The Tennessee Titans sacked Tom Brady three times and hit him repeatedly as they beat New England 34-10 on Sunday, snapping a seven-game skid against the Patriots in Mike Vrabel’s first game as head coach against the team he helped win three Super Bowls.
It was the most sacks allowed in a game this season by the Patriots (7-3), and coach Bill Belichick pulled Brady for Brian Hoyer midway through the fourth quarter. Only Brett Favre (326) has played in more games, both regular season and postseason, as a quarterback than Brady, who suited up for the 300th time for the Pats on Sunday. He left the game having thrown for 254 yards and no TD passes.
Marcus Mariota capped each of the first two drives with TD passes, and Derrick Henry ran for a pair of TDs. Ryan Succop also added two field goals as the Titans (5-4) scored a season high in points after jumping out to a 17-3 lead in the first quarter. They now have beaten both of last season’s Super Bowl teams in Nashville.
Buffalo Bills 41-10 New York Jets
Matt Barkley sparked Buffalo’s bumbling offense with two touchdown passes, including one to offensive tackle Dion Dawkins. LeSean McCoy broke out of a season-long slump with 113 yards rushing and a pair of TD runs, and the Bills embarrassed the New York Jets 41-10.
Buffalo Bills (@buffalobills)
BIG MAN TOUCHDOWN!#BUFvsNYJ #GoBills pic.twitter.com/cDs20zxRvD
Barkley made his first start in nearly two years, and looked the best of any of the four quarterbacks the Bills (3-7) have trotted out this season. The 28-year-old journeyman was 15 of 25 for 232 yards while helping Buffalo snap a four-game losing streak as the Bills put up 451 yards of total offense.
Meanwhile, the hot seat under coach Todd Bowles has reached boiling point as the Jets (3-7) got manhandled by a team that entered with a league-low 96 points and had two touchdowns in its previous four games. The Jets have a bye-week break and the future of Bowles, in his fourth season, is in serious doubt.
New Orleans Saints 51-14 Cincinnati Bengals
Drew Brees threw three touchdown passes in the first half, moving ahead of Brett Favre for second place on the career list, and the New Orleans Saints rolled to their eighth straight victory, 51-14 over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Brees led the Saints to touchdowns on all five first-half possessions with a nearly perfect performance only two incompletions. His 17-yard TD to Michael Thomas with two seconds left in the half gave him 509 career touchdown passes, one more than Favre. Up next: Peyton Manning’s record 539. Brees had his way with the Bengals’ historically bad defense , even diving over the pile to score a one-yard touchdown. Cincinnati (5-4) became the first team in the Super Bowl era to give up 500 yards in three consecutive games; New Orleans finished with 509.
Atlanta Falcons 16-28 Cleveland Browns
Rookie Baker Mayfield threw a season-high three touchdown passes and rookie Nick Chubb streaked 92 yards for a TD and the Cleveland Browns ended a four-game losing streak with a stunning 28-16 win over the Atlanta Falcons.
NICH CHUBB TAKES IT TO THE HOUSE 😱 92 yds pic.twitter.com/AV67Pws1jG
The Browns (3-6-1) played their most complete game this season under interim coach Gregg Williams, their defensive coordinator who improved to 1-1 since replacing the fired Hue Jackson. Mayfield outplayed Falcons star quarterback Matt Ryan with a performance that further justifies Cleveland’s decision to take the QB with the No1 overall pick in this year’s draft. Mayfield completed his first 13 passes and finished 17 of 20 for 216 yards. He threw a 28-yard scoring pass to Rashard Higgins, a 13-yarder to Chubb and 11-yarder to Duke Johnson.
Arizona Cardinals 14-26 Kansas City Chiefs
Patrick Mahomes threw for 249 yards and two touchdowns, outplaying Arizona counterpart Josh Rosen, and the Kansas City Chiefs rolled past the Cardinals 26-14.
Mahomes threw both TD passes to Tyreek Hill, the second giving the Chiefs’ starter 31 for the season. That broke the franchise record set by Len Dawson in 1964 with plenty of games to go. Not to mention the playoffs, with the Chiefs (9-1) barreling toward the No1 seed in the AFC.
Rosen had 195 yards passing with a touchdown and two picks, taking several brutal hits in the fourth quarter. David Johnson ran for 98 yards with TDs on the ground and through the air, while Larry Fitzgerald passed Terrell Owens for No2 on the NFL’s career receiving yardage list late in the game. Fitzgerald finished with six catches for 50 yards to give him 15,952 for his brilliant career.
Jacksonville Jaguars 26-29 Indianapolis Colts
Andrew Luck threw three touchdown passes in the first half and the Indianapolis Colts’ defense forced a late turnover to preserve a 29-26 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Indy (4-5) have won three straight. Tight end Eric Ebron had a career-high three touchdowns, including one on a two-yard run, all in the first half. Blake Bortles threw for 319 yards and two TDs but the Jaguars (3-6) came up short when Kenny Moore III stripped the ball from Rashad Greene Sr and Malik Hooker recovered for the Colts with 1:24 to go. Initially, Greene was ruled down by contact, but it was overturned on a replay review from the booth. Jacksonville, last year’s AFC runner-up, have lost five straight and six of seven since starting 2-0.
Washington 16-3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had very little to show for gaining 501 yards offense in a 16-3 loss to Washington.
The Buccaneers became just the second team since 1940 to top 400 yards and score three or fewer points, according to Pro Football Reference. They join the then-St Louis Rams, who had 424 yards offense in a 24-3 loss to Green Bay in 2011.
Four turnovers, including two interceptions thrown by Ryan Fitzpatrick, didn’t help. Neither did kicker Chandler Catanzaro missing field-goal attempts from 30 and 48 yards, both wide right.
Detroit Lions 22-34 Chicago Bears
Mitchell Trubisky threw for 355 yards and three touchdowns, and the NFC North-leading Chicago Bears beat the Detroit Lions 34-22 to snap a 10-game losing streak against division opponents.
The Bears (6-3) had dropped nine of 10 against Detroit (3-6) and were seeking their first victory over a division opponent since October 2016. Chicago jumped out to a 26-7 halftime lead with Trubisky and Allen Robinson leading the way. And the Bears surpassed their win total from last year with their third straight victory. Trubisky completed 23 of 30 passes against a short-handed secondary, with standout cornerback Darius Slay sidelined by a knee injury.