Second Chances Win on Sunday
A blocked kick gets kicked again, a torn hamstring heals in time, and the NFL's wildest Sunday ends the way Sundays should, earned.
NFL Sunday: second chances, earned.
THE MOMENT
Cleveland. Two seconds left. The Browns trail Baltimore 10-7 in a game their offense barely attended, and Andre Szmyt runs out to tie it from 42 yards, no, to win it. The kick is blocked. Season-series, division, everything, gone.
Except a flag is down. Offside, Keyon Martin. An untimed down. And Szmyt, who had already missed from 48 earlier in the fourth quarter, snapping his own streak of 25 straight makes, gets to do the thing kickers dream about and dread in the same breath: kick it again, knowing everybody in the stadium just watched him fail. Thirty-seven yards. Straight through. Browns 13, Ravens 10, and Cleveland wakes up Monday in a three-way tie atop the AFC North.
Sundays do not usually hand out second chances. This one handed them out all day.
THE FREEZE
Redemption was the day's real home team.
THE HUMAN
In Atlanta, Caleb Williams came back. Three games gone with a torn hamstring suffered September 20, a quarterback's whole rhythm, timing and trust in his own legs, put in a drawer. Sunday he completed 30 of 36 passes for 305 yards and a touchdown, spread across eight different receivers, and Chicago built a 24-point fourth-quarter lead and held on, 31-23 over the Falcons. Little rust, the reports said. Little rust is what three weeks of invisible work looks like when it finally gets a stage: the rehab nobody filmed, the throws nobody counted, the patience a young quarterback is not supposed to have yet.
That is the through-line of this Sunday. Szmyt kicking again. Williams throwing again. Men being handed back the moment that already went wrong once, and making it go right.
THE SACRIFICE
Second chances are never free, either. Baltimore played its second straight week without Lamar Jackson, ankle, and Derrick Henry's fourth-quarter fumble is what opened Cleveland's door. Tampa Bay lost with a rookie, Jalon Daniels, starting for the injured Baker Mayfield, and still nearly won. The Rams lost their new kicker, Blake Grupe, to a knee injury on a kickoff tackle in the first quarter, and their punter kicked the rest of a two-point loss. Tennessee's comeback started with a speech nobody was supposed to hear: down 13-0 at the half, Jeffery Simmons told the whole locker room, in effect, enough talking, then stripped Jonathan Taylor on the first play of the second half and started the avalanche himself. Words, then works. In that order.
And Philadelphia: four straight losses, a backup quarterback, a season tilting. The bill for last year's glory always arrives. The only question is who is holding it when it does.
THE RECEIPT
- Titans first win
- Eagles fourth straight loss
- Packers 23, Cowboys 13
SCOREBOARD
The full Sunday, plainly. London: Texans 34, Jaguars 31, Travis Hunter Jr. caught a touchdown and intercepted C.J. Stroud in the end zone (the first NFL player with a TD catch and an interception in one game since Brian Dawkins in 2002); Cam Little's 60-yard field goal tied it late; Stroud answered anyway, and Ka'imi Fairbairn's 49-yarder at the gun won it. Tennessee 26, Indianapolis 20, the league's last winless team, down 13-0 at the half, scored on all five second-half possessions: the franchise's 500th win and Robert Saleh's first with the Titans. Pittsburgh 26, Tampa Bay 19, in overtime, down 16-3 in the fourth, Aaron Rodgers threw two late touchdowns, tying Peyton Manning for third all-time with 539, then drove 70 yards in overtime for the winner. Arizona 18, Los Angeles Rams 16, the day's biggest upset, and Arizona did not score a single touchdown: Chad Ryland kicked six field goals, the last at the gun. Kansas City 22, Los Angeles Chargers 6. Buffalo 33, Las Vegas 30. New England 26, New York Jets 19. New Orleans 34, New York Giants 27. Carolina 25, Philadelphia 14, Tanner McKee starting for the injured Jalen Hurts fought gamely (215 yards and a touchdown to a returning DeVonta Smith), but Chuba Hubbard's 120 rushing yards and the Panthers sent the Eagles to a fourth straight loss. And on Sunday night, Green Bay 23, Dallas 13, a story that gets its own column on this page.
NOTE 1
Monday night closes the week: Commanders at 49ers.
THE VOICES
Fourth game winner, it feels pretty good...
This is a trajectory win.
Szmyt, after the kick that needed two kicks: "Fourth game winner, it feels pretty good... A lot of guys came up to me, I hear the fans when I'm in the net, 'We believe in you, we believe in you'... that's all the support I got. And that means a lot." Stroud, after his own interception nearly cost Houston the London game: "Just made a mistake. I've learned in my life I've got to flush my failures and flush my successes and just move on." Rodgers, 42 years old and still collecting moments: "These are the most important moments for us as a team to grow. This is a trajectory win." And Saleh, winless no more: "Winning in this league is relief. But it's not about me... I am much more excited for them than for myself." Even the day's biggest loser kept his dignity, Sean McVay, after the Rams beat themselves: "It's just not good enough... it starts with me."
Belief, accountability, relief. Sunday's whole vocabulary.
THE TAKE
FINAL VERDICTPeople call this league unpredictable, and Sunday the standings agreed, a winless team won, a touchdown-less team won, the AFC North folded itself into a three-way tie. But look underneath the chaos and the day was not random at all. It rewarded, almost to a man, the people who had already done the unseen work: the kicker who kept believing after the block, the quarterback who rehabbed like the season depended on it, the defensive tackle who said the hard thing at halftime and then went and proved it.
That is the oldest rule in sports, and Sundays like this one exist to remind us it is still the rule. The moment does not care about your last failure. It only asks whether you prepared for your next chance.
What did your second chance ask of you? Week by week, this league answers that question in public.
Be ready when it asks you in private.
Andre D. Williams
More than the final score. DRE'S TAKE: the story behind the performance.
Credits: Scores via LineTerminal, Reuters/Field Level Media, and AP reports; quotations, Andre Szmyt via the Akron Beacon Journal, C.J. Stroud and Aaron Rodgers via the Associated Press, Robert Saleh via TennesseeTitans.com, Sean McVay via AZCentral.
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