Buccaneers 20, Saints 10
Tom Brady helped incite a skirmish that led to the ejections of Marshon Lattimore and Bucs receiver Mike Evans, then threw a go-ahead touchdown pass to Breshad Perriman that lifted Tampa Bay to a 20-10 victory over New Orleans on Sunday.
Brady, who’d lost four straight regular-season meetings with the Saints, again struggled for the first three quarters of this latest encounter between NFC South rivals.
After his third-down incomplete pass early in the fourth quarter, Brady was shouting at Lattimore when running back Leonard Fournette entered the fray and shoved the Saints’ star cornerback. Lattimore responded by shoving Fournette, and Evans rushed in and flattened Lattimore — much like he did in a 2017 game between these teams.
On Tampa Bay’s next series, Brady marched the Bucs (2-0) to the New Orleans 28 and then hit Perriman in the back right corner of the end zone to make it 10-3.
The Bucs’ defense squelched the Saints’ comeback bid by intercepting Jameis Winston three times in the final 12 minutes. Jamel Dean made the first two picks — one on a deep pass intended for rookie Chris Olave at the goal line. Later, safety Mike Edwards returned an interception near the right sideline 68 yards for a touchdown to make it 20-3.
Brady finished 18 of 34 for 190 yards and the lone TD.
Patriots 17, Steelers 14
The New England Patriots avoided an 0-2 state by defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers 17-14.
One big throw from quarterback Mac Jones to Nelson Agholor right before halftime. A muffed punt that found its way into the hands of Brenden Schooler to set up a pivotal touchdown run by Damien Harris. A leaping pass deflection by linebacker Matthew Judon in the fourth quarter, all of it topped off by 6:33 of pure physical domination by an offensive line that let the Patriots drain the clock on their way to beating the Steelers for the 13th time in 17 meetings under coach Bill Belichick.
Jones bounced back from a rough Week 1 performance to throw for 253 yards, including a 44-yard heave to a leaping Agholor that gave the Patriots a 10-3 lead at the break. The defense forced a pair of three-and-outs in the fourth quarter after the Steelers had drawn within three.
Pittsburgh’s defense sagged late without star outside linebacker T.J. Watt, who is out indefinitely with a left pectoral injury.
Mitch Trubisky threw for 168 yards with a touchdown and an interception for the Steelers.
Giants 19, Panthers 16
Graham Gano kicked a 56-yard field goal with 3:34 to play, and the New York Giants beat the Carolina Panthers 19-16.
New York improved to 2-0 for the first time since 2016 and sent the Panthers to their ninth straight loss.
The Panthers (0-2) dropped a 26-24 decision to Cleveland on a late field goal last week. On Sunday, they spotted the Giants six points early and allowed New York to come through late.
Gano also hit from 51, 36 and 33 yards and Daniel Jones found rookie tight end Daniel Bellinger on a 16-yard touchdown pass as the Giants responded in the second half after the game was tied 6-6 at the break.
Baker Mayfield hit DJ Moore for a 16-yard touchdown for a 13-6 lead early in the second half. Eddy Pineiro kicked field goals of 31, 32 and 38 yards for Carolina, the last one tying the game at 16-all with 10:40 to play.
Saquon Barkley rushed for 72 yards on 21 carries for the Giants.
Jets 31, Browns 30
Joe Flacco fired a 15-yard touchdown pass to rookie Garrett Wilson with 22 seconds left as the New York Jets rallied for an improbable 31-30 win over the stunned Cleveland Browns, who blew a two-touchdown lead in the final two minutes.
On third-and-10, Flacco found a streaking Wilson over the middle. Earlier, the 10th overall pick had dropped a crucial pass, allowing the Browns (1-1) to open their two-score lead.
The Jets (1-1) scored two TDs in a span of 60 seconds to wreck Cleveland’s home opener. According to ESPN Stats, teams had won 2,229 consecutive games when leading by at least 13 points in the final two minutes.
The last team to blow that kind of lead was the Browns in the 2001 season against the Bears.
Jacoby Brissett, starting while Deshaun Watson serves his 11-game NFL suspension for alleged sexual misconduct, threw a TD pass to Amari Cooper and finished 22 of 27 for 229 yards.
Jaguars 24, Colts 0
The Indianapolis Colts were shut out for the third time in the past six seasons — all in Jacksonville.
The Colts (0-1-1) didn’t stack up with Jacksonville (1-1) at all Sunday.
Trevor Lawrence threw two touchdown passes to Christian Kirk, and the Jaguars harassed Matt Ryan early and often while handling short-handed Indianapolis 24-0 on Sunday for its eighth consecutive home victory in the series.
Ryan was sacked five times, pressured way more often and threw three interceptions. Ryan and cornerback Stephon Gilmore were supposed to help get the Colts over the hump in 2022. With those additions, Indy was picked by some to win the division.
Instead, the Colts are winless after two AFC South games.
Ryan completed 16 of 30 passes for 195 yards, finishing with a passer rating of 34 — the third lowest of his career.
The Colts played without three starters: All-Pro linebacker Shaquille Leonard and receivers Michael Pittman and Alec Pierce. Losing Pittman exposed Ryan’s receiving group, and Jacksonville took advantage.
The Jags loaded the box and held Jonathan Taylor to 54 yards rushing.
Lions 36, Commanders 27
Jared Goff threw two of his four touchdown passes to Amon-Ra St. Brown to help Detroit beat the Washington Commanders 36-27 Sunday.
The No. 2 pick in the NFL draft, Aidan Hutchinson, had three sacks in the first half to help the Lions (1-1) lead 22-0 at halftime. Will Harris had an interception in the second half to stunt the Commanders (1-1) as they tried to rally.
Washington made adjustments to give Carson Wentz more time in the second half. Wentz took advantage, pulling his team within seven points in the third quarter with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Curtis Samuel, a 20-yard pass to Logan Thomas and 2-point conversion to rookie Jahan Dotson.
Detroit restored its cushion when Goff converted a third down by barely getting a pass off under pressure to D’Andre Swift, who slipped to the turf before regaining his footing and cutting across the field for a 22-yard touchdown.
Then Goff threw an 11-yard touchdown to St. Brown, giving Detroit a 36-21 lead.
Detroit’s quarterback was 20 of 34 for 256 yards with four touchdowns, a week after helping Detroit score 35 points in a three-point loss to Philadelphia.
Wentz completed 30 of 46 passes for 337 yards with three touchdowns and an interception, leading an offense that didn’t have a first down until its sixth possession. He is the first quarterback, since at least 1950, to throw for 300-plus yards and at least three touchdown passes in his first two starts on a new team.
Dolphins 42, Ravens 38
Tua Tagovailoa threw for 469 yards and six touchdowns, four of which came during the final period, and the Miami Dolphins rallied from a 21-point deficit to beat Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens 42-38 on Sunday.
Tagovailoa’s 7-yard touchdown pass to Jaylen Waddle with 14 seconds left completed the incredible comeback after Miami trailed 35-14 with under 13 minutes remaining.
The Dolphins improved to 2-0 under new coach Mike McDaniel.
This was Tagovailoa’s first 400-yard passing game, and his six TDs tied a team record held by Bob Griese and Dan Marino.
Miami had 233 yards in the fourth quarter.
Devin Duvernay returned the opening kickoff 103 yards for a touchdown, and the Ravens never trailed until the final seconds. They might have scored a TD on all four of their offensive possessions in the first half if not for a fumble near the Miami goal line.
Cowboys 20, Bengals, 17
Cooper Rush, Dak Prescott’s backup now has a 2-0 career record filling in for the Dallas Cowboys, with winning drives on his final possession both times.
Rush led the drive to Brett Maher’s 50-yard field goal as time expired, and the Cowboys held on to defeat the Cincinnati Bengals after losing a two-touchdown halftime lead.
Joe Burrow got the defending AFC champion Bengals even at 17-17 by leading a 19-play, 83-yard drive in the fourth quarter, throwing a 5-yard touchdown pass to Tee Higgins and finding Tyler Boyd for the 2-point conversion.
Cincinnati (0-2) erased the same 17-3 deficit in the opener against Pittsburgh, only to miss two chances to win on a PAT kick in the final seconds of regulation and a short field goal in overtime of the 23-20 loss.
Now the Bengals are the first defending AFC champion to start 0-2 since 1999, when Denver was coming off consecutive Super Bowl victories and started 0-4 after John Elway retired.
Cardinals 29, Raiders 23 OT
Byron Murphy Jr. scooped up a fumble and scored in overtime for a wild 29-23 Arizona Cardinals victory over the Las Vegas Raiders.
Murphy returned Hunter Renfrow’s fumble 59 yards for a touchdown with 3:51 left in overtime, and the Cardinals rallied from that 20-point deficit in the second half.
Arizona (1-1) trailed 23-7 with less than nine minutes left in regulation, but Kyler Murray led two TD drives and two 2-point conversions. He passed for 277 yards, rushed for 28 more.
Murray then scrambled for a 3-yard touchdown on the final snap of regulation before hitting A.J. Green for the tying 2-point conversion.
The Raiders stopped Murray on downs on Arizona’s opening drive of overtime, but Renfrow then made a catch and fumbled for the second consecutive play. Isaiah Simmons knocked it loose, and Murphy snagged the ball and sprinted down the Cardinals’ sideline.
Rams 31, Falcons 27
Jalen Ramsey picked off Marcus Mariota’s pass intended for Bryan Edwards in the end zone, allowing the Los Angeles Rams to hold on for a 31-27 victory over the Atlanta Falcons.
The defending Super Bowl champions led the entire game. But they nearly blew a 28-3 third-quarter lead that would have given the young Falcons an unlikely comeback of their own from that infamous score — Atlanta’s lead in the 2017 Super Bowl before New England rallied to win — to celebrate.
Mariota had second-half touchdown passes to Drake London and Olamide Zaccheaus to bring the Falcons within 31-17. Special teams and defense then came through to give the veteran quarterback a final chance.
Troy Anderson blocked a punt that Lorenzo Carter returned 26 yards for a touchdown, and a 2-point conversion pass from Mariota to London brought the Falcons within 31-25 with 5:06 remaining.
Los Angeles turned it over on their ensuing drive when Darren Hall forced Kupp to fumble and recovered it at the Rams 37. Mariota got the Falcons to the Rams 24 before throwing the interception.
Matthew Stafford threw for 272 yards and three touchdowns and Cooper Kupp had two TD catches for the Rams, who bounced back from a disappointing defeat against the Buffalo Bills in their season opener.
49ers 27, Seahawks 7
After the shock of losing starting quarterback Trey Lance to a season-ending injury wore off, Jimmy Garoppolo threw a touchdown pass and ran for another score to help the San Francisco 49ers beat the Seattle Seahawks 27-7.
Lance broke his right ankle on the second drive of the game, a season-ending injury for the 22-year-old who was given the keys to San Francisco’s offense this season. He was taken off the field on a cart, his injured ankle in an air cast.
Coach Kyle Shanahan said after the game that Lance would need surgery and will miss the rest of the season.
That set the stage for Garoppolo to come in and reclaim the job he held for most of the past four seasons.
He completed his first five passes in his first game since last season’s NFC title game, including a 38-yard touchdown pass to Ross Dwelley that put San Francisco (1-1) up 13-0.
The Niners mostly coasted from there as the Seahawks (1-1) looked rather flat six days after their emotional, season-opening victory over former quarterback Russell Wilson and the Broncos.
Geno Smith went 24 for 30 for 198 yards and an interception. Seattle also had a trick play near the goal line backfire for another turnover and rushed for only 35 yards on the day.
Broncos 16, Texans 9
Russell Wilson overcame a slow start to lead the Denver Broncos past the Houston Texans 16-9 for rookie coach Nathaniel Hackett’s first NFL win.
The Broncos (1-1) were flagged 13 times for 100 yards, giving them 25 penalties on the year, their most ever in back-to-back games.
But they pulled it out on defense, holding Houston (0-1-1) to a trio of field goals by Ka’imi Fairbairn.
After completing just six of his first 20 throws, Wilson went 4-for-4 on the Broncos’ go-ahead scoring drive that featured a 35-yard strike to a wide-open Courtland Sutton and a 22-yard payoff to tight end Eric Saubert that put Denver ahead 13-9 early in the fourth quarter.
Wilson finished 14 of 31 for 219 yards with one TD and an interception. He followed up his only TD throw with a clock-chewing drive that ended with Brandon McManus’ 50-yard field goal with 3:41 remaining for the final margin.
SUNDAY NIGHT: Packers 27, Bears 10
Aaron Jones rushed for 132 yards and a touchdown and caught a scoring pass from Aaron Rodgers, who continued his domination of the Chicago Bears by leading the Green Bay Packers to a 27-10 victory.
Green Bay (1-1) bounced back from a season-opening 23-7 loss at Minnesota and beat the Bears (1-1) for a seventh straight time, matching its second-longest win streak in the 205-game history of the NFL’s oldest rivalry. The Packers won 10 straight over the Bears from 1994-98. They have two other seven-game win streaks in this series, from 1928-30 and 2000-03.
The Packers built a 24-7 halftime lead by dominating the second period, then made a goal-line stand in the fourth quarter to thwart a Bears comeback attempt.
Chicago’s David Montgomery rushed for 122 yards on 15 carries. Justin Fields had a touchdown run and was 7 of 11 for 70 yards with an interception.
The Packers outscored the Bears 21-0 in the second quarter. Jones scored twice, both times catching pitches from Rodgers in the backfield and reaching the end zone.
TONIGHT ON MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL:
The (0-1) Tennessee Titans are in Buffalo to battle the (1-0) Bills.
