NFL roundup: Brady's 5 TD passes to pace Bucs' rout of Dolphins

TAMPA, Fla. — Tom Brady threw for 411 yards and five touchdowns as Antonio Brown became the fastest NFL player to 900 receptions and the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers rolled to a 45-17 rout of the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.

Brady threw for more 400 yards with five TDs in the same game for the first time in his 22-year career.

Brown scored on receptions of 62 and 4 yards, joining Julio Jones, Jerry Rice, Torry Holt and Andre Johnson as the only players in league history with 12,000 career receiving yards in fewer than 150 games. The 33-year-old receiver extended the NFL’s longest active streak with at least one catch to 141 consecutive games and also became the fastest to 900 career receptions on his first catch of the day.

TOM. BRADY. 5 TOUCHDOWNS.

(via @NFL)pic.twitter.com/mGYlr67CnV

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 10, 2021

Brown reached the milestone in 143 career games. Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison was the previous fastest at 149.

Mike Evans had TD catches of 34 and 22 yards, and Giovani Bernard also scored on a 10-yard reception from Brady, who finished 30 of 41 with no interceptions — the third straight game the Bucs (4-1) have gone without a turnover.

The Dolphins (1-4) have lost four straight following a season-opening victory over New England.

Miami’s Jacoby Brissett completed 27 of 39 passes for 279 yards, two TDs and an interception in his third consecutive start filling in for the injured Tua Tagovailoa.

Myles Gaston scored on receptions of 1 and 37 yards for the Dolphins, who trailed 24-17 heading into the fourth quarter.

Leonard Fournette scored on a 5-yard run and Brady threw his TD passes to Evans to break the game open before being replaced by backup Blaine Gabbert with 7:06 remaining.

Saints 33, Washington 22

LANDOVER, Md. — Jameis Winston connected on a Hail Mary for one of his four touchdown passes to help the New Orleans Saints beat Washington 33-22 Sunday, a bounce-back victory that came at a cost with two more injuries.

Winston took every snap at quarterback for the first time this season, a necessity after Taysom Hill suffered a concussion while trying to catch a pass in the second quarter.

Winston completed a 72-yard touchdown pass to Deonte Harris, who departed with a hamstring injury. He also connected with Marquez Callaway on the 49-yard Hail Mary TD on the final play of the first half, found Callaway wide open from 12 yards out and sent Washington fans to the exits with a pass to Alvin Kamara that turned into a 19-yard score.

HAIL MAR...QUEZ! ????

Winston launches a hail mary to Callaway for a 49-yd TD at the end of the half - WOW! #WASvsNO | ????: CBS pic.twitter.com/IR7AttiRpT

— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) October 10, 2021

Kamara also had a 23-yard TD run, returned punts in Harris’ absence and racked up 151 total yards. Winston completed 15 of 30 passes for 279 yards, more than making up for an inexplicable interception on the first possession and a fumble on Chase Young’s first sack of the season.

The Saints (3-2) picked off Taylor Heinicke twice and put some pressure on the Washington QB a week after not sacking Daniel Jones in an overtime loss to the New York Giants. Antonio Gibson ran for two touchdowns, but Washington (2-3) could not outscore another rough performance by its defense.

Patriots 25, Texans 22

HOUSTON — Rookie Mac Jones threw a touchdown pass to tie it in the fourth quarter and Nick Folk’s 21-yard field goal with 15 seconds left lifted the New England Patriots to a 25-22 win over the Houston Texans on Sunday.

The game was tied at 22 before New England (2-3) used a 15-play, 85-yard drive capped by Folk’s fourth field goal of the game to take the lead. The drive was kept alive when Maliek Collins was flagged for roughing the passer on third-and-18 early in the possession.

Houston rookie Davis Mills threw an incompletion after Folk’s field goal before Brandin Cooks fumbled after a catch to seal New England’s victory.

Jones tied it when he connected with Hunter Henry on a 13-yard touchdown with about nine minutes remaining.

Jones threw for 231 yards with a touchdown and an interception as the Patriots ended a two-game skid.

Mills threw for a career-high 312 yards with three touchdowns to bounce back from last week’s terrible performance where he tied a franchise record with four interceptions.

But he was unable to move the ball late as the Texans (1-4) lost their fourth straight after beating Jacksonville in the opener.

New England coach Bill Belichick continued his success against rookie quarterbacks, improving to 23-6 in those games.

Mills threw a 37-yard touchdown pass to Chris Conley on a flea flicker early in the third to extend Houston’s lead to 22-9.

The Texans made an embarrassing mistake later in the third when Cameron Johnston’s punt bounced off the back of teammate Terrence Brooks for zero yards, giving the Patriots the ball at the Houston 36. New England took advantage of the mistake when Folk made a 52-yard field goal that cut the lead to 22-12.

Folk added a 32-yard field goal later in the third to get the Patriots within 22-15 and the Texans missed a 56-yard field-goal attempt early in the fourth quarter.

Mills looked good early as the Texans capped an 18-play drive that took 10 minutes with an 11-yard TD pass from Mills to Antony Auclair. Ka’imi Fairbairn, who made his debut last week after opening the season on injured reserve, missed his first extra point attempt of the season to leave Houston up 6-0.

Damien Harris took a direct snap in the wildcat formation and ran 1 yard for a touchdown for New England early in the first and Nick Folk missed the PAT to tie it at 6-6.

The Texans regained the lead when Chris Moore, who was promoted from the practice squad Saturday, made a leaping catch to grab a short pass and dash for a 67-yard TD. Fairbairn missed again to leave Houston up 12-6.

It is the second time in franchise history that the Texans have missed two extra points in a game and the first since Fairbairn also missed two in a 27-20 loss to the Falcons on Oct. 6, 2019.

The Patriots had a chance to tie it after that, but Harris fumbled near the goal line, and the Texans recovered it.

The teams exchanged field goals after that, to leave the Texans up 15-9 at halftime.

Titans 37, Jaguars 19

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Derrick Henry ran for 130 yards and three touchdowns, Kevin Byard returned a fumble for a score and the Tennessee Titans beat Jacksonville 37-19 Sunday, sending the Jaguars to their 20th consecutive loss.

Henry padded his NFL rushing lead as the Titans (3-2) rebounded from an overtime stunner at the New York Jets and avoided consecutive losses to winless teams.

Jacksonville (0-5) moved into sole position of the second-longest skid in NFL history, six shy of tying the record Tampa Bay set in 1977 over its first two seasons as an expansion team. The franchise’s latest debacle came eight days after coach Urban Meyer was captured on camera with a young woman dancing near his lap at an Ohio bar, behavior team owner Shad Khan called “inexcusable.”

Meyer was more animated than usual on the sideline and even ran near the goal line to celebrate a touchdown on a fourth-and-goal play.

Meyer surely will lament all that went wrong for the home team in this one.

The Jaguars fumbled on the third play of the game. Byard scooped it up and ran 30 yards for a score. Jacksonville also missed an extra point; dropped what should have been an interception and could have been a pick-six; missed a 53-yard field goal; and was flagged for a phantom pass interference penalty on a third-down play.

Adding to the list, quarterback Trevor Lawrence appeared to run for his second score of the day in the fourth quarter. But replay officials ruled him down inside the 1-yard line, setting up a fourth-down call. Carlos Hyde was dropped for a 3-yard loss on the ensuing play, and center Brandon Linder suffered what appeared to be a significant leg injury.

The Titans probably needed all that luck. Their defense was porous most of the afternoon, allowing 454 yards and forcing just two punts. Jacksonville’s James Robinson ran 18 times for a career-high 149 yards and a touchdown.

Tennessee was better on the other side of the ball, with Henry grinding out his yardage on 29 carries. Ryan Tannehill completed 14 of 22 passes for 197 yards with a touchdown.

Falcons 27, Jets 20

LONDON — Matt Ryan threw for 342 yards and two touchdowns, including the first NFL score for Kyle Pitts, and the Atlanta Falcons held on and closed out the New York Jets in a 27-20 victory Sunday in the NFL’s return to London.

The Falcons (2-3) built a 20-3 halftime lead and eventually grounded out the victory despite allowing the Jets to stick around by losing two fumbles.

But Zach Wilson and the Jets (1-4) had trouble moving the ball, which has been the story of the season for the rookie quarterback. Coming off his best game of the season last week against Tennessee, Wilson finished 19 of 32 for 192 yards and no touchdowns with one interception.

Pitts, taken by Atlanta two spots after Wilson at No. 4 overall in the NFL draft in April, had his best game with nine receptions for 119 yards and his first NFL TD.

Ryan completed 33 of 45 passes with no interceptions despite playing without his top two receivers — Calvin Ridley and Russell Gage. Ridley didn’t accompany the team to London “due to a personal matter,” while Gage is sidelined with an ankle injury.

Cordarrelle Patterson continued doing a little of everything for the Falcons, and the Jets had few answers for him. The running back/wide receiver/kick returner had seven receptions for 60 yards and ran for a team-leading 54 yards on 14 carries.

The Jets struggled mightily again in the first half, gaining just 80 yards and getting five first downs compared to the Falcons’ 251 yards and 17 first downs in the first two quarters. New York battled back in the second half with rushing TDs from Ty Johnson and Michael Carter, but couldn’t pull off the comeback.

Carter’s 2-yard run and Jamison Crowder’s catch on the 2-point conversion trimmed Atlanta’s lead to 20-17 with 6:55 remaining.

The Falcons then finally found the dagger drive they’ve been missing, driving 75 yards on nine plays, ending with Mike Davis’ 3-yard run. On second-and-goal, Davis took the handoff, spun and got a collective push from his offensive linemen to get into the end zone to extend the lead to 27-17 with 2:19 to play. Davis finished with 53 yards on 13 carries.

The scoring drive included a 39-yard reception by Pitts, followed by Olamide Zaccheaus’ 15-yard catch and dive for a first down to the Jets 24 on third-and-13.

Matt Ammendola’s 49-yard field goal made it 27-20, but the Jets’ onside kick was recovered by Falcons receiver Olamide Zaccheaus — sealing Atlanta’s victory.

Cowboys 44, Giants 20

ARLINGTON, Texas — Dak Prescott threw for three touchdowns the day before the one-year anniversary of his severe ankle injury in the same stadium against the same opponent, and the Dallas Cowboys beat the New York Giants 44-20 on Sunday.

The already injury-plagued Giants lost running back Saquon Barkley to an apparent ankle sprain in the first quarter and quarterback Daniel Jones to a concussion in the second quarter.

Saquon Barkley rolled his ankle on a Cowboys defensive player and was carted off into the locker room.

He has been ruled out for the rest of the game, per @AdamSchefter. pic.twitter.com/1yRHyFTm4w

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 10, 2021

After a woozy Jones was taken off on a cart, New York (1-4) pulled even at 10-all on backup QB Mike Glennon’s first snap of the season, a fourth-down handoff to Barkley’s replacement Devontae Booker from the 1.

Glennon and the Giants couldn’t keep it up 364 days after then-Dallas backup Andy Dalton led a comeback to a 37-34 victory following the season-ending compound fracture and dislocation of Prescott’s right ankle at the home of the Cowboys.

Dallas (4-1) has won four games in a row since a loss to Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay in the opener.

Prescott had scoring tosses of 49 yards to CeeDee Lamb and 24 yards to Amari Cooper before star running back Ezekiel Elliott caught a pass in the flat and high-stepped into the end zone for a 4-yard score shortly after missing two plays to get his back checked.

Jones was injured when he was tackled just shy of the goal line by rookie Cowboys linebacker Jabril Cox on a bootleg from the 1. Jones struggled to stay upright, twice putting his hands on his knees before stumbling badly as Dallas’ Jayron Kearse and others rushed to help.

The cart came out for Jones a short time later, just as it did a year earlier when an emotional Prescott was driven off with the pandemic-limited crowd knowing his season was over because of the gruesome scene on the field.

Prescott celebrated to the end this time with more than 90,000 at AT&T Stadium for the third consecutive week. He was 22 of 32 for 302 yards, bouncing back from an interception and botched snap for a lost fumble in the first half.

Barkley had two carries for 9 yards when he stepped on Dallas cornerback Jourdan Lewis’ foot on a play away from the ball. TV footage showed significant swelling on the outside of his left ankle.

Elliott finished with more than 100 yards in consecutive games for the first time since three straight in 2019, finishing with 110 yards and a punctuating 13-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter. The Cowboys had 515 yards total offense.

Glennon was 16 of 25 for 196 yards with a late 3-yard touchdown to Booker and two interceptions. The first was Trevon Diggs’ NFL-leading sixth, and the second was returned 45 yards for a score by Anthony Brown in the final two minutes.

Diggs has at least one interception in all five games. The only other Dallas player to do that was Don Bishop in 1961.

Cardinals 17, 49ers 10

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Arizona Cardinals improved to 5-0 for the first time since 1974, riding a stellar defensive performance to a 17-10 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

DeAndre Hopkins hauled in a difficult 9-yard touchdown catch with 5:13 remaining, hanging onto the football despite tight defense from San Francisco’s Josh Norman. That gave the Cardinals a 17-7 lead, enough of a cushion to close out the win.

Kyler Murray completed 22 of 31 passes for 239 yards. Hopkins caught six passes for 87 yards.

Niners rookie quarterback Trey Lance had an up-and-down first start, making some impressive plays with his arm and feet. But the San Francisco offense struggled in many of the biggest moments, converting 1 of 5 chances on fourth down.

Lance finished 15 of 29 passing for 192 yards and one interception. He also led the team with 89 yards rushing.

The Cardinals settled for a 10-0 halftime lead after Matt Prater missed a 61-yard field goal attempt as time expired. The 49ers (2-3) did a good job of slowing Arizona’s offense, which came in averaging an NFL-best 35 points per game.

The 49ers finally broke through on offense late in the third quarter when Deebo Samuel ran 13 yards for a touchdown, cutting the deficit to 10-7. Samuel came in as the NFL’s leading receiver and also proved a capable runner, taking the pitch from Lance and evading several Cardinals on the way to the end zone.

San Francisco had a few more chances in the fourth quarter but couldn’t convert on fourth downs. Kyle Juszczyk was stopped short on fourth-and-1 at the Cardinals 48 and Arizona defensive lineman J.J. Watt deflected a fourth-down pass a few minutes later.

Arizona, the NFL’s only remaining undefeated team, grabbed a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter thanks to an efficient eight-play, 66-yard drive capped by a 1-yard touchdown run by James Conner.

Lance was making his first career start in place of the injured Jimmy Garoppolo, inactive for the game because of a calf injury suffered in last week’s loss to Seattle. The 21-year-old rookie had a rough start, throwing an interception after sailing a pass past his intended receiver and right into the arms of Arizona safety Budda Baker. He was also stopped on two fourth-down runs, including one inches shy of a touchdown.

On that play, Lance scrambled to his right and looked like he was going to score, but Isaiah Simmons and Tanner Vallejo closed quickly, meeting the quarterback just before the goal line in a violent collision. Simmons was evaluated for a concussion after the play, but later returned to the game.

Bears 20, Raiders 9

LAS VEGAS — Justin Fields threw his first career touchdown pass, and the Chicago Bears’ defense largely shut down the Las Vegas Raiders’ high-powered offense in a 20-9 victory Sunday.

Damien Williams rushed for a touchdown in the Las Vegas debut for the Bears (3-2), who were accompanied by thousands of vacationing fans.

Derek Carr passed for 206 yards and Josh Jacobs rushed for a late touchdown in the second straight loss for the Raiders (3-2) — their first with fans in the stands at 2-year-old Allegiant Stadium.

Las Vegas struggled on offense in Jon Gruden’s first game since the revelation of the veteran Raiders coach’s racist comment about players’ union leader DeMaurice Smith in an email in 2011. The NFL is looking into the matter, and Gruden could face league discipline for comments made back when he was employed by ESPN.

Jesper Horsted caught the first TD pass by Fields, who went 12 of 20 for 111 yards in the touted Ohio State rookie’s third career start — his first since being named the Bears’ No. 1 quarterback by coach Matt Nagy. The Bears’ 32nd-ranked offense managed just 252 yards, but Chicago’s defense allowed three points in the first 50 minutes.

Khalil Mack led the Bears’ defensive dominance of his former team with eight tackles and a sack of Carr, his good friend, on a 2-point conversion attempt in the fourth quarter.

After Cairo Santos’ 46-yard field goal with 2:45 to play put the Bears up by eight, Las Vegas moved 5 yards on its ensuing drive, and Carr overthrew Bryan Edwards on fourth down.

Santos hit another field goal with 56 seconds left, and Chicago hung on to win the latest meeting of two beloved NFL franchises that failed to win a playoff game in the previous decade.

Both offenses started slowly, but Fields pushed Chicago to a 14-3 halftime lead with ample help from the Raiders’ untimely penalties. Chicago went ahead for good early in the second quarter on Fields’ 2-yard TD pass to Horsted in traffic.

Fields briefly left the game in the second quarter when he twisted his left leg while getting tackled by Yannick Ngakoue. Andy Dalton only took two snaps, but still completed a key third-down pass before Fields returned to lead a 16-play, 86-yard, 8 1/2-minute drive ending in Williams’ 4-yard TD run.

Jacobs scored the Raiders’ first touchdown with 9:01 to play, stretching the ball over the goal line an instant before it was ripped out of his hands by Chicago’s defense — but Mack dropped Carr on the 2-point try to keep the Bears’ lead at five points.

Vikings 19, Lions 17

MINNEAPOLIS — Mike Zimmer has seen enough game-deciding kicks in eight years as coach of the Minnesota Vikings, with outcomes more often than not favoring the other team, that he usually turns away.

“I’m usually saying, if they’re kicking, ‘Miss this, blankety-blank,’ and if we’re kicking it it’s, ‘Make this, blankety-blank,’” Zimmer said with a slight smile.

This time, after a near-collapse against the winless Detroit Lions, the Vikings wound up with the better view.

Greg Joseph made a 54-yard field goal as time expired to give the Vikings a 19-17 victory over the Lions on Sunday after new Detroit coach Dan Campbell successfully called for the go-ahead 2-point conversion try with 37 seconds left.

“I’m proud of our guys the way they fought. Not particularly proud of the way we played, though,” said Zimmer, who watched the Vikings (2-3) lose a 10-point lead with less than three minutes left.

Joseph made four field goals, including a career-best 55-yarder, as the Vikings casually played a field position game until the extra-safe strategy nearly cost them a must-have victory.

After Joseph’s 49-yard attempt with 3:17 remaining strangely fell short, the Lions (0-5) went the other way for Austin Seibert’s third field goal to pull within 16-9.

Alexander Mattison, who ably filled in for the injured Dalvin Cook with 153 total yards and a second quarter touchdown catch, had the ball ripped away by Jalen Reeves-Maybin on a third-and-7 run from the Minnesota 21 right after the 2-minute warning with Detroit out of timeouts.

Three plays later, D’Andre Swift had the Lions in the end zone with 7-yard run. Instead of settling for the tie, Campbell kept the offense on the field. Jared Goff, who had turnovers earlier in the game to end two drives that inside the 30, connected on a pass to KhaDarel Hodge for the lead.

“You want it for everybody, man. You’ve got to earn one. We’re this close. We haven’t done it,” said Campbell, who held back tears during his postgame news conference.

"When you see your players give all that they have and you lose that way, it's tough."

Dan Campbell was emotional after the Lions' last-second loss to the Vikings. pic.twitter.com/SRMK9Job0K

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 10, 2021

The Lions, who have lost nine straight games overall, surely knew better than to feel comfortable at that point. The Vikings used two timeouts and two deep throws from Kirk Cousins to Adam Thielen to get in range for Joseph, who came through this time after missing a 37-yard field goal on the final play in a 34-33 loss at Arizona on Sept. 19.

“So happy for all the guys in locker room. The team deserved that win, and so happy I was able to deliver,” Joseph said.

Two weeks ago, the Lions lost 19-17 to Baltimore after the Ravens scrambled in the closing seconds to set up an NFL-record 66-yard field goal by Justin Tucker.

“It’s as hard as it gets in this league, to do stuff like that and to try to bounce back from it. I say that every week, but we’ve got a resilient bunch who will bounce back,” said Jared Goff, who posted a 64.3 passer rating while going 21 for 35 for 203 yards.

Eric Kendricks made a one-handed interception in the third quarter, and Everson Griffen and Danielle Hunter each had 1 1/2 of the team’s four sacks.