Drew Brees’ one-yard run capped an 80-yard touchdown drive to open overtime that lifted the New Orleans Saints to a 43-37 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.
Brees’ score came after his apparent TD pass to Alvin Kamara was overturned on a review that determined Kamara’s knee was down before the goalline. Brees scored on a keeper on the following play, giving the Saints (2-1) the win on the day the 39-year-old quarterback set the NFL record for career completions. Brees passed for 396 yards and three touchdowns and ran for two scores. Kamara had 15 catches for 124 yards and ran for 66 yards.
Brees’ biggest play before the winner might have been his improbable seven-yard scoring run with 1:15 remaining that forced overtime. He ran to his left and then spun to avoid tackle attempts by Brian Poole and Robert Alford.
Atlanta’s Matt Ryan had his first career game with five scoring passes, including three to rookie Calvin Ridley. That wasn’t enough for the Falcons (1-2) against Brees and the high-scoring Saints, who gained 534 yards.
San Francisco 49ers 27-38 Kansas City Chiefs
After winning his first three starts, all away from Arrowhead Stadium, Patrick Mahomes finally made his regular-season home debut. Mahomes responded by torching San Francisco’s banged-up pass defense for 314 yards and three touchdowns in a 38-27 victory over the 49ers. But perhaps the most significant part of the day saw 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo leave the game with an injury. Early reports said that he had torn his ACL.
James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV)
Just watched Jimmy Garoppolo go from the tent straight to the cart in one step. pic.twitter.com/3iJ82wIHKG
Mahomes now has 13 touchdown passes without an interception, breaking the NFL record for TD passes in the first three weeks of a season. Peyton Manning threw 12 to start the 2013 campaign. Mahomes’ touchdown passes to Chris Conley, Demetrius Harris and Sammy Watkins , along with a pair of TD runs by Kareem Hunt, helped Kansas City (3-0) race to a 35-7 lead late in the first half. 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo had to leave the game in the fourth-quarter after taking a hard hit.
Green Bay Packers 17-31 Washington
Adrian Peterson ran for 120 yards and a pair of two-yard scores, Alex Smith threw two touchdown passes all in the first half and Washington held on for a 31-17 victory over a gimpy Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers, who again had complaints about a roughing-the-passer penalty on Clay Matthews.
On a rainy afternoon, Washington (2-1) moved out to leads of 14-0 and, at halftime, 28-10, by putting together TD drives of 74, 75, 79 and 98 yards. Smith connected for TDs of 46 yards to Paul Richardson on the game’s fourth play and of 9 to Jamison Crowder in the second quarter. Peterson, who ran 19 times Sunday, raised his career total to 102 rushing touchdowns, breaking a tie at 100 with Marshall Faulk and Shaun Alexander and moving him alone into seventh place in NFL history behind Emmitt Smith’s record of 164.
Playing with a bulky brace on his left knee, which he hurt in Week 1, Rodgers hobbled and limped around, and couldn’t do enough to get the Packers (1-1-1) back into the game.
Buffalo Bills 27-6 Minnesota Vikings
Josh Allen played with the poise of a well-seasoned quarterback for the Buffalo Bills by accounting for three touchdowns in his first road start in the NFL. Allen made Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins look like the raw rookie in a stunning 27-6 upset of the Vikings.
Cousins had three turnovers, including a lost fumble on a third-down sack inside Minnesota’s 20-yard line, on each of the first two possessions. Buffalo turned those recoveries into 10 points and was on cruise control by midway through the second quarter as the crowd at US Bank Stadium cranked up the boos.
After being outscored 75-9 over their first six quarters of the season, the Bills have enjoyed a 41-9 advantage over the last six periods.
New York Giants 27-22 Houston Texans
Eli Manning threw for 297 yards and two touchdowns and rookie Saquon Barkley added a score as the New York Giants got their first win with a 27-22 victory over the struggling Houston Texans.
The Giants (1-2) were up by 14 at halftime but had trouble moving the ball in the second half and the Texans (0-3) had cut the lead to five before Manning threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to Sterling Shepard with about two minutes left. Deshaun Watson threw a short touchdown pass to Lamar Miller with one second left to cut the lead to 27-22, but New York recovered the onside kick.
Watson threw for 385 yards and two scores, but his interception was one of two second-half turnovers by the Texans, off to their worst start since dropping their first four games of 2008. Odell Beckham Jr had nine receptions for 109 yards and Barkley finished with 82 yards rushing as the Giants came one point shy of matching their points total from their first two games combined.
Indianapolis Colts 16-20 Philadelphia Eagles
Carson Wentz threw a touchdown pass on his first drive in nine months, Wendell Smallwood ran in for the go-ahead score and the Philadelphia Eagles held on for a 20-16 victory over the Indianapolis Colts.
Adam Vinatieri tied Morten Andersen’s career record of 565 field goals by connecting on all three tries, but the Colts (1-2) couldn’t take advantage of two turnovers by Wentz inside the 20 in the second half.
The defending Super Bowl champion Eagles (2-1) needed two defensive stops against Andrew Luck in the final 90 seconds. Indy had a first down at the Eagles 11 and two cracks from the four-yard line, but Luck’s pass to TY Hilton sailed over his shoulder in the left corner of the end zone on third down and Derek Barnett sacked Luck on fourth down. The Colts got the ball again with 39 seconds remaining but couldn’t reach midfield. Jacoby Brissett threw a desperation pass on the final play that fell incomplete.
Oakland Raiders 20-28 Miami Dolphins
SOME TRICKERATION TO TAKE THE LEAD!
Receiver Albert Wilson threw a 52-yard touchdown pass to put the Miami Dolphins ahead midway through the fourth quarter, and then turned a short reception into a 74-yard score that sealed a 28-20 victory over the Oakland Raiders.
Miami coach Adam Gase used creative play-calling to overcome a wave of injuries and penalties, and a 17-minute deficit in time of possession. The Dolphins scored on a pair of shovel passes by Ryan Tannehill that each traveled less than a yard one on the flip to Wilson, and an earlier similar pass that Jakeem Grant caught before turning the corner for an 18-yard score.
Thanks to all the flashy plays, the Dolphins are 3-0 for only the third time since 1998. The Raiders, led by first-year coach Jon Gruden, are 0-3 for the first time since 2014, when they started 0-10.
Cincinnati Bengals 21-31 Carolina Panthers
Cam Newton threw for two touchdowns and ran for two others, Christian McCaffrey racked up a career-high 184 yards rushing and the Carolina Panthers handed the Cincinnati Bengals their first loss of the season 31-21.
Newton completed 15 of 24 passes for 150 yards and ran for 36 yards as the Panthers (2-1) won their seventh straight home game going back to last season.
McCaffrey, who tied a franchise record with 14 receptions last week against Atlanta, did his damage on the ground this time with 28 carries. He surpassed his previous career high of 66 yards rushing and became the first Carolina player in franchise history to post a 100-yard receiving game and a 100-yard rushing game in back-to-back weeks.
Englishman Efe Obada, the first player to make a 53-man roster from the recently formed NFL International Pathways Program turned in a huge game in his first NFL appearance, recording an interception, a key fourth-quarter sack and two quarterback pressures on Dalton. One of his pressures was initially ruled sack-fumble in the second quarter, but later overturned by instant replay to an incomplete pass.
Denver Broncos 14-27 Baltimore Ravens
Joe Flacco picked apart Denver’s depleted defense for 277 yards and a touchdown, and the Baltimore Ravens defeated the previously unbeaten Broncos 27-14. Connecting with eight receivers, Flacco went 25 for 40 without an interception on a rainy afternoon. He threw 28 passes in the first half alone, when Baltimore (2-1) took control.
Flacco’s success came against a Denver backfield that began the day without injured cornerback Adam Jones (thigh) and lost cornerback Tramaine Brock (groin) in the first quarter. As a result, rookie Isaac Yiadom saw significant playing time at right corner. Javorious Allen caught a 12-yard touchdown pass and ran for a score for the Ravens.
Tennessee Titans 9-6 Jacksonville Jaguars
Marcus Mariota came off the bench and directed three scoring drives, including one in the fourth quarter, and Tennessee beat Jacksonville 9-6 for their third straight victory in the series.
Mariota replaced Blaine Gabbert in the first quarter after Gabbert was knocked out of the game with a concussion. Mariota sat out last week’s victory against Houston because of an elbow injury sustained in the season opener.
Mariota had been experiencing arm weakness along with numbness and tingling in two fingers. The injury affects the velocity and spin he gets on the football. Mariota wore a glove on his injured right hand and was able to do just enough to beat the Jaguars (2-1) for the third straight time and fifth time in the past six meetings.