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Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers moved the ball at will against the Saints. Jared Goff and the Lions were unstoppable in Dallas. The Texans, Falcons, Packers and Ravens also put up big numbers.
Offenses dominated in Week 6.
Nine teams scored at least 30 points, including Detroit’s 47 against the undermanned Cowboys and Tampa Bay’s 51-point outburst in New Orleans that could’ve reached the 60s if Mayfield hadn’t thrown three interceptions. It was the second-most points the Buccaneers have ever scored.
“That was a full group effort on offense,” Mayfield said.
With the Bills-Jets matchup remaining on Monday night, the combined average of 49.7 points per game this week is the most this season. Six teams had 400 total yards of offense and five more had 350.
Tampa Bay (4-2) led the way with a franchise-record 594 total yards, the second-most the Saints have ever allowed. Mayfield had 325 yards passing and four touchdowns and Sean Tucker ran for 136. The Buccaneers became just the fifth team in NFL history to have at least 300 yards passing and 275 yards rushing in a game.
“Put up 51 points and we had three turnovers,” wide receiver Chris Godwin said. “We can run the ball, we can throw the ball – obviously we are at our best when we can do both in the same game. Just having that ability to play in multiple ways and win in multiple ways is going to be big for us as we go down the season, because we’ve got a tough schedule.”
Detroit had such an easy time facing a defense missing Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence that offensive coordinator Ben Johnson tried a few times to get an offensive lineman to score a touchdown.
Tackle-eligible Taylor Decker couldn’t grab Goff’s 2-yard toss in the end zone. All-Pro right tackle Penei Sewell got a lateral off a hook-and-ladder play and ran to the Cowboys 3 only to have it negated by penalty.
Goff threw for 315 yards and three scores and the Lions (4-1) racked up 492 yards, handing Dallas (3-3) its third straight home loss.
“Things are starting to come together a little bit,” Goff said. “First two weeks trying to find our rhythm and we’ve found it.”
With many teams resting starters or barely playing them in the preseason, it took a few weeks for offenses to start clicking. After teams averaged 45.8 points per game in Week 1, that number dipped to 39.6 and 41.6 the next two weeks before beginning to rise steadily.
Passing numbers were down early in the season. Not anymore.
Eight quarterbacks have thrown for 250 yards this week, including four 300-yard games. Three QBs had four TD passes and four had three.
“There’s always room for improvement,” Ravens two-time NFL MVP Lamar Jackson said after Baltimore’s 30-23 win over Washington. “It’s only the sixth game. We still had drives that we should’ve put points on the board.”
Jackson threw for 323 yards, Derrick Henry ran for 132 and the Ravens (4-2) had 484 total yards.
C.J. Stroud tossed three TD passes in Houston’s 41-21 win at New England as the Texans (5-1) spoiled Drake Maye’s first start. Kirk Cousins followed up a 509-yard effort with only 225 yards passing in Atlanta’s 38-20 victory at Carolina. But the Falcons (4-2) ran for 198 yards behind Tyler Allgeier (105) and Bijan Robinson (95).
The Bears finished on a roll, scoring four straight TDs before missing a field goal in a 35-16 win over the Jaguars in London. Caleb Williams has his third straight game with a 100-plus passer rating. He completed 79.3% of his passes for 226 yards and four TDs for Chicago (4-2).
Jordan Love tied a career-best with four TD passes in Green Bay’s 34-13 rout over Arizona. The Packers (4-2) had 437 yards and led 24-0 while the Cardinals managed just one first down through four possessions.
“That was the goal for us coming into this game, to be able to start fast and get in that rhythm,” Love said.
It worked for the Packers and several teams on Sunday.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Chicago Bears wide receiver Keenan Allen (13), right, celebrates scoring a touchdown during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears in London, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024.(AP Photo/Steve Luciano)
Detroit Lions' Jameson Williams (9), David Montgomery (5) and Tim Patrick (17) celebrate after Williams caught a touchdown pass in the second half of an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Miron)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Cade Otton, right, is congratulated by offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs (78) and teammates after scoring against the New Orleans Saints during the second half of an NFL football game in New Orleans, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rocket fired from Yemen hit an area of Tel Aviv overnight, leaving 16 people slightly injured by shattered glass, the Israeli military said Saturday, days after Israeli airstrikes hit Houthi rebels who have been launching missiles in solidarity with Palestinians.
A further 14 people sustained minor injuries as they rushed to shelters when air raid sirens sounded before the projectile hit just before 4 a.m. Saturday, the military said.
The Houthi rebels issued a statement on the Telegram messaging app saying they had aimed a hypersonic ballistic missile at a military target, which they did not identify.
The attack comes less than two days after a series of Israeli airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebel-held capital, Sanaa, and port city of Hodeida killed at least nine people. The Israeli strikes were in response to a Houthi attack in which a long-range missile hit an Israeli school building. The Houthis also claimed a drone strike targeting an unspecified military target in central Israel on Thursday.
The Israeli military says the Iran-backed Houthis have launched more than 200 missiles and drones during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The Houthis have also been attacking shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and say they won’t stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.
The Israeli strikes Thursday caused “considerable damage” to the Houthi-controlled Red Sea ports “that will lead to the immediate and significant reduction in port capacity,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. The port at Hodeida has been key for food shipments into Yemen in its decade-long civil war.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said both sides’ attacks risk further escalation in the region and undermine U.N. mediation efforts.
In the Gaza Strip on Saturday, mourners held the funerals of 19 people — 12 of them children — killed in Israeli strikes on Friday and overnight.
One of the strikes hit a residential building in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least seven Palestinians, including five children and one woman, and injuring 16 others, health officials said.
In Gaza City, another strike on a house overnight killed 12 people, including seven children and two women, according to Al-Ahli Hospital where the bodies were taken.
Mourners gathered at the hospital in Gaza City Saturday morning. Women comforted each other as they wept over the bodies before they were carried away. One man, stony-faced, cradled a tiny shroud-wrapped body in his arms as he carried it along the funeral procession.
In Al-Aqsa Hospital of Deir al Balah, white body bags containing those killed in Nuseirat were taken from the morgue and loaded onto the back of an open truck to be taken for burial.
Overall, Gaza's Health Ministry said Saturday that 21 people had been killed and 61 were wounded over the past 24 hours.
Israel faces heavy international criticism over the unprecedented levels of civilian casualties in Gaza and questions about whether it has done enough to prevent them.
Israel says it only strikes militants, and blames the Hamas militant group for civilian deaths because its fighters operate in residential areas.
More than 45,200 people have been killed and more than 107,500 wounded in the Gaza Strip since October 2023, when a Hamas attack in Israel killed about 1,200 people and triggered the devastating 14-month war in Gaza. Local health officials do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but have said more than half of the fatalities are women and children.
The Israeli military organization dealing with humanitarian affairs for Gaza said Saturday it had led a “tactical coordinated operation” delivering thousands of food packages, flour and water to the Beit Hanoun area in the north of the Gaza Strip.
The organization, known by its acronym COGAT, said trucks from the U.N. World Food Program transported 2,000 food packages, 1,680 sacks of flour and thousands of liters of water to distribution centers in the area on Friday.
Aid groups have said previously that military operations and armed gangs have hindered their ability to distribute aid to civilians in need.
Gaza's Health Ministry issued an urgent appeal Saturday for medical and food supplies to be delivered to Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, near Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, while the hospital director described dire conditions.
The ministry said in a statement that there was continuous gunfire and Israeli shelling near the hospital. “Shells have struck the third floor and the hospital’s entrances, creating a state of panic,” the ministry said.
Hospital Director Dr. Husam Abu Safiyeh said the facility was “facing severe shortages."
“Despite promises, we have not received the necessary supplies to maintain electricity, water, and oxygen systems," Abu Safiyeh said. "Our requests for essential medical supplies and staff have largely gone unmet.”
He said the World Health Organization had delivered 70 units of blood, but that the hospital requires at least 200 units to meet urgent needs. He said 72 wounded people were being treated at the hospital.
The shortages extend beyond medical necessities. “Food is very scarce, and we cannot provide meals for the wounded. We are urgently calling on anyone who can provide supplies to help us,” he said. “The staff is working around the clock, yet we cannot even provide meals for them.”
Shurafa reported from Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press writers Elena Becatoros in Majdal Shams, Golan Heights, contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Bodies of victims of an Israeli airstrike at the Nuseirat refugee camp are prepared for the funeral prayer outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Men pray over the bodies of victims of an Israeli airstrike at the Nuseirat refugee camp during a funeral prayer outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Saturday Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Bodies of victims of an Israeli airstrike at the Nuseirat arrive at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital before their funeral in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
An Israeli soldier observes the site where the missile launched from Yemen landed Jaffa district, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Tomer Appelbaum)
