan Love threw for 258 yards and four touchdowns to give the Packers (4-2) a 34-13 home victory over Arizona.
Joe Flacco threw for 189 yards and two touchdowns as Indianapolis rallied in the fourth quarter to win 20-17 at Tennessee.
“We left it all out there,” Flacco said. “I’d rather take a somewhat ugly win over a pretty loss.”
Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts threw for 264 yards and two touchdowns in the Eagles’ 20-16 home victory over Cleveland.
Justin Herbert threw for 237 yards and a touchdown and J.K. Dobbins ran for 96 yards and a touchdown as the Los Angeles Chargers won 23-16 at Denver.
Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh exited briefly in the first quarter and after the game said it was an atrial flutter and that he suffers from a type of irregular heartbeat.
Justin Fields threw for 145 yards and ran for two touchdowns and Najee Harris ran for 106 yards and a touchdown to power Pittsburgh (4-2) over host Las Vegas 32-13.
Atlanta (4-2) ripped host Carolina 38-20 as Kirk Cousins threw for 225 yards and a touchdown.