FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — With his team leading by 10 points and facing a long third down late in the fourth, Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Geno Smith was calm.

Find a way to pick up a first down and eat some clock, and the Patriots would be left in desperation mode. But a three-and-out could give New England new life.

“Those situations, game on the line, I love the ball in my hands. That’s what I live for,” Smith said.

He showed why, tossing a 36-yard pass to Dont’e Thornton that helped the Raiders run the clock under two minutes and put the game away.

Smith finished with 362 yards and a touchdown in his Raiders debut while rookie Ashton Jeanty rushed for his first TD and Las Vegas rallied to beat the Patriots 20-13 in their season-opener Sunday.

Tight end Brock Bowers had five catches for 103 yards before leaving with a knee injury. Jakobi Meyers added eight catches for 97 yards. Maxx Crosby and Malcolm Koonce also added sacks to help give Pete Carroll his first victory as the Raiders’ coach.

“Geno had a regular game today,” Carroll said. “I don’t think it was a big statement game or anything like that. I just think it was what he does.”

Smith had nine pass plays that went for 20 or more yards, tied for the most in his career. It also was the most in a single game by a Raiders quarterback since at least 1991.

Las Vegas outscored the Patriots 13-3 in the second half. New England got within seven points on a 44-yard field goal by rookie Andy Borregales, but its ensuing onside kick rolled out of bounds.

New England was just 4 of 14 on third down in coach Mike Vrabel’s debut. The Patriots rushed 18 times for only 60 yards.

Drake Maye was 30 of 46 for 287 yards and a touchdown but also had an interception that led to the Raiders’ go-ahead score. Kayshon Boutte finished with six catches for 103 yards. Jaylinn Hawkins had an interception and a sack.

Vrabel said avoiding late deficits must start with getting more overall production offensively.

“We have to be more balanced,” Vrabel said.

Las Vegas trailed 10-7 early in the third when Maye threw an errant pass that was picked off by Isaiah Pola-Mao.

The Raiders opened their ensuing drive with back to-back passes to Meyers for 23 and 19 yards. The second grab by Meyers was augmented by a 15-yard unnecessary roughness call on Jaylinn Hawkins that set Las Vegas up on the New England 14.

Jeanty scored two plays later from 3 yards out to put the Raiders in front 14-10.

Buccaneers 23, Falcons 20

ATLANTA — Another visit to Mercedes-Benz Stadium produced more lasting memories for Emeka Egbuka.

Only eight months after helping Ohio State win a national championship by beating Notre Dame, Egbuka grabbed the spotlight in his return to Atlanta for his NFL regular-season debut.

Egbuka caught two touchdown passes, including a go-ahead 25-yarder with 59 seconds remaining, and Tampa Bay recovered after losing the lead on a marathon drive by Atlanta to beat the Falcons 23-20 in a dramatic opening game Sunday.

“You can’t get much of a better ball than that,” Egbuka said about Baker Mayfield’s touchdown pass in the final minute. “… Obviously, it feels great to be able to help my team win.”

Egbuka, the first-round pick, had four catches for 67 yards.

“He’s everything we thought since he’s been here,” Tampa Bay coach Todd Bowles said. “He played with so much poise and Baker (Mayfield) played with so much poise.”

Mayfield said his adjustment with Egbuka as another top play-maker for the Buccaneers has progressed “extremely quickly.”

“Just the way he carries himself,” Mayfield said. “… As you guys saw today, he’s the real deal.”

Following Mayfield’s 25-yard pass to Egbuka, Chase McLaughlin’s missed extra point gave the Falcons an opening to force overtime with a field goal.

Michael Penix Jr., who capped an 18-play drive by scoring on a 4-yard run for a 20-17 lead with 2:17 remaining, moved the Falcons into field goal position in the final minute. Younghoe Koo was wide right on the 44-yarder, and his attempt wasn’t close.

“He missed it,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said. “I’m not going to sit here and pretend I can tell you about the technique and what happened with that miss. But we got to make those kicks. Those are very makeable kicks. We’ve got to lock in and get that done.”

Koo was not present when the locker room was open for reporters.

Egbuka said the Buccaneer’s last-minute answer to losing the lead proves “that we’re resilient, that we play as a team.”

Mayfield completed 17 of 32 passes for 167 yards with three touchdowns.

The Falcons had two calls overturned with successful challenges while the Buccaneers’ defense was called for two personal fouls on roughing- the-passer calls on the Falcons’ marathon drive, which covered 91 yards and lasted 8 minutes, 46 seconds.

“It felt like an eternity,” Mayfield said about the long wait on the sideline for the offense to have another opportunity.

Commanders 21, Giants 6

LANDOVER, Md. — When Washington lost in the NFC title game in January, the Commanders were so overmatched against Philadelphia’s tush push that officials threatened to award an automatic touchdown if they didn’t stop jumping offside.

In this season’s opener, it was a different story near the goal line.

The Commanders held New York to three points total on two trips inside the 5-yard line, and Deebo Samuel scored in his Washington debut, a 21-6 win over the Giants on Sunday. Jayden Daniels threw for 233 yards and a touchdown.

“You heard me talk about identity, the tackling,” Commanders coach Dan Quinn said. “We didn’t create the takeaways today, but man, seeing some plays down inside the 10-yard line, in the red zone, the guys have worked hard at that.”

Last seen allowing 55 points to the Eagles in that playoff loss, Washington’s defense had a much better time of it against the Giants. New York managed only 231 yards of offense and was particularly ineffective running the ball, gaining 74 yards — 44 of which came from quarterback Russell Wilson — on 23 attempts.

With the Commanders up 7-0, Wilson fumbled on third down near the goal line, but he was able to recover at the Washington 2. A fourth-down stop was negated by a defensive penalty, setting the Giants up with first-and-goal from the 1.

New York’s next three plays: an incomplete pass in the direction of an eligible lineman, a run for a loss of 1, then another incompletion. The Giants finally gave in and kicked a field goal.

Down 21-6 late in the fourth quarter, New York had first-and-goal from the 3, but Wilson threw four straight incompletions.

“Obviously, six points it’s tough to win a game,” Giants coach Brian Daboll said. “We left 11 points out there in the red zone.”

The Commanders never let Wilson look all that comfortable in his first start with New York. The Giants, who went 3-14 last season, did show enough on defense to suggest some improvement is possible. Washington didn’t score a point in the second half until Samuel’s 19-yard touchdown run made it 21-6 with 7:09 to play.

Washington faced second-and-17 on that drive, but Daniels bounced off a tackle for a 12-yard run, then threw to Samuel for 19 to put the Commanders in field goal range. Moments later Samuel, acquired in a trade from San Francisco in the offseason, took a handoff and swept to the left, shed a tackler and reached the end zone.

The crowd began chanting “Deebo! Deebo!” — they’d also been chanting “Terry! Terry!” earlier in the game for Terry McLaurin, who finally reached a deal after a lengthy contract dispute and contributed a couple catches in the opener.

The Commanders left running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. inactive for this game, a sign he’d fallen behind rookie seventh-round pick Bill Croskey-Merritt. Croskey-Merritt had 82 yards on a team-high 10 carries, including a 6-yard scoring run in the second quarter that made it 14-3.

“This whole day was amazing, just being able to be on the field with my teammates,” Croskey-Merritt said. “I waited a long time for this. I just want to give these guys thanks for just pushing me and believing in me.”

Jaguars 26, Panthers 10

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Trevor Lawrence threw a touchdown pass, Travis Etienne ran for 143 yards and the Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Carolina Panthers 26-10 to give their new regime a debut victory Sunday.

Brian Thomas Jr. also ran for a score for Jacksonville, which controlled both lines of scrimmage and kept Lawrence upright all afternoon.

The game was delayed 1 hour, 16 minutes because of nearby lightning strikes. The Jags led 10-3 when players and coaches headed to locker rooms and did much of the scoring after it resumed.

Jacksonville’s revamped defense contributed as much as Lawrence and the offense. Newcomers Jourdan Lewis and Eric Murray made several big plays, with Lewis’ pass breakup leading to a first-half interception for Foye Oluokun.

The complementary play created rave reviews for first-time head coach Liam Coen, first-time general manager James Gladstone and first-time executive vice president Tony Boselli. Throw in first-time offensive and defensive coordinators, and there was no telling how the Jaguars would handle their season opener.

They were much better than the Panthers, who turned the ball over twice in the first half and turned it over on downs twice in the second.

Bryce Young turned in another season-opening stinker. He completed 18 of 35 passes for 154 yards, with a TD pass to Chuba Hubbard, two interceptions and a fumble. He also made a head-scratching throw out of the back of the end zone on a fourth-and-1 play from the 5-yard line.

It was the third time in as many years that Young struggled in an opener. He had a combined four interceptions in blowout losses the past two seasons.

Cardinals 20, Saints 13

NEW ORLEANS — Kyler Murray threw two touchdown passes and the Arizona Cardinals narrowly held on for a 20-13 victory over penalty-prone New Orleans on Sunday in the Saints’ first game under rookie coach Kellen Moore.

Murray passed for 163 yards, hitting Marvin Harrison Jr. five times for 71 yards and a TD. Murray also rushed for 38 yards and his other TD toss came on a 4-yard shovel pass to running back James Conner.

Saints star running back Alvin Kamara scored on an 18-yard, tackle-slipping touchdown run around the right end. Spencer Rattler passed for 214 yards without a turnover and nearly rallied the Saints into a tie during the final five minutes.

Rattler, a second year pro who has now lost all seven of his NFL starts, drove the Saints for Blake Grupe’s short field goal to pull New Orleans within a touchdown with 2:42 left.

After Alontae Taylor’s third-down sack on a cornerback blitz forced Arizona to punt from inside the 20, the Saints began a potential tying drive on their 42 with just less than two minutes left.

Without any timeouts, Rattler scrambled for 9 yards and completed five quick passes to move the Saints to the Arizona 18. After a spike to stop the clock with 13 seconds left, Rattler took three shots at the end zone. All fell incomplete, but the second throw nearly connected with leaping tight end Juwan Johnson, who lost control of the ball as he came down hard in the end zone.

The Saints, who saw their streak of six season-opening victories snapped, took a brief first-half lead on Kamara’s scoring run in the second quarter.

Soon after, Murray’s 45-yard pass to Harrison set up Arizona’s first TD on Harrison’s 1-yard catch that put Arizona in front for good.

New Orleans responded with Grupe’s tying 36-yard field goal before Conner’s TD made it 17-10 with 28 seconds left in the half.

Colts 33, Dolphins 8

INDIANAPOLIS — Daniel Jones ran for two touchdowns and threw for another, and the Indianapolis Colts snapped the NFL’s longest active opening-day winless drought at 11 with a 33-8 rout of the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.

The Colts are 1-0 for the first time since 2013 and did it in Jones’ first game with the team. He went 22 of 29 for 272 yards, including a career-high 197 yards in the first half, as Indy scored on all seven possessions.

New defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo also had a splashy debut as the Colts came within 6 1/2 minutes of delivering their first shutout since December 2021.

Nothing went right for the Dolphins as their Week 1 winning streak ended at four.

While they had 43 total yards in the first half, Indy ran 43 plays. Miami finished with just 211 total yards and needed De’Von Achane’s strong effort on a screen pass on fourth-and-goal from the Colts 11-yard line with 6:21 left to avoid getting shut out for the first time in four years. A 2-point conversion pass made it 30-8.

That was it for the Dolphins.

Tagovailoa went 14 of 23 for 114 yards with two interceptions and lost a fumble on one of his three sacks. The Dolphins ran for 78 yards while Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle combined for eight receptions and 70 yards.

Colts rookie Tyler Warren caught seven passes for 76 yards and converted his only run into a first down. Michael Pittman Jr. had eight catches for 60 yards and a score, and Jonathan Taylor ran 18 times for 71 yards.

Broncos 20, Titans 12

DENVER — Bo Nix overcame three turnovers and the Denver Broncos spoiled top overall draft pick Cam Ward’s debut with a 20-12 victory over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, winning despite a sloppy offensive performance and two key special-teams blunders.

Nix threw a touchdown pass to Courtland Sutton to go with his two interceptions and lost fumble, and rookie running back R.J. Harvey’s 50-yard scamper set up J.K. Dobbins’ 19-yard TD burst up the middle that made it 20-12 midway through the fourth quarter.

Denver’s stingy defense held Ward to 12-of-28 passing for 112 yards with no touchdowns. Ward didn’t have an interception, but fumbled the ball away in the final minute. The Titans managed just 134 yards on 55 plays and went 2 for 14 on third down. Ward was sacked six times.

Quarterbacks taken at No. 1 overall are 4-14-1 in the common draft era starting a season opener. When Caleb Williams got the win with Chicago last year, it was the first season-opening win for a No. 1 pick quarterback since David Carr in 2002.

Ward didn’t join Williams, instead adding his name to a long list of No. 1s who lost their first game. Since 2000, the last 17 quarterbacks taken No. 1 overall are 1-15-1.

Tennessee had three chances to tie it in the final five minutes but came up empty each time.

After holding Nix to no gain on fourth-and-inches at the Denver 46 with 5:07 remaining, Tennessee went three-and-out and punted for the eighth time.

The Titans stuffed Marvin Mims Jr. well short of the line to gain with under 3 minutes to go, but star defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons was flagged for unnecessary roughness when he knocked Mims to the ground after the whistle. Earlier, Simmons was responsible for Nix’s first lost fumble as a pro.

That extended the drive, which ended on a head-scratcher when coach Sean Payton called for a pass play on fourth-and-8 from the Tennessee 36 with 1:05 remaining.

49ers 17, Seahawks 13

SEATTLE — Third-string tight end Jake Tonges caught a deflected pass for a touchdown with 1:34 remaining, and the San Francisco 49ers rallied for a 17-13 season-opening win over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.

Tonges entered the game having never caught an NFL pass. He finished with three receptions in relief of injured All-Pro tight end George Kittle and came down with a 50-50 ball from a scrambling Brock Purdy for a 4-yard TD. Seahawks cornerback Riq Woolen got a hand on the ball, but it bounced off him and Tonges grabbed it.

Jake Moody converted the extra point to put the Niners up by four, a critical conversion given that he missed two field goals earlier.

Sam Darnold moved the Seahawks into position to win his debut with the franchise, hitting Jaxon Smith-Njigba for 40 yards to the San Francisco 14. But on second down from the 9, Nick Bosa strip-sacked Darnold to put the game away.

Purdy went 26 of 35 for 277 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, improving to 4-0 as a starter at Lumen Field. Darnold went 16 of 23 for 150 yards, with Smith-Njigba by far his favorite target. He had nine catches for 124 yards.

Kittle caught a 7-yard TD pass from Purdy in the first quarter but left in the second with a hamstring injury. Zach Charbonnet’s 1-yard rush early in the second quarter tied the game at 7-all, and the Seahawks took the lead on Jason Myers’ 48-yard field goal with 2 seconds left in the first half.

Myers connected again from 37 yards to put Seattle ahead 13-10 with 3:24 left in the game.

Christian McCaffrey was productive for the Niners with nine catches for 73 yards and 22 carries for 69 yards. Ricky Pearsall had four receptions for 108 yards to lead San Francisco’s thin receiving corps.

Packers 27, Lions 13

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Jordan Love threw a pair of touchdown passes and Micah Parsons produced a sack in his Green Bay debut as the Packers delivered an exceptional defensive performance in a 27-13 victory over the Detroit Lions on Sunday.

Opening a season at home for the first time since 2018, the Packers beat the two-time defending NFC North champions after going 1-5 in divisional games last year. The Packers won their 13th consecutive home opener, giving them the longest such streak since the Miami Dolphins also won 13 straight from 1976-88.

After getting outscored 99-40 in the first half of NFC North games last season, the Packers got points on their opening three possessions Sunday to take a 17-3 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Love went 16 of 22 for 188 yards with touchdown passes of 15 yards to Tucker Kraft and 17 yards to Jayden Reed. Josh Jacobs added a three-yard score in the fourth quarter, giving him a touchdown in a franchise-record nine straight games.

The Lions, who scored an NFL-high 33.2 points per game last season, didn’t reach the end zone until the final minute against a Green Bay defense featuring Parsons, who got a huge ovation from the Lambeau Field crowd when he was introduced before the game.

Green Bay acquired the star edge rusher from the Dallas Cowboys in a blockbuster trade a week before the start of the season. Parsons got his first sack as a Packer with just over four minutes left in the game. He also applied pressure that led to Evan Williams’ second-quarter interception, thwarting a Lions scoring opportunity.

The Lions had won at Lambeau Field each of the last three seasons but never gave themselves much of an opportunity this time after dealing with various offseason changes.

Detroit lost four-time Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow to retirement and offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn to head coaching opportunities after going 15-2 and setting a franchise record for wins last season.

Jared Goff went 31 of 39 for 225 yards with a touchdown and an interception. David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs were held to a combined 44 yards on 20 carries.

The Lions netted just six points from their first three drives into the red zone before Detroit scored its lone touchdown on a 13-yard pass from Goff to Isaac TeSlaa with 55 seconds left.

Trailing 17-6 in the third quarter, Detroit appeared on the verge of getting back into the game in the third quarter when Brian Branch scored an apparent touchdown on a 35-yard interception return. But a defensive holding penalty on Rock Ya-Sin nullified the play.

Rams 14, Texans 9

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Matthew Stafford threw for 245 yards and a touchdown while becoming the 10th quarterback in NFL history with 60,000 yards in the air, and Braden Fiske recovered a fumble forced by Nate Landman with 1:43 to play in the Los Angeles Rams’ 14-9 victory over the Houston Texans.

Puka Nacua had 10 catches for 130 yards for the Rams, who went ahead on Davis Allen’s TD catch on the opening drive of the third quarter. Neither team scored again in a choppy season opener.

Landman, the Rams’ new starting linebacker, punched the ball away from Dare Ogunbowale after C.J. Stroud drove the Texans inside the Los Angeles 20. Stafford then hit Nacua for a 24-yard gain on third-and-long to seal the Rams’ seventh victory in nine openers under coach Sean McVay.

Stroud passed for 188 yards with several sharp throws in his first pro game in his native Southern California despite playing behind a struggling offensive line.

But the Texans couldn’t score in the second half after Ka’imi Fairbairn made three field goals in the first half, and they were whistled for 11 penalties for 80 yards.

Davante Adams had four catches for 51 yards in the star receiver’s debut with the Rams, while Kyren Williams rushed for 66 yards and a touchdown.

Los Angeles was in position to seal a win before Azeez Al-Shaair forced a fumble by tight end Colby Parkinson on a catch at the Houston 12 with 4:09 to play.

Stroud engineered a final drive that benefitted from a roughing-the-passer call against Kobie Turner on a third-and-long incompletion, but new Rams linebacker Landman alertly punched the ball out of Ogunbowale’s hands inside the Los Angeles 20.

Houston drove for three field goals in the first half, with Stroud moving the ball despite his patchwork offensive line’s obvious limitations.

The Rams’ offense started disjointedly in Stafford’s first live snaps after missing nearly a month of training camp with a back injury, but Los Angeles finally scored on Williams’ fourth-down TD run 53 seconds before halftime.

Stafford engineered another TD drive to start the second half, with Adams and Xavier Smith making big catches before Allen scored his second career TD on a superb pass.

Stafford topped 60,000 career yards on a short pass to Nacua in the fourth quarter, becoming the 10th quarterback overall and the second-fastest to reach the mark.

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