Alanis Thames
| Associated Press
Miami Gardens, Fla. — Jim Harbaugh will never forget the sequence.
Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert escaped the Dolphins’ pass rush and zipped a pass to Ladd McConkey for a 42-yard catch-and-run, stunning Miami’s home crowd in the final minute of Sunday’s back-and-forth matchup.
The play set up Cameron Dicker’s fifth field goal of the game, sealing the Chargers’ 29-27 win.
“He’s able to just mighty-man it and shake it off and hit Ladd McConkey,” said Harbaugh, LA’s second-year coach. “I’m going to remember that play until they throw dirt over top of me. That’s how great I feel about that.”
The Dolphins overcame a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter and took the lead when Tua Tagovailoa threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Darren Waller with 46 seconds remaining.
Nyheim Hines set the Chargers up at their 41 with a 40-yard return of the ensuing kickoff. On second-and-10, Herbert stepped up in the pocket, got free from the grasp of Jaelan Phillips and threw a short pass to McConkey, who broke a tackle and ran out of bounds at the Miami 17. Dicker’s 33-yard kick won it for Los Angeles (4-2), which snapped a two-game skid.
“The thing that was going through my mind was no sacks,” Herbert said. “A race against time. I felt like I could stay up and get the ball off. I saw Ladd. He did a great job running across the middle and extending the play.”
Added Harbaugh: “Justin Herbert. I mean, he’s like Hercules out there.”
Herbert completed 29 of 38 passes for 264 yards and two touchdowns. Kimani Vidal, getting the bulk of the carries for Los Angeles’ banged-up backfield, finished with 18 rushes for 124 yards and had a 7-yard touchdown catch. McConkey had seven catches for 100 yards and a TD.
Tagovailoa, who finished with 205 yards passing, threw his third interception of the day on Miami’s final possession, and the Dolphins (1-5) were booed off the field at Hard Rock Stadium.
“Shocked. Shocked,” Tagovailoa said. “This is something that we’ve talked about collectively as a team, about being able to finish in games like this where we have the opportunity to win the game. And it’s not just one side of the ball. It’s every phase. I’ve contributed with the turnovers. … It’s frustrating to say the least.”
Both of Herbert’s TD throws came in the second half as the Chargers turned a four-point third-quarter deficit into a 10-point lead in minutes.
The Chargers’ opening drive of the third went 13 plays for 77 yards and ended in Herbert extending the play to find McConkey in the end zone. That put Los Angels ahead 16-13.
Tagovailoa was intercepted on Miami’s next drive, leading to Vidal’s score that gave the Chargers a 23-13 advantage.
Tagovailoa was 21 of 32 with his second three-turnover game of the season. His first pick landed in Jaylen Waddle’s hands before popping out of the receiver’s grasp and into the hands of safety Tony Jefferson on Miami’s second play from scrimmage.
“I find so many similarities to boxing and football,” Harbaugh said. “Especially in the sense of man, your corner man asks you, ‘Can you go? Can you keep going?’ And it’s like, ‘Give me one more round. And give me one more series.’
“Like boxing, it is a football fight every single week. And you’ve got two teams that were desperate for a win and playing their hearts out there. That’s the nature of the NFL. It’s diabolical that way.”
De’Von Achane had 16 carries for 128 yards and two TDs — including an electric 49-yard score in the first. His 4-yard run in the fourth pulled Miami within six points with about seven minutes left.
“To lose like that, it’s like, what more could we have done?” Achane said.
After Miami’s much-maligned defense limited the Chargers to three field goals — one of the worst red-zone teams in the NFL, Los Angeles failed to find the end zone on its first three trips inside the 20 — the Dolphins led 13-9 at halftime.
In a well-executed two-minute drill, Tagovailoa led a nine-play, 83-yard scoring drive highlighted by a bobbled 49-yard catch from Waddle to set up Riley Patterson’s 27-yarder to end the half.
Waddle’s big gain was the Dolphins’ second play of 40-plus yards in the half. Miami had just two such plays on the season entering Sunday.
Rams drop Ravens to 1-5
The Los Angeles Rams finished the first half with a goal-line stand and then Matthew Stafford guided them to a pair of touchdowns to begin the third quarter in a 17-3 victory over Baltimore.
The Rams (4-2) weren’t at their best, but they didn’t have to be against a spiraling Baltimore team that was without injured quarterback Lamar Jackson for a second straight weekend. The Ravens (1-5) managed a field goal on their first drive and nothing more.
It was tied at 3 late in the first half when the Ravens had first-and-goal from the 4. After Derrick Henry ran to the 1, Baltimore tried back-to-back tush push plays with tight end Mark Andrews lining up at quarterback and sneaking. Neither worked and then Henry was stopped on fourth down.
Kyren Williams put Los Angeles ahead with a 3-yard scoring run in the third. After Baltimore’s Zay Flowers fumbled, the Rams quickly made it 17-3 on an 8-yard touchdown pass from Stafford to Tyler Higbee.
With Jackson sidelined by a hamstring injury, Cooper Rush went 11 for 19 for 72 yards with an interception and a lost fumble before being pulled in favor of Tyler Huntley in the fourth. Huntley managed to drive Baltimore from deep in its own territory to the red zone before the Ravens turned the ball over on downs with 3:44 left.
Panthers prevail on last-second FG
Rico Dowdle went over 200 yards from scrimmage for the second straight week — this time against his former team — and rookie Ryan Fitzgerald kicked a 33-yard field goal as time expired as the Carolina Panthers defeated the Dallas Cowboys, 30-27, in a wild back-and-forth game.
Bryce Young completed 17 of 25 passes for 199 yards and threw two of his three touchdown passes to rookie Tetairoa McMillan to help the Panthers (3-3) improve to 3-0 at home.
Dowdle ran for 183 yards on 30 carries and caught four passes for 56 yards and a touchdown for the Panthers, who beat the Cowboys for the first time in three years at home. Dowdle spent five years with the Cowboys before signing with Carolina as an unrestricted free agent. He has 473 yards from scrimmage over the past two weeks, a franchise record.
McMillan hadn’t caught a touchdown pass in the NFL before Sunday after catching 26 over his three seasons at the University of Arizona, but broke through with TD catches of 19 and 2 yards.
Dak Prescott finished 25 of 34 for 261 yards and three touchdowns for the Cowboys (2-3-1). Dallas wasted a career-best game from George Pickens, who caught nine passes for 168 yards and a touchdown.
After the Cowboys tied the game with a field goal, Young drove the Panthers 71 yards in 15 plays in a drive that took up more than six minutes to finish the game. At one point, the Cowboys were trying to let the Panthers to score to get the ball back, but running back Trevor Etienne wisely went down after a first down before the end zone.
Young took a knee twice to set up Fitzgerald’s game-winning kick.
Mayfield leads Buccaneers over 49ers
Baker Mayfield’s heroics came early in the fourth quarter instead of the final minutes.
Mayfield threw two touchdown passes and had a spectacular scramble to help Tampa Bay beat San Francisco, 30-19.
After winning four games with scores in the last minute, the Buccaneers (5-1) didn’t need a late comeback.
Up 20-19 early in the fourth, the Buccaneers faced a third-and-14 at their 41. Mayfield ducked away from a sack in the pocket, escaped another defender, scrambled out of trouble, eluded more tackles and dove headfirst, stretching the ball to get a first down on third-and-14.
A few plays later, Mayfield connected with Tez Johnson on a 45-yard TD pass down the middle to give the 49ers a 27-19 lead. Johnson made an outstretched leaping catch and the rookie celebrated his first career TD with an acrobatic flip.
The 49ers were driving for a potential tying score when Mac Jones threw an interception to Jamel Dean on fourth-and-5 from the Buccaneers 33 with just under six minutes left.
Packers hold off Flacco, Bengals
Josh Jacobs rushed for two touchdowns and Green Bay held off Cincinnati for a 27-18 victory in Joe Flacco’s Bengals debut.
Jacobs had a 3-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and opened the fourth by scoring on a 14-yard burst up the middle. Jordan Love went 19 of 26 for 259 yards with an interception and a 19-yard touchdown pass to Tucker Kraft.
Lucas Havrisik sealed the win by making the second of his two field goals, a 39-yarder with 1:52 remaining. Havrisik also kicked a 43-yarder a day after signing with the Packers because usual kicker Brandon McManus had injured his quadriceps.
Cincinnati’s final hope vanished when Evan McPherson was wide right on a 56-yard attempt with 41 seconds left. McPherson also made a 45-yard field goal and was well short on what would have been an NFL-record 67-yarder to end the first half.
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