Special teams struggle play major role in Week 5 outcomes

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Blocked field goals. Botched holds. Bad snaps.

Wacky special teams contributed to wild finishes, upsets and more in Week 5.

NFL coaches always emphasize how it takes all three phases — offense, defense and special teams — to win games. That’s not a cliche. One big play can make all the difference. It happened across the league on Sunday.

Giants safety Isaiah Simmons blocked the potential tying field goal in the final minute and Bryce Ford-Wheaton returned it 60 yards for the clinching touchdown, helping underdog New York hold on for a 29-20 win at Seattle.

“I think this is my craziest play I ever made,” said Simmons, who leaped through a hole over a blocked lineman. “I think it’s just the fact that I jumped over.”

The 49ers benefited from cornerback Deommodore Lenoir returning a blocked field goal by Jordan Elliott for a 61-yard score. But San Francisco lost kicker Jake Moody to an ankle injury in the first half, and ended up having to go on fourth-and-23 from the 27 in the third quarter instead of letting punter Mitch Wishnowsky attempt a 45-yarder in a 24-23 loss to Arizona. Wishnowsky was good from 26 yards at the end of the second quarter.

“It (Moody’s injury) impacted it but the biggest thing was those turnovers,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said about an interception and fumble.

The Bengals blew three 10-point leads in the second half but still had a chance to defeat Baltimore in overtime when Evan McPherson lined up for a 53-yard attempt after Lamar Jackson lost a fumble. However, his kick sailed wide because holder Ryan Rehkow mishandled the snap.

“The snap was good. The snap came back really clean,” Rehkow said. “I think I just tried to get it down a little too quick, give Evan enough time to look at it, and I just didn’t get it down cleanly.”

McPherson refused to blame the rookie, saying he should’ve make the kick anyway.

The Ravens won a 41-38 shootout that featured nine TD passes combined from Jackson and Joe Burrow on Justin Tucker’s 24-yard field goal. Tucker connected on a 56-yarder with 1:35 remaining to send the game to overtime.

Miami’s special teams had an awful first half in New England but the Dolphins overcame a blocked punt, a bounced snap that led to one missed field goal and another field goal try that hit an upright.

They escaped with a 15-10 victory over the Patriots when Ja’Lynn Polk’s go-ahead TD catch with 1:02 left was overturned after replays showed his second heel came down on the end line.

The Texans beat Buffalo 23-20 thanks to superb kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn, who nailed a 59-yard field goal as time expired. Fairbairn also connected from 50 and 47, improving to 11 for 12 this season.

“It’s comforting to know you have a guy who can hit it at that critical moment,” Houston coach DeMeco Ryans said. “It’s clutch time and he stood up. He didn’t waver. He put it through the uprights. It’s comforting for everyone to know wherever we are, ‘Imi’ can make a play. When you’re in that situation, not a lot of time left, we know we got to get down quickly and we know we’re kicking it, wherever we end up we got to take a shot at it.”

Fairbairn had a chance to win it because punter Tommy Townsend pinned the Bills at the 3 with a 46-yard punt. Buffalo, which rallied from a 20-3 deficit, then mismanaged the clock after taking possession with just 32 seconds left.

Josh Allen threw three straight incomplete passes, using up only 16 seconds. Robert Woods returned the punt 13 yards to the Bills 46. C.J. Stroud completed a 5-yard pass, setting up Fairbairn’s kick.

“There’s a potential if the situation goes three straight runs, you run 6 seconds off potential each time, you may be in a similar situation,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said, explaining the strategy to pass three times because Houston had all of its timeouts. “So, either way, we got to do a better job and that starts with me 100%.”

Another blocked field goal almost played a role in the outcome in the final game of the day but the Cowboys got away with letting Pittsburgh swat down Brandon Aubrey’s 38-yard try in the third quarter. Dak Prescott tossed a 4-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Tolbert in the final minute to lift the Cowboys to a 20-17 victory over the Steelers.

That made six games where the game-winning score came in the final two minutes of regulation or overtime.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl