Ken Maguire
| Associated Press
Berlin — Even after a spectacular individual performance, Jonathan Taylor was all about praising his Indianapolis Colts teammates Sunday.
His 83-yard touchdown run? That was thanks to his edge blockers. His 8-yard scamper in overtime to give Indianapolis a 31-25 victory over the Atlanta Falcons?
“You remember not even the run, you remember your teammates embracing you after that play,” he said.
Fans in Berlin won’t forget Taylor’s three-touchdown, 244-yard rushing day in the first regular-season NFL game in the German capital.
Colts kicker Michael Badgley tied the game with a 44-yard field goal with 25 seconds left.
The Falcons had taken a 25-22 lead with 1:44 left in regulation on Tyler Allgeier’s second touchdown of the game — a 1-yard plunge.
Taylor had put the Colts (8-2) in front 22-17 with an 83-yard touchdown run on the previous drive. It was the longest run of the season in the NFL. Daniel Jones’ pass attempt on the 2-point conversion was batted down.
Taylor ran into traffic up the middle, bounced out to the left and sprinted down the sideline into the end zone. The score moved him past Hall of Famer Edgerrin James for most rushing touchdowns (65) in Colts history.
“When I bounced to the outside, there’s no lack of trust, it’s just hit the edge full speed,” Taylor said. “When you have that kind of trust with the guys on the edge, you get those special runs like that.”
It was Taylor’s third career 200-yard rushing day. His single-game career high is 253 yards from his rookie season in 2020.
Taylor is the fourth player in NFL history to have at least 200 rushing yards and at least three rushing TDs in a game twice in a career. The others are Jim Brown, Adrian Peterson and Derrick Henry.
Allgeier finished with 57 yards on 11 carries and Bijan Robinson rushed 17 times for 84 yards but the Falcons (3-6) fell to their fourth straight loss. Atlanta was 0 for 8 on third down.
“We had plenty of opportunities to win it,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said. “We’ve just got to find a way to get better, whether it’s stopping the run, whether it’s covering kicks better, returning the ball better or converting on third down — all the things that kind of hurt us today.”
Michael Penix Jr. completed 12 of 28 passes for 177 yards and a touchdown.
Jones finished 19 of 26 for 255 yards with a touchdown and interception. He was sacked seven times, fumbled three times and lost one of them.
“We hurt ourselves in some key spots that we can’t afford to do,” the quarterback said.
The Falcons led 14-13 at halftime and increased their lead to 17-13 lead on Zane Gonzalez’s 43-yard field goal early in third quarter.
The Colts drove into the red zone early in the fourth, but settled for Badgley’s 34-yard field goal — reducing Atlanta’s lead to 17-16.
More games
▶ (At) Chicago 24, N.Y. Giants 20: Caleb Williams threw a touchdown pass and scrambled for a go-ahead score in the fourth quarter, helping the Bears beat Jaxson Dart and the Giants.
Led by Williams, Chicago scored the last 14 points after Younghoe Koo’s 19-yard field goal gave New York a 20-10 lead with 10:19 left. C.J. Gardner-Johnson had two sacks for the Bears (6-3), including one on Russell Wilson on a key third down in the final period.
Williams sparked the rally with a 2-yard touchdown pass to Rome Odunze, making it 20-17 with 3:56 left. Odunze finished with six receptions for 86 yards after he was shut out during last weekend’s 47-42 win at Cincinnati.
After New York (2-8) stalled and Jamie Gillan had a 26-yard punt, Williams went back to work. He found Luther Burden III for 27 yards to the Giants 19. One play later, Williams scored on a 17-yard run to make it 24-20 with 1:47 remaining.
Dart rushed for two touchdowns for New York in its fourth consecutive loss. The rookie became the first quarterback in NFL history with at least one rushing TD in five straight games.
But Dart departed with a concussion before the start of the fourth quarter. With Wilson behind center, the Giants were shut out in the final minutes.
▶ Baltimore 27, (at) Minnesota 19: Lamar Jackson played it patient and smart in his second game back from injury, and the Ravens continued their defensive resurgence to beat the Vikings for their third straight victory.
Malaki Starks and Marlon Humphrey each intercepted deep passes by J.J. McCarthy, whose touchdown throw to Jalen Nailor with 3:19 left cut Baltimore’s lead to one possession but was too little, too late for mistake-prone Minnesota (4-5).
The Ravens (4-5) turned three takeaways, including a fumbled kickoff return early in the third quarter by rookie Myles Price, into 13 points to keep their climb back into the AFC North race going after a 1-5 start.
After trailing 10-9 at halftime, following their first half without a touchdown in 21 games with Jackson as the starter, the Ravens leaned harder on their rushing attack in the second half to wear down a Vikings defense that fared well with little help from the offense.
▶ (At) N.Y. Jets 27, Cleveland 20: New York got touchdowns on a kickoff return and a punt return in the same game for the first time in franchise history, Breece Hall took a screen pass from Justin Fields 42 yards for the go-ahead score and the Jets held on to defeat the Browns.
Five days after trading cornerback Sauce Gardner and defensive tackle Quinnen Williams in stunning moves, the Jets came off their bye-week break to win their second game in a row.
Kene Nwangwu returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter and moments later, Isaiah Williams brought back a punt 74 yards for a score. The Jets had one previous game with two kickoffs returned for scores and another with two punts returned for TDs. But never one of each in the same game.
Will McDonald had four sacks to tie a single-game record for New York, which was able to seal the win with some late mistakes by Cleveland.
▶ L.A. Rams 42, (at) San Francisco 26: Matthew Stafford threw four touchdown passes to give him the most in a three-game span in Rams history and Los Angeles beat the 49ers for a fourth straight victory.
Kyren Williams added two touchdown runs for Rams (7-2), who avenged a home loss in overtime to the 49ers (6-4) in Week 5 to remain in a tie for first with Seattle in the NFC West.
Stafford and the passing game have been a big reason for the success as he leads the NFL with 25 touchdown passes and has 20 TD passes with no interceptions in the past six games.
Stafford’s 13 touchdown passes the past three games are the most in franchise history and he became the first player in NFL history with at least four TD passes and no interceptions in three consecutive games.
He picked apart a short-handed defense for the 49ers connecting with Davante Adams, Puka Nacua, Davis Allen and Colby Parkinson on scores.
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