Oct. 11—The New England Patriots entered Sunday's game with only four available wide receivers. They needed some of their young reserves to step up. Kyle Williams (Washington State) and Efton Chism III (Eastern Washington) came through for the Pats, who put together their most impressive offensive performance of the season in a 45-17 rout of the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
Williams had a career day, recording 91 yards on three catches with a long touchdown reception. Chism — a week after hauling in a game-winning, one-handed TD grab against Buffalo — continued to make his case for an expanded role, catching five passes for 57 yards, both career highs.
A third-round pick out of WSU last year, Williams showed some explosive flashes last season, finishing his rookie campaign with 209 yards and three TDs. He got off to a slow start this year, entering Sunday with 44 yards on two receptions.
But the 5-foot-11, 190-pound speedster enjoyed a breakout Sunday, and broke the game open for the Patriots early in the third quarter. On a second-and-19 — two plays after he was tagged with an offensive pass interference penalty — Williams torched his defender off the line and raced down the sideline, then caught a perfectly placed pass from Drake Maye for a 34-yard TD, which put New England ahead 28-7.
"(Williams) probably started blocking his guy a little too soon on a screen and they called him for offensive pass interference, and he doesn't let that affect him," Pats coach Mike Vrabel said. "He comes back and runs an amazing route, and Drake gives him a great ball."
"I see man to man — that's my bread and butter," Williams added of the play during his postgame news conference. "That's something I pride myself on. ... (Maye) looked that way and I just made the most of it."
Later in the third quarter, Williams broke free on a deep post and came down with a 49-yard reception. The Pats finished that possession with a field goal to expand their lead to 38-10. Williams also averaged 23.7 yards on three kick returns.
"Definitely a confidence booster," Williams said of his performance. "Something that I really needed to just bring the joy back for me. And it's back now.
After playing the hero role last weekend, Chism provided steady contributions for the Pats offense. Some highlights: He caught a 17-yard pass to kickstart the team's second TD drive; caught a pass on a slant and threw a lateral to TreVeyon Henderson for a big gain on a third-and-long early in the second quarter; snagged a 13-yard reception a few plays before Williams' score and converted a third down with an 8-yard catch early in the fourth quarter.
The Pats' receiving corps was left shorthanded after veteran standout Mack Hollins was placed on injured reserve with a calf injury earlier this week. Star pass-catcher A.J. Brown has been on IR since suffering a high-ankle sprain in the season opener.
Linebacker Christian Elliss (Idaho) led the Pats with seven total tackles and had a QB hit.
—Cooper Kupp (EWU) appeared to have extended the Seattle Seahawks' final possession with a fourth-down conversion, but the refs ruled that the veteran pass-catcher was pushed out just before reaching past the line to gain, sealing the Seahawks' 32-29 loss to San Francisco.
Kupp caught a short pass outside on a fourth-and-10 with just under a minute remaining, made a defender miss and dove for the marker as he was being wrestled to the sideline. Officials reviewed the play and upheld the call that he was just short, and a frustrating game for the Seahawks came to an end.
Kupp finished with 15 yards on two catches. Seattle right tackle Abraham Lucas (WSU) had a key block on Emanuel Wilson's short rushing TD early in the game, but the Coug great did allow one of five sacks on quarterback Sam Darnold, and the Seahawks' O-line couldn't get much of a push in the ground game, which produced only 89 yards on 3.4 yards per carry.
—Washington linebacker Frankie Luvu (WSU) had his most productive game of the season and made a number of run stops during the Commanders' 27-27 tie with the New York Giants.
The former All-Pro and Washington team captain totaled nine tackles (six solo) — five of his tackles resulted in gains of 3 yards or fewer.
Luvu made a key play on a third-and-short early in the third quarter. He burst through the line, wrapped up backup Giants quarterback J.J. McCarthy on a designed run and suplexed him hard to the turf for no gain, forcing a field-goal try. Luvu also laid a hit on New York quarterback Jameis Winston as he threw in the first quarter, forcing an incompletion.
—Tennessee quarterback Cam Ward (WSU) endured another woeful day and the Titans remained winless, falling 26-3 to Houston.
The Titans' first possession was promising. Ward led a drive that ended in a field goal. But the Titans' longest drive after that went for just 27 yards. Tennessee punted four times, lost two turnovers and turned the ball over on downs twice.
Early in the second quarter, Ward was hit while attempting a pass and lofted the ball directly into the hands of Texans linebacker Jake Hansen.
Ward finished 23 of 36 for 170 yards and a pick, and took four sacks. Through five games, the second-year pro has 896 passing yards and three TDs against three interceptions with two rushing TDs.
Asked postgame if he would consider benching Ward in an effort to find a spark for the NFL's bottom offense, Titans coach Robert Saleh replied, "No. Cam's our starting quarterback. We're gonna give him every opportunity to be successful this year. And we're gonna continue working with him, grinding with him and trying to help him get better."
—Los Angeles Chargers linebacker Daiyan Henley (WSU) tallied six tackles and a pass break-up, but his team's strong defensive effort went to waste in a 23-17 loss to Denver, which managed just 224 yards yet still managed to get past a winless L.A. team and its flailing offense.
Henley broke up a third-down pass in the red zone late in the second quarter, forcing the Broncos to settle for a field goal and a 10-3 halftime lead.
—Cincinnati punter Austin Rehkow (Central Valley) averaged 51.7 yards on three punts, with a long of 66 and two inside the 20-yard line, during the Bengals' 31-24 win at Miami.
—The New Orleans Saints were without their defensive captain, linebacker Kaden Elliss (Idaho), who was sidelined with a calf injury for the team's 23-13 loss to Minnesota. It's the second straight game Elliss has missed with the injury.