Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 27, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM ● C5 CINCINNATI — The winless start for the New York Jets took a toll on Justin Fields. At one point in the runup to Sunday’s game in Cincinnati, he found himself laying down in his closet and crying. Helped by the support of family and friends, Fields got up. Then he rallied his team. Breece Hall rushed for two sec- ond-half touchdowns and threw a 4-yard TD pass to Mason Taylor with 1:54 left, helping Fields and the Jets edge the Cincinnati Bengals 39-38 on Sunday for their first win under coach Aaron Glenn. “When I was on the field, I was damn near crying,” Fields said. “Not because we won. But just how everything I’ve been through the past week, every- thing we’ve been through as a team these past seven weeks. Lots of ups and downs.” Fields was 21 for 32 for 244 yards and a touchdown in his first game since Jets owner Woody Johnson sharply criticized his team’s quarterback play during its winless start. Hall finished with 18 carries for 133 yards. Fields, who got the start after Tyrod Taylor was ruled out on Saturday with a knee injury, brushed off Johnson’s comments. “I get that he’s the owner of the team, but that’s outside noise,” he said. “The biggest thing was my teammates be- lieving in me and my coaches believing in me.” The Jets (1-7), who trailed 31-16 after three quarters, rolled to 502 yards of offence in their highest scoring game of the season, including a season-high 254 on the ground. “It was amazing to get 0-7 off our back,” defensive end Jermaine Johnson said. “Everybody was ecstatic. Every- body was emotional. The first one is the hardest one. We’re excited to move on from here.” Joe Flacco passed for two touch- downs and rushed for a 1-yard score, but the Bengals (3-5) lost for the fifth time in six games. Ja’Marr Chase had 12 catches for 91 yards in his third consecutive game with double-digit receptions. Flacco was 21 for 34 for 223 yards in his third consecutive start since he was acquired in a trade with Cleveland. The 40-year-old quarterback also used his legs to set up Samaje Perine’s 32-yard TD run in the third quarter, scrambling for 13 yards on a third-and-12 play. “Not acceptable,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said of the performance. “Hum- bling for us, certainly.” Flacco landed on his right shoulder when he was sacked by Will McDonald IV on a third down midway through the fourth. He was checked out before tak- ing the field for the team’s final drive. Chase Brown’s 1-yard touchdown run gave Cincinnati a 38-24 lead with 10:21 left. He also had a 19-yard score on a catch-and-run play late in the first half. New York’s winning rally began with Hall’s 27-yard TD run with 7:52 left. Fields passed to Isaiah Davis for the 2-point conversion. After Cincinnati went three-and-out on the ensuing possession, New York marched right down the field again. Hall’s throw to Taylor in the back of the end zone was his first career passing attempt. “I didn’t know if he scored, but I turned and looked at all the Bengals fans — they were just silent staring at me,” Hall said. “I thought, ‘All right, we’re in it now.’” The Bengals drove to their own 45 on their final possession, but Flacco threw two straight incompletions to turn the ball over on downs. The crowd of 65,526 booed lustily as the final seconds ticked off and the Jets began to celebrate. Playing without receiver Garrett Wil- son and top cornerback Sauce Gardner because of injuries, the Jets handed Glenn his first win since the coach was hired in January. He was the first Jets coach to begin his tenure with seven losses. The 53-year-old Glenn was a star cornerback for the team for the first eight seasons of his 15-year NFL playing career. “These guys, this staff, this team gets criticized so much,” Glenn said. “I understand why. We’re 0-7. We brought a lot of it on ourselves. I know we still have a long way to go. I’m going to enjoy this win.” The Jets also got their first victory of the season on the same weekend that former centre Nick Mangold died at age 41 from complications of kidney disease. In a team statement, Johnson called Mangold “a cherished member of our extended Jets family.” Mangold was a first-round draft pick of the Jets in 2006 out of Ohio State and was selected to the Pro Bowl seven times. He helped lead New York within one win of the Super Bowl during both the 2009 and 2010 seasons and was enshrined in the Jets’ ring of honour in 2022. Wearing his cap backward, as he almost always did in public, Mangold capped his speech at MetLife Stadium that day by cracking open a can of beer and toasting the fans. Mangold was among 52 modern-era players who advanced earlier this week in the voting process for next year’s Pro Football Hall of Fame class. He was the anchor of New York’s offensive line his entire playing career, spending all 11 seasons with the Jets. — The Associated Press C HARLOTTE, N.C. — A little rest proved just what Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills needed. James Cook ran for a career-high 216 yards and two touchdowns, Allen accounted for three scores and the Bills returned from their bye with a resounding 40-9 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Allen improved to 8-0 following the bye week and established an NFL record by becoming the first player to run and throw for a touchdown in 46 games, breaking the mark previous- ly held by former Panthers QB Cam Newton. “I think it’s the way that our guys handle (the bye),” Allen said. “Just making sure that we’re practising the right way. Coming off two losses it’s been lingering with us, so we wanted to come out and put our best foot forward — and we did that.” Bills coach Sean McDermott, who is 9-0 coming off the bye, said his team played with a “different attitude and different energy” than before the break, which included losses to New England and Atlanta. Allen finished 12 of 19 for 163 yards, the highlight coming on a catch-and- run 54-yard toss to Khalil Shakir. But the Bills repeatedly gashed the Pan- thers’ eighth-ranked run defence. Cook scored on runs of 64 and 21 yards, becoming the third Bills run- ning back to run for 200 yards and two touchdowns, joining Cookie Gilchrist and O.J. Simpson. Cook, who didn’t play in the fourth quarter with the game out of hand, did it against a defence that had allowed just 131 yards on the ground over the past three weeks. “When you have James Cook, you let him cook,” Allen said. Allen added two short TD runs, giving him 77 for his career (including playoff games), tying him with Newton for the most all-time by a quarterback. Buffalo’s defence also got a spark from defensive end Michael Hoecht, who played for the first time after sitting out the first six games due to a league-imposed suspension. The Bills sacked Andy Dalton seven times and forced the veteran quarter- back into three turnovers to open a 40-3 lead in the third quarter. Dalton, who got the start for the injured Bryce Young, finished 16 of 24 for 175 yards with two fumbles and one interception as the Panthers’ three-game winning streak came to a screeching halt. The 37-year-old looked slow trying to escape pressure and said afterward that he “didn’t give his team a chance.” “It’s tough,” Dalton said. “Obviously I’ve got to do a better job of protecting the ball, especially at that point early in the game when we had some mo- mentum. We were close to scoring and I’ve got to hold on to it.” Buffalo built a 19-3 halftime lead be- hind a career-high 153 yards rushing from Cook — the most in the first half by a running back since his brother Dalvin Cook ran for 153 in 2021 — and three huge mistakes by Dalton. Dalton’s first miscue came with the Panthers deep in Buffalo terri- tory. Greg Rousseau stripped the ball, resulting in Christian Benford’s recovery. The Bills turned that into Matt Prat- er’s field goal. A short while later Dalton threw a ill-advised screen pass directly into the arms of Bills defensive end A.J. Espenesa, who returned it to Carolina 1, setting up a QB sneak for a score by Allen. With the Panthers (4-4) threatening to score a touchdown in the waning seconds of the first half, Dalton took a sack on third down. Without any timeouts, the Panthers rushed their field goal unit on to the field but kicker Ryan Fitzgerald wasn’t able to convert a rushed kick from 32 yards and the Panthers went into the locker room down by 16. The Bills extended the lead to 26-3 when Shakir turned a short pass from Allen into a TD. Khalil finished with six catches for 88 yards. Dalton had another fumble that led to Allen’s second touchdown run of the game and fell to 1-6 as a starter for the Panthers over the past three seasons. The Panthers were hoping to get to 5-3 for the first time since 2019, but have to regroup following a series of injuries, including three more to the offensive line. “I just have a lot of confidence in this group and the football that we’ve been playing — and knowing that was not us,” coach Dave Canales said. “What we put out there today was not us. That was not the ball that we’ve been playing that’s allowed us to have a lot of success. Let’s get refocused and let’s get back to work.” Up Next Bills: Host Kansas City on Sunday. Panthers: At Green Bay on Sunday. — The Associated Press SPORTS I FOOTBALL MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2025 JETS 39 BENGALS 38 BILLS 40 PANTHERS 9 NFL IN BRIEF EAGLES 38, GIANTS 20 PHILADELPHIA — Saquon Barkley ran for a 65-yard score on his first carry of the game and topped 100 yards rushing for the first time this season before he left with a groin injury, and Jalen Hurts threw four touchdown passes as Philadel- phia beats New York. The Eagles (6-2) evened the season series against their NFC East rivals after the Giants won 34-17 earlier this month. Barkley also ripped off a 28-yard run on the final play of the third quarter but shook his head as he ran gingerly back to the sideline. He was checked out inside the medical tent, and later grabbed his helmet and jumped in celebration when backup Tank Bigsby ran for a 29-yard gain. Hurts, who completed 15 of 20 passes for 179 yards, put the game away with a 17-yard touch- down pass to Dallas Goedert to finish that drive and make it 31-13. DOLPHINS 34, FALCONS 10 ATLANTA — Tua Tagovailoa threw a sea- son-high four touchdown passes and Miami ended its three-game losing streak by dominating short-handed Atlanta. The Dolphins (2-6) outgained the Falcons (3-4) 338-213. Tagovailoa, who threw three intercep- tions in each of his last two games, was added to the injury report before the game with an illness but showed no signs of being limited. Tagovailoa completed 20 of 26 passes for 205 yards with scoring passes to De’Von Achane, Malik Washington, Jaylen Waddle and Ollie Gordon II. RAVENS 30, BEARS 16 BALTIMORE — Derrick Henry ran for two touchdowns, Tyler Huntley made a big third-down throw late in the fourth quarter and Baltimore finally won without Lamar Jackson, beating Chicago. The Ravens (2-5) snapped a four-game skid and ended Chicago’s four-game winning streak. The Bears (4-3) dominated the first quarter, but managed only two field goals in that period and didn’t score again until the fourth. Although Jackson returned to practice this week, he was ruled out Saturday for a third straight game because of a hamstring injury. TEXANS 26, 49ERS 15 HOUSTON — C.J. Stroud threw for a sea- son-high 318 yards with two touchdowns and Houston got off to a quick start and held on for a victory over San Francisco. Stroud did a great job of distributing the ball, completing passes to nine different players with star receiver Nico Collins out after sustaining a concussion Monday night. Xavier Hutchinson led the group with 69 yards receiving and a score and rookie Jaylin Noel added 63 to help the Texans (3-4) bounce back after a loss to Seattle. Hutchinson’s 30-yard touchdown grab extended Houston’s lead to 23-7 with about 7 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter. PATRIOTS 32, BROWNS 13 FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Drake Maye threw three second-half touchdown passes to help New England erase an early deficit and roll to its fifth straight victory over Cleveland. Robert Spillane and Jaylinn Hawkins both added interceptions for New England, which has won six straight over Cleveland and 11 of the past 13 meetings since 1999. Maye finished 18 of 24 for 282 yards and an interception. Hunter Henry, Stefon Diggs and Kayshon Boutte all had TD catches. It came on a day where Browns star edge rusher Myles Garrett finished with a franchise-record and career-high five sacks, raising his season total to 10. BUCCANEERS 23, SAINTS 3 NEW ORLEANS — Tampa Bay edge rusher An- thony Nelson had an interception for a touchdown to go with a forced fumble and two sacks, Sean Tucker ran for a 1-yard score on fourth down and the Buccaneers beat the hapless New Orleans. Antoine Winfield Jr. recovered a fumble and intercepted a pass for the Buccaneers (6-2), who forced four turnovers and also played a role in forcing Saints second-year quarterback Spencer Rattler out of the game. First-year Saints coach Kellen Moore inserted rookie QB Tyler Shough late in the third quarter, but the switch did little to improve matters for New Orleans (1-7), now tied for the worst record in the NFL with the New York Jets and Tennessee. BRONCOS 44, COWBOYS 24 DENVER — Bo Nix threw for four touchdowns, rookie R.J. Harvey scored three times and Denver routed Dallas for their fifth consecutive victory. J.K. Dobbins ran for 111 yards on 15 carries and the Broncos (6-2) also got big performances from rookies Pat Bryant and Jahdae Barron as they extended the NFL’s longest home winning streak to nine games. Bryant scored his first touchdown and Barron picked off Dak Prescott for his first career inter- ception. Despite two TD runs from former Denver run- ning back Javonte Williams, the Cowboys (3-4-1) lost for the eighth straight time to the Broncos, whom they haven’t beaten since the heyday of Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin in 1995. Bryant scored his first touchdown and Barron picked off Dak Prescott for his first career inter- ception. COLTS 38, TITANS 14 INDIANAPOLIS — Jonathan Taylor rushed for two touchdowns and caught another in a mile- stone game, and Daniel Jones threw for two more scores to help the Colts continue their surprising start with a rout over Tennessee. Taylor also scored three TDs against the Titans in each of their previous two meetings, making him the first player in league history to have three touchdowns in three consecutive games against the same team. He finished with 12 carries for 153 yards, the fourth 100-yard game this season for the league’s rushing leader. Jones was 21 of 29 with 272 yards and no interceptions though he was sacked a season-high three times as Indy (7-1) stayed atop the AFC South with its fourth straight win. Michael Pittman Jr. caught eight passes for 95 yards and one TD. — The Associated Press STEVE REED Bills back on track after bye Cook heats up with 216 rushing yards, 2 TDs in rout of Panthers JACOB KUPFERMAN / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Buffalo Bills running back James Cook celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Carolina Panthers Sunday in Charlotte, N.C. PACKERS PREVAIL IN PITTSBURGH Green Bay Packers’ Micah Parsons sacks Pittsburgh Steelers’ QB Aaron Rodgers during the second half Sunday night in Pittsburgh. The Packers beat the Steelers 35-25 as Green Bay QB Jordan Love passed for 360 yards and three touchdowns to outduel former mentor Rodgers. Hall, Fields help Jets edge Bengals for first win of season JAY COHEN SUE OGROCKI / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ;