Baltimore posts a big win against a surging opponent

The Ravens made a bold statement with a 38–6 victory over the Dolphins, snapping Miami’s six game winning streak. That was the largest margin of victory in this century against a team that had won its last six games. The last team to win by more than 30 points against a team on a winning streak of six or more games was Oakland, which routed Tampa Bay, 45–0, in 1999 after the Buccaneers had won their last six.

Lions stop Brees’ record streak

Drew Brees threw three interceptions but no touchdown passes as the Lions defeated the Saints, 28–13, at the Superdome. That snapped Brees’ NFL-record streak of 60 consecutive home games with at least one TD pass. Only two players had home-game TD-pass streaks that reached 40 games: Tom Brady, 47 (2009–14); and Ben Roethlisberger, who extended his streak to 43 games on Sunday. Brees had thrown 38 touchdowns in his previous 11 games at the Superdome.

Brady at home against a weak opponent? Book it

Tom Brady passed for 269 yards and one touchdown in the Patriots’ 26–10 victory over the Rams, who came into the game with a 4–7 record. Brady has a 43–4 mark starting against teams at least three games below .500, including 22–1 mark home, with his only such loss coming to the 4–7 Eagles last season.

Rodgers drives Packers to another December win at Lambeau Field

Aaron Rodgers led the Packers on a 98-yard drive that culminated in a 32-yard game-winning touchdown pass to Jordy Nelson in the Packers’ 21–13 victory over the Texans. That was the second-longest TD drive of Rodgers’ career, and the win was Rodgers’ 14th in a row at Lambeau Field during December. He has thrown 34 touchdown passes and only four interceptions in those 14 victories.

The only other quarterback to win 14 consecutive December starts at any venue is Tom Brady, who won 19 straight at Gillette Stadium (2002–12).

Johnson’s tour de force helps Cardinals down Redskins

David Johnson scored a pair of touchdowns and totaled 175 yards from scrimmage in the kind of all-around performance that has made him the object of fantasy owners’ dreams. Here’s what Johnson accomplished in the Cardinals’ 31–23 win over the Redskins:

You’ve heard of a pick-6, but what about a game-winning pick-2? Chiefs’ Berry had both.

Since 2008, when Matt Ryan joined the Falcons as the third pick in the NFL Draft, he has started 25 victories in which Atlanta trailed in the fourth quarter. That’s the highest such total in the NFL during that time, and Ryan appeared to be on his way to #26 when his 5-yard pass to Aldrick Robinson gave the Falcons a 28–27 lead with 4:32 to play.

But Atlanta opted for a two-point conversion attempt, and Eric Berry, who earlier had returned an interception 37 yards for a touchdown, picked off Ryan’s pass and returned for it for two points that gave the Chiefs a 29–28 victory. It was the first game-winning two-point return since the NFL adopted that rule last season.

Ben, Eli, and Rivers represent the Class of 2004

Ben Roethlisberger passed for 289 yards and Eli Manning for 195 in the Steelers’ 24–14 win over the Giants, as both quarterbacks passed the 3000-yard mark for the season. Philip Rivers, a fellow member of the NFL Draft class of 2004, has also exceeded 3000 passing yards this season.

Only two other drafts produced three different QBs that were similarly productive in their 13th season after being drafted (that is, passing for at least 3000 yards): 1983—John Elway, Dan Marino, and Jim Kelly in 1995; and 1993—Trent Green, Drew Bledsoe, and mark Brunell in 2005.

Bucs top Chargers with INT of Rivers-to-Inman connection

The Buccaneers iced their 28–21 victory at San Diego when Keith Tandy intercepted Philip Rivers in the end zone with 2:56 to play. Rivers’ pass was intended for Dontrelle Inman, and he had been picked off on only two of his previous 143 passes targeted for Inman.

Raiders arise in second half for big win over Bills

The Raiders trailed the Bills, 10–9, at halftime, but erupted for 29 points in the second half to post a 38–24 victory over Buffalo. That was Oakland’s highest second-half output after trailing at the half since 2000, when the Raiders overcame a 24–7 deficit at the intermission for a 38–31 win at Indianapolis against Peyton Manning in his third season in the NFL.

Oakland hadn’t scored as many as 38 points in a game since a 39–23 win over Denver in 2010. Since that game, every other NFL team except Cleveland had scored 38 or more points in at least one game.

Bears’ rookie Howard stars in win over 49ers

Jordan Howard ran for 117 yards and three touchdowns in the Bears’ 26–6 win over the 49ers, a result that could help decide which team gets the second pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. Howard was the fourth Bears rookie with 100 rushing yards and three TDs in the same game. The others were Willie Galimore (1957), Gale Sayers (1965), and Rashaan Salaam (1995). All four were at Chicago—the first two at Wrigley Field, the last two at Soldier Field.

Wentz ties rookie record but struggles again in Eagles’ loss

Carson Wentz tied an NFL rookie record with 36 completions, but his three interceptions helped the Bengals defeat the Eagles, 32–14. That mark was set in 1948 by Charlie Conerly (36-for-53) and previously matched by Chris Weinke (36-for-63 in 2001). Wentz was picked off only once on 157 passes in his first five games, but he has thrown 10 INTs in seven games since then.

Roby and Broncos make Bortles pay

The Jaguars outgained the Broncos, 333–206, but Bradley Roby broke the game open with a 51-yard interception return for a touchdown and Denver defeated Jacksonville, 20–10. The Broncos have won 16 of the last 17 games in which they scored on a pick-6, and with Blake Bortles at quarterback, that result was a strong possibility. Bortles has thrown a league-high total of 11 pick-6’s in his three seasons in the NFL.

Another game, another slice of NBA history for Westbrook

Anthony Davis scored 37 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, but no one who saw the Pelicans lose, 101–92, at Oklahoma City will remember anything other than Russell Westbrook’s fifth consecutive triple-double. It was a so-called “triple dozen”—the 10th of Westbrook’s NBA career—in which he scored 28 points with 17 rebounds and 12 assists, but also included 10 turnovers.

Only three other players in NBA history had five straight triple-doubles: Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, and Michael Jordan. One statistic that distinguishes Westbrook’s streak from the others is his total of 80 missed shots from the field, as he shot only 38 percent (48-for-128). But only Chamberlain had as many rebounds over a streak of five TDs (maxing out at 122) as Westbrook (72).

Ibaka thriving in new role with Magic

Serge Ibaka led the Magic with 21 points in a 98–92 win at Detroit. It was the sixth time this season that Ibaka led or shared Orlando’s game high in points. He did so only 10 times in 524 games with Oklahoma City.

Knicks throw another block party

For the second time in a week, two Knicks players blocked four shots in the same game as New York defeated Sacramento, 106–98. This time it was Kristaps Porzingis and Kyle O’Quinn (4 each). Last Monday, Porzingis (5) and Joakim Noah did it in a loss to Oklahoma City. The Knicks had only two other such games in this century: Wilson Chandler (5) and Amar’e Stoudemire (4) against the T’wolves in 2010, and Andrea Bargnani (4) and Jason Smith (4) against the 76ers in 2015.

Simmonds rules the Flyers’ power play

Wayne Simmonds scored two goals, both on power plays, to lead the Flyers to a 4–2 win at Nashville. This is the fifth time that Simmonds has scored two power play goals in one game since he was traded to the Flyers by the Kings in 2011. The Flyers are celebrating their 50th year in the NHL, but only three players have produced more multiple-PPG for the club than Simmonds: Tim Kerr (19), Scott Hartnell (8), and John LeClair (7).

If they gave out hats in LA for three assists, Kopitar would be the Chapeau King

Anze Kopitar assisted on three of the Kings’ four goals in their shootout loss to the Canadiens. It was Kopitar’s first three-assist game this season and his 15th game with three or more assists during 11 seasons with the Kings. That’s at least three times as many three-assist games as any player has produced for the Kings since Kopitar joined the team in October 2006. (Alexander Frolov is second with five such games.) But to put Kopitar’s achievement in a broader historical perspective, consider that Wayne Gretzky had three or more assists in a game 15 times during his first season in Los Angeles (1988–89).

Di Giuseppe scores, 3-on-3, after 60 goalless minutes

Phil Di Giuseppe’s first goal this season earned the Hurricanes a 1–0 overtime victory against the Lightning. This was the first NHL game this season in which neither team scored in regulation time. There were nine such games last season, and every one of those games was also decided by an overtime goal. For the first 10 seasons after the NHL introduced the shootout to eliminate ties (2005–06 through 2014–15) only 39 of the 79 games tied 0–0 through the first 60 minutes had a goal scored in overtime. Of course, the change to a 3-on-3 overtime format last season was a literal game changer.

Green scores a pair in Red Wings’ win

Mike Green scored two goals in the Red Wings’ 4–3 overtime win against the Islanders. (Green had an apparent third goal disallowed because of goaltender interference.) It was the second multiple-goal game this season for Green, who notched the first hat trick of his NHL career when he scored three goals in Detroit’s victory against Ottawa on October 17.

Green is the first Red Wings defenseman to produce two multi-goal games in one season since Hall of Famer Nicklas Lidstrom had a pair of two-goal games in 2008–09. This is the sixth season in which Green has recorded more than one multiple-goal game. He did that five times for Washington, with a high of five multi-goal games in 2008–09.

Hellebuyck solves the Blackhawks

Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves in the Jets’ 2–1 victory at Chicago. Hellebuyck, who posted a 4–0 shutout against the Blackhawks in Winnipeg on November 15, is the first goaltender to beat the Hawks twice this season. He is the second goaltender in Thrashers/Jets history with multiple wins versus Chicago in one season. Michael Hutchinson, who was Hellebuyck’s backup on Sunday, was 3–0–1 in four games for Winnipeg against the Blackhawks in 2014–15.