Saints beat Cardinals in Brees’ return
NEW ORLEANS — Drew Brees had the Arizona Cardinals under his surgically repaired and splint-aided thumb.
Brees passed for 373 yards and three touchdowns in his first game since thumb surgery more than five weeks ago, and the New Orleans Saints won their sixth straight with a 31-9 victory Sunday.
“I definitely had some butterflies, maybe a little more than usual,” Brees said. “A lot of it was just excitement. And then as game time approached, that just turned into gratitude — just grateful for the opportunity to get back out there again. I’m grateful for this team. I’m grateful for just this moment.”
With few exceptions, Brees was accurate and looked composed, even when his pass blocking collapsed. He completed 34 of 43 passes and was not sacked.
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.
“Bad decision,” Brees said. “Got a little greedy.”
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 quarterback 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 reached the end zone. Eight of Murray’s completions went to Christian Kirk for 79 yards in the receiver’s return from an ankle sprain.
“We just didn’t win enough of our individual matchups today,” said receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who had two catches for 8 yards. “You have to win those against a great defense like this one.”
Arizona (3-4-1), which saw its three-game winning streak snapped, was held to 40 yards rushing and the Saints’ defense held a fifth-straight opponent below 260 total net yards.
“You see the tenacity of the defense on each and every play,” said defensive end Cam Jordan, who sacked the elusive Murray once. “That’s something that I’m in love with right now.”
With backup Teddy Bridgewater filling in, the Saints (7-1) had won all five games since Brees’ ulnar collateral ligament surgery on Sept. 18. But coach Sean Payton said during the past week that the 40-year-old Brees had been medically cleared and that there were no misgivings about playing the NFL’S all-time leading passer as soon as he felt ready.
“As soon as I could grip it and rip it, then I wanted to play,” Brees said. “I love the game. I love my teammates. I want to get out there with them.”
Brees led four drives in the first half in which the Saints threatened to score, but one ended with a missed field goal and the other with a nullified touchdown pass because offensive holding was called as time ran out in the second quarter. The other two drives ended with a short field goal and Murray’s 8-yard TD run, giving New Orleans a 10-6 halftime lead.
Texans 27, Raiders 24
HOUSTON — 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 6 1/2 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.
Houston (5-3) forced a punt on the next drive when Gareon Conley, who was traded to the Texans from Oakland this week, knocked down a pass to Tyrell Williams on third down.
Fells had 58 yards receiving and two touchdowns and Deandre
Hopkins grabbed 11 catches for 109 yards.
Derek Carr had 285 yards passing with three touchdowns as the Raiders (3-4) lost for the second week in a row.
Eagles 31, Bills 13
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Rookie Miles Sanders scored on a career-best 65-yard touchdown run and Philadelphia snapped a twogame 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 quar
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