Drew Brees sharp in return as Saints pound Cardinals

NEW ORLEANS >> 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. TEXANS 27, RAIDERS 24 >> Deshaun Watson threw for 279 yards and three touchdowns, including the goahead score in the fourth quarter to lift Houston to a win over Oakland.

There were about 6½ minutes left when Watson evaded the rush and connected with Darren Fells on a 9-yard scoring toss to put Houston up 27-24 for its first lead of the game. Watson appeared to get kicked in the face on the play and remained on the turf for a few minutes and was tended to be trainers before getting to his feet and walking to the medical tent. But he was OK and returned on the next possession. 49ERS 51, PANTHERS 13 >> Tevin Coleman scored three of his four touchdowns in the first half, rookie Nick Bosa had three sacks to go along with an acrobatic interception and San Francisco remained unbeaten with a victory over Carolina Panthers in its highest-scoring game in 26 years.

The Niners (7-0) are off to their best start since winning their first 10 games in

1990 but still faced questions because five of those first six victories came against teams that have losing records.

TITANS 27, BUCCANEERS 23 >> 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. PATRIOTS 27, BROWNS 13 >> Tom Brady threw for 259 yards and two touchdown passes and Bill Belichick

earned his 300th NFL coaching victory in the Patriots’ 27-13 win over the Cleveland.

Belichick sits behind only Don Shula (347) and George Halas (324) on the NFL’s alltime win list.

RAMS 24, BENGALS 10 >> Wide receiver Cooper Kupp caught seven passes for a career-best 220 yards, Jared Goff threw for two touchdowns and Los Angeles beat winless Cincinnati to make for another successful trip to London.

Kupp caught a 65-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter on a double reverse flea-flicker from Goff, and the duo teamed up for a 40-yarder shortly after halftime to set up another score at Wembley Stadium.

COLTS 15, BRONCOS 13 >> Adam Vinatieri made a 51yard field goal with 22 seconds left to help Indianapolis rally for a victory over Denver.

The NFL’s career scoring leader overcame two earlier misses to keep Indy (52) atop the AFC South with its third straight victory. SEAHAWKS 27, FALCONS 20 >> Russell Wilson threw two touchdown passes to DK Metcalf, Chris Carson ran for 90 yards and a score, and Seattle beat reeling Atlanta.

Seattle led 24-0 at halftime as the Falcons offense floundered early in their first start without quarterback Matt Ryan in 10 years. Ryan’s streak of 154 consecutive regular-season starts ended as he was held out with a sprained right ankle. JAGUARS 29, JETS 15 >> Sam Darnold went from seeing ghosts to seeing teal.

Darnold was sacked a career-high eight times and threw three interceptions in Jacksonville’s 29-15 victory over New York.

LIONS 31, GIANTS 26 >> Matthew Stafford threw two of his three touchdown passes to Kenny Golladay and Detroit snapped a three-game losing streak with a victory over slumping New York.

The Lions (3-3-1) took a two-TD lead in the first quarter and Stafford’s 41yard flea flicker to Golladay early in the fourth put them ahead by 12 points.

New York (2-6) turned the ball over on downs at the Lions 39 with 6:25 and at their

14 with 3:27 left, but it had another chance to come back.

Giants rookie Daniel Jones threw a 4-yard TD pass to Saquan Barkley and an extra point pulled them within five points late in the game. The ensuing onside kick went out of bounds, sealing Detroit’s victory.