Brees sharp in return as Saints pound Cardinals 31-9

Drew Brees passed for 373 yards and three touchdowns in his first game in more than five weeks since thumb surgery, and the New Orleans Saints won their sixth straight with a 31-9 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

With few exceptions, Brees was accurate and looked composed even as his pass blocking collapsed, completing 34 of 43 passes.

He was intercepted once, by Patrick Peterson, but was not pressured before throwing that aggressive, risky pass down the left sideline, where fullback Zach Line was double-covered.

The Cardinals were unable to capitalize on that turnover early in the second half, however, and Brees made them pay by leading three touchdown drives after that, ending with passes to running back Latavius Murray, dynamic reserve QB and utility player Taysom Hill, and leading receiver Michael Thomas.

Cardinals rookie Kyler Murray completed 19 of 33 passes for 220 yards, but Arizona never found the end zone. Eight of his completions went to Christian Kirk for 79 yards in the receiver’s return from an ankle sprain. Arizona was held to 40 yards rushing and the Saints’ defense held a fifth-straight opponent below 260 total net yards.

CHARGERS 17, BEARS 16

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago kicker Eddy Pineiro missed a 41

yard field goal as time expired and Los Angeles hung on for the win.

The Bears (3-4) took over at their 35 with 1:33 remaining and had a chance to win it after driving all the way to the 21. Chicago had quarterback Mitchell Trubisky take a knee with about 40 seconds left rather than try to get closer to the goal line. And Pineiro, who hit an upright on a miss earlier, hooked the potential winner wide left as time expired.

That allowed the Chargers (3-5) to snap a threegame losing streak and avoid their first 0-4 October since 2000, while the Bears dropped their third in a row. Los Angeles also picked up its first victory in seven road games all-time against Chicago and its first

win at Soldier Field after losing four.

Philip Rivers threw an 11yard touchdown to Austin Ekeler in the fourth quarter for the go-ahead touchdown with just over eight minutes left in the game after Melvin Ingram recovered a fumble by Trubisky in Chicago territory.

Rivers was 19 of 29 for 201 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Melvin Gordon ran for a score. Joey Bosa had two sacks, and the Chargers picked up their first victory since a win at Miami on Sept. 29.

EAGLES 31, BILLS 13

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Rookie Miles Sanders scored on a career-best 65-yard touchdown run and Philadelphia snapped a two-game skid with a win over Buffalo.

Carson Wentz finished 17 of 24 for 172 and a touchdown passing in a game the Eagles blew open by scoring

TDs 83 seconds apart spanning halftime.

Dallas Goedert scored on a 5-yard catch. Jordan Howard had a team-best 96 yards rushing and scored on a 3-yard run, and Boston Scott scored on a 4-yard run after Sanders left the game with a shoulder injury in the third quarter.

Linebacker Brandon Graham had one of the team’s four sacks, and also forced and recovered quarterback Josh Allen’s fumble, which led to Goedert scoring the go-ahead touchdown.

The Eagles improved to 4-4 in bouncing back from a 37-10 prime-time dud of a loss at Dallas last week

The Bills (5-2) squandered an opportunity to open 6-1 for the first time since 1993, and failed to answer skeptics as to whether their hot start is a result of a soft schedule.

TITANS 27, BUCCANEERS 23

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Ryan Tannehill threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Brown with 6:55 left, and Tennessee rallied to beat Tampa Bay for its second straight win.

Tennessee came in with the NFL’s No. 4 scoring defense, having not allowed more than 20 points in a game all season. The Buccaneers entered with the league’s fourth-best offense, averaging 28.8 points a game, and they became the first to top the mark.

The Titans (4-4) led 14-3 after turning a pair of firstquarter turnovers into two TD passes by Tannehill.

The Bucs (2-6) lost their third straight and fourth in five games despite Jameis Winston and Mike Evans putting the Bucs up 23-17 by connecting on a TD pass at the end of the first half and a second early in the third quarter. They wouldn’t score again despite outgaining Tennessee 389-246.