Los Angeles: Quarterback Cam Newton threw five touchdown passes to lead the Carolina Panthers to a 10th straight NFL victory on Sunday, a 44-16 pounding of the Washington Redskins.
The Panthers improved the best season start in franchise history to 10-0, scoring off of four Washington turnovers to remain one of two unbeaten teams in the league.
“It keeps on rolling,” offensive guard Trai Turner said. “We continue to play our game.”
Newton’s four first-half touchdown throws were a club record. He completed 21 of 34 passing attempts for 246 yards without an interception.
Carolina, who have scored at least 27 points in eight straight games, will have a quick turnaround as they play Thursday on the Thanksgiving Day holiday for the first time — visiting the Dallas Cowboys.
Energised by the return from injury of quarterback Tony Romo, the Cowboys snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 24-14 victory over the Dolphins in Miami.
Romo, who missed seven games with a broken left collarbone, threw two interceptions, but his second touchdown pass of the day was a 16-yard game-winner to Dez Bryant early in the fourth quarter.
“It felt good to get back and play football and help your team win,” Romo said.
The Cowboys have won all three games that Romo started this season — losing the seven that he missed after he was hurt on September 20 against the Eagles.
Despite that skid, they aren’t out of the playoff hunt. The 5-5 New York Giants lead the NFC East, followed by Washington and Philadelphia — who were thumped 45-17 by the visiting Tampa Bay Buccaneers to fall to 4-6.
Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston threw five touchdowns with no interceptions, equalling the NFL rookie record for TD passes set by Detroit’s Matthew Stafford in 2009.
Bucs running back Doug Martin rushed for 235 yards — the second-most ever against the Eagles — and set up two of Tampa Bay’s touchdowns with runs of 58 and 84 yards.
Philadelphia quarterback Mark Sanchez, playing in place of injured Sam Bradford, threw for 261 yards and two touchdowns but also coughed up three interceptions — including one that Lavonte David returned 20 yards for Tampa Bay’s final TD.
Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco rallied the Ravens to a 16-13 victory over the St. Louis Rams — but it was a costly triumph with the veteran signal-caller suffering a season-ending knee injury on his team’s final offensive series.
Flacco, who engineered three fourth-quarter scoring drives, suffered a torn knee ligament, limping through the final drive capped by Justin Tucker’s game-winning field goal.
The Ravens also lost Pro Bowl running back Justin Forsett for the rest of the season with a broken arm.
Brock Osweiler, making his first NFL start in place of Denver’s injured superstar Peyton Manning, led the Broncos to a 17-15 victory over the Bears in Chicago that ended the Broncos’ two-game slide.
Osweiler, celebrating his 25th birthday, completed 20 of 27 passes for 250 yards, driving the Broncos 74 yards in four plays for a touchdown on their first possession and finding Demaryius Thomas for 48 yards and a touchdown on his second pass.
Quarterback Carson Palmer led the Arizona Cardinals to a 34-31 victory over his former team, the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Bengals rallied to tie the score at 31-31 with 1:08 to play on a 43-yard field goal by Mike Nugent.
But Palmer completed two quick passes and Arizona benefitted from a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Cincinnati defender Domata Peko to put kicker Chandler Catanzaro in position to boot a game winning 33-yard field goal with two seconds left.
With the win the Cardinals maintained their three-game lead in the NFC West division as well as a one-game lead for the second seed in the NFC over Green Bay — who ended a three-game losing streak with a 30-13 win over NFC North rivals Minnesota that left them tied with the Vikings atop the division.
