The Blitz Read: Turnovers galore mar NFL season's ugliest day of football yet

Ron Clements

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The Blitz Read: Turnovers galore mar NFL season's ugliest day of football yet image

NFL teams were feeling pretty generous on Sunday. Unfortunately, when that generosity involves giving away the football, it's not a good thing.

Of the 13 games played Sunday, 10 of them featured multiple turnovers in what was the sloppiest day of the season thus far. In almost every case, the team with more turnovers lost. The lone exception was San Diego's 33-30 overtime victory at the Georgia Dome despite turning the ball over twice to Atlanta's one. 

The game with the most turnovers was Philadelphia's 21-10 win over Minnesota to hand the Vikings their first loss of the season. Each team turned the ball over four times as Eagles rookie quarterback Carson Wentz threw two interceptions and Vikings signal-caller Sam Bradford tossed his first pick of the season and lost two of four fumbles.

The first of two games Sunday that did not have at least one turnover was Miami's 28-25 win over Buffalo. Jay Ajayi's 214 rushing yards made up for a lackluster day for both quarterbacks as Tyrod Taylor was 14 of 28 for 221 yards and a touchdown for the Bills while Miami's Ryan Tannehill went 15 of 25 for 204 yards and a score. 

In the second, the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals engaged in an NFC West primetime puntfest for the ages Sunday night. The teams played to a 6-6 stalemate, the first NFL tie without a touchdown since 1972, when both kickers missed chip-shot field goal attempts in the final 4 minutes of overtime. Arizona's Chandler Catanzaro went first and clanked a 24-yarder off the left upright at 3:26 before Seattle's Steven Hauschka missed wide left from 28 yards out with 11 seconds to play.

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The ugly display of football kicked off 14 hours earlier in London as Los Angeles Rams quarterback Case Keenum threw four interceptions in a 17-10 loss to the New York Giants. 

Injury report

Bills safety Aaron Williams left Sunday's loss in Miami in the second quarter with a head and neck injury after receiving a devastating crack-back block by Dolphins receiver Jarvis Landry. Williams was taken to a Miami-area hospital for a precautionary MRI, but was released in time to fly with the team back to Buffalo. Landry did apologize to Williams for the hit, which was penalized. 

The Bills also lost Marquise Goodwin with a concussion and running back LeSean McCoy, who left late in the third quarter when he re-aggravated a hamstring injury.

Washington Redskins cornerback Josh Norman left Sunday's 20-17 loss to the Detroit Lions with a concussion. The Redskins also lost cornerback Bashaud Breeland with an ankle injury. Washington lost on a late touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford to Anquan Boldin. 

Cleveland Browns Cody Kessler was forced from the 31-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals with a concussion and was replaced by rookie Kevin Hogan, the sixth quarterback used by the Browns this season. 

New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith didn't finish the 24-16 win over the Baltimore Ravens because of a knee injury.

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Tevin Coleman left Sunday's loss to the Chargers in the second half with a hamstring injury after rushing 64 yards on eight carries, including a 30-yard touchdown.

By the numbers

Indianapolis Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri kicked a pair of field goals in the 34-26 win over the Tennessee Titans. The former New England Patriots kicker has now made 43 consecutive field goals to set an NFL record, previously held by former Colts kicker Mike Vanderjagt. Vinatieri, who will turn 44 in December, has not missed a field goal attempt since Week 2 of the 2015 season.

The Falcons lost, but quarterback Matt Ryan threw for 273 yards to set an NFL record. It was Ryan's 46th straight game with at least 200 passing yards to move past Chargers Hall of Famer Dan Fouts for the most all time. Ryan's favorite target was, of course, Julio Jones, who had nine receptions for 174 yards.

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New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees threw for 367 yards with three touchdowns and an interception in a 27-21 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Despite the loss, Brees became the first player in NFL history with 100 career 300-yard passing games.

Highlights

Giants safety Landon Collins and cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie each picked off Keenum twice. The first of the four interceptions was returned 44 yards for a touchdown by Collins. Keenum now has three pick-sixes this season. No other QB has more than one.

Before Kessler left the loss to the Bengals, he improvised and flipped it out to tight end Gary Barnidge, who made a ridiculous one-handed catch.

The first touchdown scored in Philadelphia's win over the Vikings was Josh Huff's 98-yard kickoff return.

The Titans went with a little trickeration to get offensive lineman Taylor Lewan involved. The big tackle caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from Marcus Mariota to give the Titans an early 7-0 lead on the Colts. Lewan is the first offensive lineman to score a touchdown since 2014. 

Before Smith exited, he connected with the speedy Quincy Enunwa for a 69-yard touchdown in the first quarter. 

Brees' lone interception against the Chiefs was a costly one as safety Daniel Sorensen took it to the house. 

The Oakland Raiders had 144 rushing yards, including a 27-yard run by punter Marquette King on a fourth-and-20, in their 33-16 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. 

Anquan Boldin's 18-yard touchdown with 16 seconds remaining lifted the Lions to a 20-17 win over the Redskins.

While Ryan and Jones had a big day against the Chargers, Falcons defensive Adrian Clayborn scored after scooping up a Philip Rivers fumble. 

The Chargers got the last laugh, however, beating the Falcons in overtime thanks to Josh Lambo's 42-yard field goal. 

Quotables

Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski caught the 68th touchdown of his career Sunday. He's really excited about what comes next. 

"One more and I've got 69 touchdowns, if you know what I mean," he said with a trademark childlike chuckle. 

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer on his "sieve" of an offensive line that allowed six sacks: "We didn’t block anybody. We were soft. We got overpowered.

"We need to do a better job. We're not going to go down the street and pick up a bunch of guys. We need to get these guys better and we need to do it quickly. I'm disappointed that we allowed that to happen. You know, going into the game, they're going to come after Bradford. I didn't go to Harvard, but I can figure that out. We didn't get it done."

Thursday's game

Packers 26, Bears 10

Sunday's games

Giants 17, Rams 10
Chiefs 27, Saints 21
Colts 34, Titans 26
Eagles 21, Vikings 10
Bengals 31, Browns 17
Lions 20, Redskins 17
Raiders 33, Jaguars 16
Dolphins 28, Bills 25
Jets 24, Ravens 16
Buccaneers 34, 49ers 17
Chargers 33, Falcons 30, OT
Patriots 27, Steelers 16
Cardinals 6, Seahawks 6 OT

MORE: NFL scoreboard — highlights, stats, info and more

Monday's game

Texans at Broncos, 8:30 p.m. ET

Bye weeks

Panthers, Cowboys

Ron Clements