BALTIMORE — Justin Tucker kicked a 27-yard field goal as time expired, giving the Baltimore Ravens a 31-30 victory over the New England Patriots on Sunday night in a rematch of the AFC Championship Game.
When the teams met in January, the Patriots squeezed out a three-point victory at home to advance to the Super Bowl. The stakes weren’t nearly as high in this one, yet the game was eerily similar.
In the previous meeting, Billy Cundiff missed a 32-yard field goal in the closing seconds. On Sunday, Tucker - who took the job away from Cundiff in training camp - drove his kick inside the right upright.
The game-winning kick followed a pass interference call against Devin McCourty on Jacoby Jones.
Torrey Smith, who was playing less than 24 hours after the death of his 19-year-old brother, had 6 catches for 127 yards and 2 touchdowns for the Ravens.
Tevin Chris Jones, 19, died late Saturday night in Westmoreland County in northeast Virginia. He was riding his motorcycle on Route 672 when he ran off the right side of the roadway and struck a utility pole, according to Virginia State Police.
Smith was notified at the team hotel in Baltimore shortly after 1 a.m. Eastern and immediately left to be with his family. Smith was told by Ravens Coach John Harbaugh that the decision to play Sunday night would be entirely up to him.
Before the game, a moment of silence was observed for Jones, whose picture was placed on the replay screens at the stadium. The Ravens also asked the fans to observe a moment of silence for former NFL Films president Steve Sabol.
Jones was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. He was wearing a helmet, and alcohol was not a factor. The accident is under investigation.
Baltimore (2-1) won its 12th consecutive at home behind Joe Flacco, who completed 28 for 39 passes for 382 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Tom Brady completed 28 of 41 passes for 335 yards and a score for the Patriots (1-2).
VIKINGS 24, 49ERS 13
Christian Ponder threw two touchdown passes to tight end Kyle Rudolph and ran for another score to help Minnesota hand San Francisco its first defeat. After a dominant start to their NFC North tour by decisively beating playoff teams Green Bay and Detroit, the 49ers (2-1) were beaten in every way by the team least likely to do so. The Vikings (2-1) began the game with a fourth-and-goal touchdown pass by Ponder to his Rudolph. They finished strong by forcing three turnovers and two punts by the 49ers in the fourth quarter. Playing against his former team in the regular season for the first time, Randy Moss had three catches for 27 yards. San Francisco’s Alex Smith’s franchiserecord interception-free streak ended at 249 consecutive passes.
FALCONS 27, CHARGERS 3
Matt Ryan threw touchdown passes to three different receivers and safety Thomas DeCoud had two interceptions and a fumble recovery for unbeaten Atlanta. Ryan completed 30 of 40 passes for 275 yards, with his first interception of the season, and a passer rating of 107.8 for the Falcons (3-0), who improved to 6-0 all-time in San Diego. DeCoud’s three takeaways, plus William Moore’s fourthquarter fumble recovery, extended the Falcons’ NFL-high turnover differential to plus-10. San Diego (2-1) was the third consecutive AFC West team to lose toAtlanta. Ryan Mathews made his season debut for San Diego and looked good until fumbling inside the Falcons’ 5-yard line on a hit by Sean Witherspoon, with DeCoud recovering.
TEXANS 31, BRONCOS 25
Matt Schaub outplayed Peyton Manning, throwing four touchdown passes against Denver. Schaub finished 17 for 30 for 290 yards to help Houston move to 3-0 for the first time in franchise history. Six days after throwing three interceptions in the first quarter of a loss to Atlanta, Manning didn’t throw any against the Texans.
RAIDERS 34, STEELERS 31
Sebastian Janikowski kicked a 43-yard field goal on the last play as Oakland scored the final 13 points after wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey was knocked out and hospitalized by a scary hit. The game turned somber early in the fourth quarter when Heyward-Bey was knocked unconscious by a helmet-to-helmet hit in the end zone by Steelers safety Ryan Mundy.The hit was not called a penalty by the replacement officials. Heyward-Bey was taken to the hospital with a neck injury. Carson Palmer then threw his third touchdown pass for Oakland (1-2) and Janikowski kicked two field goals to beat the Steelers (1-2) and give Coach Dennis Allen his first victory.
CARDINALS 27, EAGLES 6
Kevin Kolb threw for 222 yards and two touchdowns and James Sanders returned one of Michael Vick’s two fumbles 93 yards for a touchdown, and Arizona is off to its best start in 38 years. Arizona (3-0) sacked Vick five times in winning its seventh consecutive home game, the second-longest streak in franchise history.
JETS 23, DOLPHINS 20, OT
Nick Folk received a reprieve when his blocked field-goal attempt was negated by a timeout, and his second try was a successful 33-yarder with 6:04 left in overtime. Mark Sanchez hit Santonio Holmes for a 38-yard gain to set up the kick. Two plays later, Folk’s try was blocked, but officials whistled the play dead as the ball was snapped because the Dolphins had called timeout. Folk then made the winner. On the previous possession, the Dolphins’ Dan Carpenter was wide left on a 48-yard field-goal attempt that would have given them the victory.
JAGUARS 22, COLTS 17
Blaine Gabbert connected with Cecil Shorts IIIon an 80-yard touchdown pass with 45 seconds left to lift Jacksonville to its first victory of the season. Maurice Jones-Drew ran for 177 yards, but Jacksonville (2-1) needed Gabbert’s big play. The Colts (1-2) had taken the lead at 17-16 after Andrew Luck drove them 48 yards in five plays to set up Adam Vinatieri’s 37-yard field goal with 56 seconds left. But on the next snap, Shorts got behind Colts safety Sergio Brown and Gabbert hit him in stride. Shorts sprinted free, diving into the end zone for the score. Indianapolis had a chance to win it at the end, but Luck’s pass into the end zone was broken up by Aaron Ross.
BENGALS 38, REDSKINS 31
Andy Dalton completed 19 of 27 passes for 328 yards and three touchdowns for Cincinnati. The Bengals blew a 24-7 firsthalf lead, but two touchdown passes by Dalton in the fourth quarter made the difference. A 6-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jermaine Gresham broke a 24-24 tie, then Dalton hit Andrew Hawkins for a 59-yard score to give the Bengals a 38-24 lead with 7:08 left to play. Robert Griffin III’s 2-yard run cut the lead to seven points with 3:35 remaining, but he threw incomplete on a third-and-50on the game’s last play. Cincinnati’s A.J. Green caught nine passes for a careerhigh 183 yards.
BEARS 23, RAMS 6
Major Wright returned an interception 45 yards for a touchdown and Chicago’s defense had six sacks on Sam Bradford and held St. Louis to 160 total yards. That was enough on a day when Jay Cutler struggled, and the Bears (2-1) came away with the victory after an ugly loss to Green Bay the previous week.
BILLS 24, BROWNS 14
Ryan Fitzpatrick threw three touchdown passes and Buffalo overcame the loss of running back C.J. Spiller in snapping an eightgame road losing streak. Fitzpatrick finished 22 of 35 for 208 yards as the Bills (2-1) turned to their passing game after Spiller, the NFL’s leading rusher, was lost in the first quarter with a shoulder injury. The Bills hadn’t won outside Buffalo since the 2011 season opener at Kansas City. Before he got hurt, Spiller scored on a 32-yard screen pass from Fitzpatrick, who also threw a 9-yard touchdown to T.J. Graham in the first quarter and hooked up with Stevie Johnson from 9 yards in the fourth quarter for a 24-14 lead.
THURSDAY’S GAME NY Giants 36, Carolina 7 SUNDAY’S GAMES Dallas 16, Tampa Bay 10 Chicago 23, St. Louis 6 Minnesota 24, San Francisco 13 Tennessee 44, Detroit 41, OT Kansas City 27, New Orleans 24, OT Cincinnati 38, Washington 31 NY Jets 23, Miami 20, OT Buffalo 24, Cleveland 14 Jacksonville 22, Indianapolis 17 Arizona 27, Philadelphia 6 Atlanta 27, San Diego 3 Oakland 34, Pittsburgh 31 Houston 31, Denver 25 Baltimore 31, New England 30 TODAY’S GAME All times Central Green Bay at Seattle, 7:30 p.m.
THURSDAY, SEP. 27 Cleveland at Baltimore, 7:20 p.m.
SUNDAY, SEP. 30 Tennessee at Houston, noon San Diego at Kansas City, noon Seattle at St. Louis, noon New England at Buffalo, noon Minnesota at Detroit, noon Carolina at Atlanta, noon San Francisco at NY Jets, noon Miami at Arizona, 3:05 p.m.
Oakland at Denver, 3:05 p.m.
Cincinnati at Jacksonville, 3:05 p.m.
New Orleans at Green Bay, 3:25 p.m. Washington at Tampa Bay, 3:25 p.m. NY Giants at Philadelphia, 7:20 p.m.
OPEN Indianapolis, Pittsburgh MONDAY, OCT. 1 Chicago at Dallas, 7:30 p.m.
Sports, Pages 19 on 09/24/2012