Falcons fall from unbeaten ranks
BILLS 23, FALCONS 17 — At Atlanta, Stephen Hauschka kicked a tiebreaking, 56-yard field goal with less than five minutes remaining and Buffalo made a last-minute defensive stand to beat Atlanta on Sunday after the Falcons lost wide receiver Julio Jones to a hip injury.
Hauschka padded the lead with a 55-yarder with about three minutes remaining.
Buffalo’s defence stopped the Falcons at the Bills 10 with less than a minute remaining when Matt Ryan couldn’t complete a fourth-down pass to Taylor Gabriel, and Atlanta became the last NFC team to lose this season.
Tre’Davious White returned a fumble recovery 52 yards for a third-quarter touchdown as the tough Buffalo defence delivered again even in a game it gave up its first passing touchdown of the season.
SAINTS 20, DOLPHINS 0 — At London, England, it took Drew Brees and New Orleans six days and a first half before they finally found their footing in soggy Britain.
Brees threw for 268 yards and two touchdowns and the Saints scored all but three of their points in the second half as they defeated Miami on a rainy Sunday at Wembley Stadium.
Michael Thomas had a touchdown reception in the third quarter, Alvin Kamara added one in the fourth and Will Lutz made two of his three field-goal attempts for New Orleans (2-2), which arrived for the game on Monday and won the lowest-scoring game ever held in London.
BENGALS 31, BROWNS 7 — At Cleveland, Andy Dalton threw three of his four touchdown passes in the first half and Cincinnati’s offence found the perfect opponent to work out some early season struggles and the Bengals rolled to a win over the Browns.
Dalton only missed on one throw in the first half, going 17 of 18 for 215 yards as the Bengals (1-3) built a 21-0 lead.
He connected with A.J. Green, Tyler Croft and Giovani Bernard while dissecting the young Browns (0-4), who were again plagued by mistakes and were down three defensive starters.
— At Houston, rookie Deshaun Watson shined, throwing for four touchdowns and running for another as the Texans scored the most points in franchise history in walloping Tennessee.
Watson, the 12th pick in this year’s draft, became the first rookie to throw four touchdowns and run for another one since Fran Tarkenton in 1961 and tied an NFL record for most TDs by a rookie quarterback.
The Texans (2-2) outdid their previous highest point total of 45 set in a victory over the Titans in 2014 and are the first NFL team to score 50 points since the Jaguars scored 51 in December 2015.
STEELERS 26, RAVENS 9 — At Baltimore, Pittsburgh finally got its offence running, as Le’Veon Bell rushed for 144 yards and two touchdowns, and the Steelers beat the Ravens in a duel for first place in the AFC North.
Though held to a touchdown over the final 30 minutes, Pittsburgh (3-1) mounted enough of an attack before halftime to earn its first win in Baltimore since 2012.
Coming into the game, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was asked to identify the problem with a Pittsburgh offence that had produced only six touchdowns in 12 quarters.
“The quarterback needs to play better,” he said.
Roethlisberger went 18 for 30 for 216 yards and a touchdown. Bell did more than his share, carrying the ball 35 times to help the Steelers amass 381 yards in offence.
LIONS 14, VIKINGS 7 — At Minneapolis, Anthony Zettel led a ferocious performance by Detroit’s defence with two sacks, four hurries and a fumble recovery, as the Lions forced three turnovers while holding Minnesota scoreless in the second half.
The Lions turned two fumbles lost by the Vikings in the third quarter into 11 points, taking the lead on Ameer Abdullah’s oneyard touchdown run five plays after rookie Dalvin Cook fumbled at the Minnesota 29.
The Vikings (2-2) lost more than just possession, when Cook limped off with an injury to his left knee and did not return.
Tahir Whitehead recovered that fumble for the Lions, plus one by Adam Thielen with 1:43 left at the Detroit 45 that ended the last-chance drive for the Vikings.
Detroit (3-1) leads the NFL in turnover margin, at plus-9.
PANTHERS 33, PATRIOTS 30 — At Foxborough, Mass., Graham Gano hit a 48-yard field goal as time expired, and Carolina stunned New England.
The winner served as redemption for Gano, who missed an extra point in the third quarter.
It was the second home loss this season for the usually unbeatable Patriots at Gillette Stadium. The defeat marked just the second time since 2012 that Tom Brady has lost two home starts within a season.
Cam Newton threw for three touchdowns and ran for another. Jonathan Stewart rushed 14 times for 68 yards to pass DeAngelo Williams and become the franchise’s all-time leading rusher.
Newton finished 22 of 29 for 316 yards and an interception, picking apart a New England defence that was giving up an NFL-worst 461 yards and 31.7 points per game.
The Patriots forced a pair of turnovers, but had trouble containing Newton’s stable of targets.
Brady finished 32 of 45 for 307 yards and two scores. RAMS 35, COWBOYS 30 — At Arlington, Texas, Todd Gurley scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 53-yard catch-and-run, Greg Zuerlein kicked a career-high seven field goals and Los Angeles beat Dallas.
Gurley finished with 215 total yards as the Rams overcame two first-half touchdowns from Ezekiel Elliott the day before a federal appeals court hearing related to the star Dallas running back’s blocked six-game suspension over a domestic incident in Ohio.
The Rams (3-1) rallied from 11 points down late in the first half and matched their start from a year ago, when they went 1-11 the rest of the way as No. 1 overall pick Jared Goff was sitting and later lost the first seven starts of his career. JETS 23, JAGUARS 20 (OT) — At East Rutherford, N.J., New York gave up a 10-point fourth-quarter lead, but pulled out a win over Jacksonville on Chandler Catanzaro’s 41-yard field goal with 28 seconds left in overtime.