Arizona’s Chandler Catanzaro on Sunday kicked a 32-yard field goal with 2 seconds remaining to give the Cardinals a 34-31 victory over Cincinnati in the NFL, maintaining their three-game lead atop the NFC West.
Green Bay won at Minnesota to leave those teams tied atop the NFC North, while Denver overcame the absence of star quarterback Peyton Manning and held on for a narrow win against Chicago.
Arizona’s win against Cincinnati was a wild game, with the Cardinals rallying to tie the scores 31-31. Quarterback Carson Palmer, playing against his old team, completed three quick passes in the final minute to get the home team within field goal range.
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The decisive kick was considerably closer than it would have been, because Cincinnati’s Domata Peko was called for unsportsmanlike conduct after calling out the offensive signals as the Cardinals were about to spike the ball to set up the kick.
Carolina quarterback Cam Newton threw a career-high five touchdown passes to lead the Panthers to a 44-16 win against Washington.
Newton completed 21 of 34 passes for 246 yards and threw touchdown passes to five different receivers as Carolina stretched their regular-season win streak to 14 games, including eight straight at home.
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The Panthers are the 16th team in the Super Bowl era to start 10-0. Of the previous 15, all made the playoffs and nine advanced to the Super Bowl, with six winning.
The Panthers scored 27 points off five Washington turnovers, three of those by quarterback Kirk Cousins.
Newton became the first Carolina quarterback to throw four touchdown passes in the first half as the Panthers jumped to a 31-14 lead.
Green Bay ended a run of three straight defeats by winning 30-13 at Minnesota to put the division rivals level at 7-3.
Aaron Rodgers threw for 212 yards and a pair of touchdowns and Datone Jones had two of Green Bay’s six sacks.
The Vikings had their five-game winning streak ended by a Packers team that clearly was not ready to concede a division it has won four straight times. The rematch is on Jan. 3 in Green Bay to close the schedule.
Denver’s defense stopped Jeremy Langford on a two-point conversion run in the final minute and the Broncos held on to edge Chicago 17-15.
Brock Osweiler filled in for Manning at quarterback and threw for two touchdowns, completing 20 of 27 passes for 250 yards. Manning missed with injuries to his foot, ribs and shoulder.
Indianapolis relied on a pair of 40-plus veterans, and rallied from a pair of two-touchdown deficits, to beat slumping Atlanta 24-21.
Adam Vinatieri, the oldest player in the league at 42, added another winning kick to his sterling resume, booting a 43-yarder with 52 seconds remaining, while 40-year-old Matt Hasselbeck threw a pair of touchdown passes filling in for injured quarterback Andrew Luck.
The Falcons lost for the fourth time in five games after a 5-0 start.
Dallas quarterback Tony Romo returned from injury to lead the Cowboys to a 24-14 win at Miami, ending a seven-game losing skid in his absence; the team’s worst run in 26 years.
Romo went 18 for 28 for 227 yards, and overcame two interceptions by throwing touchdown passes of 31 yards to Terrance Williams and 16 yards to Dez Bryant.
Houston’s T.J Yates made his first start at quarterback for the Texans since 2012 and threw two touchdown passes to lead the team to a 24-17 win against the New York Jets.
Tampa Bay’s Jameis Winston tied a rookie record with five touchdown passes and Doug Martin ran for 235 yards as the Buccaneers swept to a 45-17 win against Philadelphia.
Seattle got back to an even 5-5 record with a 29-13 victory over San Francisco, with rookie Thomas Rawls rushing for 209 yards and two touchdowns.
Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco is to miss the remainder of the season after tearing ligaments in his left knee during the closing seconds of a 16-13 victory over St Louis, and the Ravens also lost running back Justin Forsett to a broken arm.
Kansas City won 33-3 at San Diego, delivering a fourth straight win for the Chiefs and a sixth successive defeat for the Chargers.
Detroit’s Matthew Stafford ran for a go-ahead 5-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
In Detroit, the Lions defeated Oakland 18-13.
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