AFC South

Tennessee Titans running back Adrian Peterson gave his game-used jersey from Sunday's 28-16 victory over the Los Angeles Rams to his father.

The future Hall of Famer ran for 21 yards and one touchdown in his Titans debut. Per NFL Research, he became the 12th player in league history to collect 125 TDs after crossing the goal line in the fourth quarter.

Following the game, Peterson confirmed a report by ESPN's Adam Schefter and said he turned down the opportunity to compete on Dancing with the Stars in order to prolong his NFL career. 

With Sunday's outcome, Tennessee is now first in the AFC at 7-2. Even if Peterson is unable to be his old self with the Titans, the 36-year-old might finally taste the kind of team success that proved elusive at his previous stops. 

The Tennessee Titans earned a 28-16 win over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday night. Star Titans wide receiver A.J. Brown got into it with All-Pro Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey during the game, and Brown had some words for him afterward.

"I don't mind the chirping, but little things after the play, little dirty stuff, I'm not going for it. ... I'm not taking no s--t," Brown told reporters.

He added: "He has my number if he wants to see me. That ain't no threat."

Ramsey picked off a pass intended for Brown in the first quarter and appeared to shove Brown after the play.

Brown finished with a team high of five receptions and 42 receiving yards. He said he wasn't happy with his performance, but he was satisfied with the win.

"I definitely left some plays out there," Brown said. "We won. I enjoy that."

Quarterback Ryan Tannehill threw for 143 yards and a touchdown and rushed for another score as the Titans improved to 7-2. Veteran running back Adrian Peterson, who the Titans signed earlier this week, had just 21 yards but found the end zone in his first appearance.

Tennessee's defense was the catalyst to securing its fifth straight victory. The Titans had back-to-back interceptions that resulted in 14 points in 11 seconds in the second quarter, one of which was a Kevin Byard pick off Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford that he returned 24 yards for a score. Jeffrey Simmons had three of Tennessee's five sacks as the Titans shut down the league's fifth-highest-scoring offense coming into Sunday.

"For us, this is what we expected. We expected to come down here and get a win," Brown said. "We had no doubt coming down here that we weren't gonna lose today. We had a lot of confidence going into this game, and we proved that today."

The Titans will go for their sixth consecutive win next Sunday at home against the New Orleans Saints.

Multiple teams were willing to send three first-round picks to the Houston Texans in a trade for Deshaun Watson, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network.

No deals were finalized prior to the 2021 trade deadline, however, because of Watson's ongoing legal situation.

Twenty-two women have filed civil lawsuits against the three-time Pro Bowler, levying allegations of sexual assault and misconduct. Ten women also lodged formal complaints with Houston police, eight of whom are among the group that filed civil lawsuits.

Some wondered whether Watson would reach settlements in the civil suits ahead of the deadline to clear the way for any trade.

Tony Buzbee, the attorney for the 22 plaintiffs, told Fox 26 Sports the Miami Dolphins "at some point ... wanted 22 settlements." Buzbee added his clients were asked to agree to "a very, very robust non-disclosure agreement" and wasn't sure whether Watson's representatives or the Dolphins were behind the push.

Dolphins general manager Chris Grier denied the team engaged in any such pursuit.

"Any suggestion that this organization would be dealing behind the scenes and trying to influence decisions is absolutely ridiculous and categorically false," he said. "So, to say that we would be involved in that is just flat wrong."

Along with the Dolphins, Pelissero reported the Carolina Panthers discussed a trade with Miami and that the Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos "also did due diligence on Watson."

The 26-year-old has yet to appear in a game for Houston this season. The team has made him a healthy scratch through its first nine games.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in October the league has yet to glean enough information that would warrant suspending Watson or placing him on the commissioner's exempt list.

Now that he's going to remain with the Texans for the remainder of the 2021 season, it's unclear whether the star signal-caller will continue to be frozen out of their lineup.

Josh Allen sacked Josh Allen, and history was made. Wait...what?

Let's try that again. Jacksonville Jaguars pass-rusher Josh Allen sacked Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen on Sunday, making it the first time in NFL history a player sacked a quarterback with the same name.

Suffice it to say, it was the sort of thing that had Twitter very excited:

Oh, and in case you think that last one is inconceivable, guess what? Josh Allen also intercepted Josh Allen on Sunday:

Oh, did you think it was over there? Did you think that there wouldn't also be a JOSH ALLEN FUMBLE RECOVERY AFTER JOSH ALLEN LOST THE BALL?

We live in truly wild times. Feel free to insert your "pointing Spider-Man" memes here.

Jacksonville Jaguars rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence returned to the game after he was taken to the locker room with trainers immediately suffering a right ankle injury in Sunday's matchup against the Buffalo Bills at TIAA Bank Field, per Mark Long of the Associated Press. 

Lawrence quickly returned to the contest despite the scare.

Expectations are off the charts for Lawrence after the Jaguars selected him with the first overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft. The 22-year-old was seemingly penciled into that pick for three years after he led Clemson to a national title as a true freshman in 2018. 

Lawrence finished his college career with a 34-2 record as the starting quarterback. He threw for 10,098 yards, ran for 943 yards and accounted for 108 touchdowns in 40 appearances. 

Things have gotten off to a rough start for Lawrence and the Jaguars. Coming into Sunday, he was only completing 59.6 percent of his passes, with more interceptions (nine) than touchdowns (eight) after seven games. 

The Jaguars did a good job of surrounding Lawrence with quality talent on the offense to ease his transition to the NFL. They already had DJ Chark Jr., Laviska Shenault Jr. and James Robinson as holdovers from the 2020 team.

Jacksonville also selected running back Travis Etienne in the first round of the 2021 draft, but he is out for the year with a Lisfranc injury.

The Jaguars have pieces in place that should help backup quarterback C.J. Beathard if Lawrence were to miss time in the future, but their ceiling in 2021 and beyond depends on the rookie's health and development. 

Indianapolis Colts head coach Frank Reich was quite the fan of Carson Wentz's performance during Thursday's 45-30 win over the New York Jets.

"Carson Wentz was freaking flawless tonight," he told reporters. "Flawless."

Wentz was dialed in from the start and finished 22-of-30 passing for 272 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions.

The Colts scored touchdowns on all four of their first-half drives with the quarterback finding Jack Doyle and Michael Pittman Jr. for scores during that stretch. It put the Jets in comeback mode from the early going, which was a daunting task considering they were already without Zach Wilson and lost quarterback Mike White to a forearm injury in the first half.

Josh Johnson actually put up solid numbers for the Jets at 27-of-41 passing for 317 yards, three touchdowns and one interception, but much of his production came in garbage time after the outcome was essentially decided.

It was far from a one-man show on Indianapolis' side, as Wentz took advantage of a strong rushing attack that set the tone out of the gate.

Jonathan Taylor was unstoppable with 172 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, and Nyheim Hines started the scoring by bouncing to the outside for a long touchdown run in the first quarter.

Taylor in particular forced New York to devote more attention to slowing the run, which opened up the aerial attack for Wentz to take advantage.

The Colts are still just 4-5 overall but improved to 4-2 in their last six games after an abysmal start. With a winnable game against the Jacksonville Jaguars up next, they should continue their momentum and move to .500 as they look to set up a late playoff run down the stretch.

If Wentz remains "flawless," Indianapolis will likely be a factor into December.           

Jonathan Taylor is still the Indianapolis Colts' top running back. However, Nyheim Hines' fantasy stock rose following a 45-30 win over the New York Jets on Thursday night. 

Hines, who is second on the depth chart behind Taylor, had six carries for a season-high 74 yards and one touchdown against New York. He also had four catches for 34 yards. 

The 24-year-old entered Thursday's game with 35 carries for 117 yards and one touchdown, in addition to 20 catches for 153 yards. 

Hines saw more looks against the Jets with wide receiver T.Y. Hilton out due to a concussion. Don't expect him to have similar production in the coming weeks, especially if Hilton returns.

Taylor entered Thursday's game against New York with a team-high 649 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns. He sees the field more frequently and will continue to do so through the remainder of the season unless he gets injured. 

However, Hines might be a solid addition for next weekend as the Colts are slated to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars, who have allowed the third-most rushing touchdowns in the NFL. But there's a caveat.

Hines is rostered in 53 percent of Yahoo Sports fantasy leagues, so fantasy managers will be lucky if they can snag him this far into the season. 

Overall, the fourth-round pick probably isn't a good pickup for the future when considering the teams Indy has to play in the coming weeks. After facing the Jags, the Colts will face the Buffalo Bills and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Buffalo's defense has allowed just 86.6 (four yards per attempt) rushing yards per game this season and 182.4 passing yards per game. Those both rank toward the best in the NFL. 

Tampa Bay's rushing defense has been the best in the league this year, allowing just 78 yards per game and 3.9 yards per attempt. Hines would have to be more of a threat in the passing game to have an impact against the Buccaneers. 

The New York Jets' injury issues at quarterback continue to get worse. 

Backup QB Mike White suffered a right forearm injury during the first quarter of Thursday night's game against the Indianapolis Colts and was replaced by third-string signal-caller Josh Johnson. 

White appeared to suffer the injury on a 19-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Moore. 

White's injury is an awful blow for the Jets. The 26-year-old was thrust into the starting lineup after rookie quarterback Zach Wilson suffered a knee injury in Week 7 against the New England Patriots.

White was impressive in a Week 8 start against the Cincinnati Bengals, completing 37 of 45 passes for 405 yards and three touchdowns against two interceptions in a 34-31 victory. He also tossed the winning score with 3:45 to play.

The performance earned him AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors, and his game-day jersey and football were sent to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The Dallas Cowboys selected the Florida native in the fifth round of the 2018 draft. After being waived by the Cowboys in 2019, he joined the Jets' practice squad and signed a reserve/future contract.

Johnson, who was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the fifth round of the 2008 draft, also appeared in last weekend's win over Cincinnati, completing two of four passes for 17 yards.

The 35-year-old spent the 2020 season in the XFL and the 2019 season in the Alliance of American Football. Before last weekend's game against the Bengals, he hadn't played in an NFL contest since Week 17 of the 2018 campaign.

If Wilson and White can't play in Week 10, veteran Joe Flacco, whom New York recently acquired in a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles, would likely be in line to start. The one-time Super Bowl champion spent the 2020 season with the Jets before signing with the Eagles in March.

In five games (four starts) for the Jets last season, Flacco went 0-4 and completed 55.2 percent of his passes for 864 yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions.   

The Houston Texans named Tyrod Taylor their starting quarterback for Week 9's game against the Miami Dolphins on Thursday.

"He's healthy. He's our starting quarterback," Texans coach David Culley told reporters.

Taylor has been out of the lineup since suffering a hamstring injury in Week 2. Rookie Davis Mills has started in his place, losing six straight games.

Taylor was off to a promising start to the 2021 season before his injury, throwing for 416 yards and three touchdowns without an interception while adding another 55 yards and a score on the ground. The Texans are Taylor's fifth NFL team and he's had a moderate amount of success in every stop, but his 2015 to 2017 run in Buffalo was the only time he's been a starter for an extended period.

Safety Justin Reid called Taylor's return a "breath of fresh air."

The Texans are clearly building for the future, and Taylor isn't their long-term option under center.

That said, fantasy managers who are in a pinch could insert Taylor into their lineups and expect relatively consistent performances because of his running ability. Playing against a 1-7 Dolphins team is also a strong first matchup to have him back.