NFL schedule and results: Packers down Vikings, Cardinals outlast Bengals

Marshawn Lynch’s season may be in jeopardy. The veteran running back sat out Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers with an abdominal injury, and will reportedly have sports hernia surgery on Wednesday morning, Ian Rappaport of NFL.com reported on Tuesday.

The Seattle Seahawks did just fine without Lynch, beating the Niners 29-13 behind 255 total yards from backup Thomas Rawls. After the game, head coach Pete Carroll said that Lynch could be facing surgery, adding that the next few days will be important to Lynch’s season prospects.

The Patriots remained undefeated with a 20-13 victory over the Bills on Monday Night Football, but their air of invincibility has certainly diminished over the last few weeks. New England held off a Bills comeback attempt late in the fourth quarter to improve to 10-0 on the season, but the losses of Julian Edelman, Dion Lewis, and Nate Solder over the last few weeks have chipped away at their efficiency.

Now, that’s not to take away from the next men up, who performed admirably in relief. Danny Amendola caught nine passes for 117 yards filling in for Edelman (before being injured himself), and James white scored two touchdowns -- one through the air and one on the ground -- on just four touches in relief of Dion Lewis. But, Tom Brady was under pressure all night and their cobbled together offensive line, which saw more than a few in-game shuffles, struggled to protect him from Rex Ryan’s varied blitzes.

That didn’t happen, though, as the Cardinals kicked a last-second field goal to beat the Cincinnati Bengals 34-31. They now have a 60 percent chance at a bye, as opposed to Green Bay’s 38 percent.

SB Nation presents: Cam Newton dabbed all over Washington

Can someone remind Rex that there’s still a whopping two whole quarters left in the game? Plus, that headset is probably ridiculously expensive. There’s still hope for discarded technology and the Bills!

The NFL has another ugly concussion situation on its hands. This time it’s St. Louis Rams quarterback Case Keenum. He took a hit and banged his head on the ground with one minute left to play in Sunday’s 16-13 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Despite showing the obvious signs of a concussion, as laid out by the league’s own concussion protocol, he was allowed to continue playing.

It looked an awful lot like the situation with Colt McCoy in 2011, a situation so egregious and so poorly handled that it prompted the NFL to undertake a major rewrite of the rules governing how players suffering from head injuries are treated. Somehow, through a combination of negligence and ignorance, another player was allowed to stay in the game.

Late in Sunday’s terrible game between the St. Louis Rams and the Baltimore Ravens, Rams quarterback Case Keenum took a sack and was seemingly woozy afterward after hitting his head on the ground. At a glance, it appeared he may be suffering symptoms of a concussion. At the very least, he should have been evaluated.

Instead, the people tasked with looking after Keenum’s health -- Rams coaches and training staff, and an NFL injury spotter in the booth with the authority to contact officials on the field and call a medical timeout -- let him stay in the game. The Rams even sent their head trainer, Reggie Scott, onto the field to talk with Keenum after the hit. Keenum took another sack two plays later and fumbled the ball away to the Ravens, who then kicked a game-winning field goal.

Dalton took advantage, beating a blitz with a 41-yard middle screen to Bernard that set up Jeremy Hill’s 2-yard run to give the Bengals a 14-7 lead at halftime.

Hill’s second touchdown, this one from 1 yard, pulled the Bengals within 28-21 with 11:26 left in the game, and the Cincinnati defense was able to force another punt. However, Marcus Golden forced a Dalton fumble, giving Arizona the ball on the Bengals 9.

Prior to every home game, the Seattle Seahawks have someone raise their 12 flag. Typically it’s an athlete or celebrity with strong ties to Seattle. On Sunday former Mariners pitcher Randy Johnson had the honor.

So what do the special guests do the rest of the game? Some might hang out on the sideline or watch the game from a suite. Johnson spent the game on the sidelines alright, but as a photographer.

After reports that the team was getting tired of his failure to even show up on time for meetings, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones revealed that, after a meeting last week, Hardy promised to work really hard on fixing his behavior.

“He is aware that everything he does -- his personality, his style, his enthusiasm -- it’s all going to be interpreted negatively,” Jones said after Sunday’s win over Miami.. “If he’s not aware of that, then he’s hurting a lot of people.

The same day coaches, training staff and a designated injury spotter missed Case Keenum’s obvious concussion symptoms, referees failed to throw a penalty flag on what was a clear helmet-to-helmet during Sunday night’s game between the Bengals and Cardinals. There’s little debate here: Arizona safety Deone Bucannon led with his head when he hit Cincinnati wide receiver A.J. Green.

Though Bucannon was not flagged, former NFL vice president of officiating Mike Pereira was certain that the safety will earn a fine. Unfortunately, a retroactive punishment won’t ease concerns about the safety of the game.

Prior to the injury, Revis was struggling to cover Houston Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who had five receptions for 118 yards and two touchdowns Sunday. His second touchdown, a 20-yard grab over Williams, came immediately after Revis left the game.

The St. Louis Rams and Baltimore Ravens played one of the ugliest games of football between any two teams this season on Sunday. They combined for six turnovers on the day -- the Ravens throwing two interceptions and the Rams losing four (!) fumbles.

An ugly game got the dreary ending it deserved.

Sunday’s early game didn’t offer much in the way of offensive excitement. Fortunately, we had Cam Newton and the Panthers to keep the folks in the RedZone studio on their toes. Concerned moms of Nashville must have motivated Newton this week; he was truly super, throwing five touchdown passes in a 44-16 walloping of the Washington NFL team.

Newton’s five touchdown passes tied a Panthers franchise record, set by Steve Beurelein’s five-touchdown performance in 1999. (And now you have an excuse to mention Steve Beuerlein in casual conversation this week).

Aaron Rodgers had a moment with the official tablet of the NFL earlier in the season, and on Sunday, Jay Cutler did, too.

There are any number of reasons Cutler might have been throwing his tablet, but the most likely is that he told his mom he wanted an iPad.

This is what it means to never give up on a play. Eric Decker fights for this football more than most people fight for anything in their lives. You wouldn’t exactly blame him for thinking this ball was dead -- after all, not only was it broken up, but it hovered by the defender’s ear hole.

Decker didn’t quit and saw an opportunity to snatch that sucker like it was nothing.

Brock Osweiler is doing his best while playing in place of the injured Peyton Manning for the Broncos. He tackled his own running back.

On fourth-and-1 from the 2-yard line, the Broncos were attempting to power into the end zone, or at least pick up a first down. Instead, they turned the ball over on downs when Osweiler tripped Ronnie Hillman. Seems like a bad strategy.

Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch won’t play against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. Lynch is dealing with an abdomen injury and was listed as questionable on the official injury report Friday.

That designation is typically supposed to denote a 50 percent chance of playing, but it is the same listing Lynch had the previous week and he played in that game. Head coach Pete Carroll said Lynch was expected to play, so it’s somewhat of a surprise that he’s out.

Freeman was running very well before he left Sunday’s game. He had three carries for 43 yards, with a long of 39 yards before exiting the game.

This season, Freeman has been one of the league’s most productive running backs. He has 164 carries for 721 yards and nine touchdowns. That’s a per-carry average of 4.4 yards. Before the season, running back was labeled a huge weakness for the Falcons, and they drafted Tevin Coleman with the intention of eventually making him the starter.

The Cowboys struggled without Tony Romo, even with his replacements throwing the ball with their dominant hands.

Romo is back and the Cowboys have looked significantly better, even on plays where he throws with his left hand. Maybe he could have been playing all along.

Promoting Gase to head coach would’ve been a signal that the Broncos were fully invested in Manning for this season. From 2012-2014, the Broncos finished second, first and fourth in points scored with Gase and Manning working together. Manning spoke highly of Gase in his acceptance speech for the Bart Starr Award over the winter.

“Adam Gase and I probably spent as much time together as any Bronco employee these last three years and sorry that changes are part of it,” Manning said. “I guess you become used to it, but you don’t become numb to it, there is an emotional attachment to guys that become friends.”