Brees, Saints hand Rams first loss
Michael Thomas caught a late 72-yard touchdown reception and then celebrated with a cellphone in a throwback to another famous New Orleans play, and the streaking Saints handed the Los Angeles Rams their first loss of the season with a 45-35 win on Sunday in New Orleans.
Drew Brees passed for 346 yards and four touchdowns in New Orleans’ seventh straight win, and Thomas finished with a club-record 211 yards receiving. But what happened after their last connection of the day really stole the show in a wild shootout between two of the NFL’s best offenses.
Thomas’ long TD came on a pivotal third-down play with about four minutes to go, when the Rams seemed to expect the Saints to run a play New Orleans receiver Michael Thomas hauls in a touchdown against Los Angeles on Sunday. closer to the firstdown marker. Thomas ran free behind Marcus Peters, caught Brees’ long throw virtually in stride and ran straight to the goal post, where he got out an old-school flip phone — reminiscent of Joe Horn’s Sunday night TD celebration in 2003.
Thomas, who caught 12 passes, eclipsed Wes Chandler’s club record of 205 yards receiving against Atlanta in 1979.
New Orleans running back Alvin Kamara scored three times, twice on runs and once on a 16-yard catch-and-run — all in the first half.
CHARGERS 25, SEAHAWKS 17: Philip Rivers made his 200th consecutive start and kept Los Angeles surging, surviving a late rally by Seattle’s Russell Wilson in Seattle. Rivers threw for 228 yards and two touchdowns and Melvin Gordon added 113 yards rushing. TEXANS 19, BRONCOS 17: Brandon McManus missed a 51-yard field goal as time expired as Houston escaped Denver to win its sixth straight. McManus’ second miss of the game came after Case Keenum completed an 18-yard pass between two defenders to Emmanuel Sanders on fourth-and-8 from the Denver 45-yard line. VIKINGS 24, LIONS 9: Danielle Hunter had 3½ of Minnesota’s franchiserecord 10 sacks and a fourth-quarter fumble return for a touchdown, making for a miserable afternoon for Matthew Stafford and the Lions in Minneapolis. Hunter also was credited with nine tackles and four quarterback hits as the Vikings limited the Lions to 214 total yards. FALCONS 38, REDSKINS 14: Julio Jones ended his 12-game touchdown drought, Matt Ryan threw for 350 yards and four scores and Atlanta crushed Washington in Landover, Maryland. Jones caught seven passes for 121 yards with the biggest coming on a 35-yard screen pass with just under four minutes left that sealed the victory. Ryan completed 26 of his 38 passes, including touchdown passes of 39 and 10 yards to running back Tevin Coleman and 40 to rookie receiver Calvin Ridley.