CHARLOTTE — Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fell below .500 with a stunning 21-3 loss to the Carolina Panthers, who won their second game of the season Sunday despite playing with a third-string quarterback and interim head coach.

Brady was 32-of-49 passing for 290 yards for the Bucs (3-4). One of those incompletions came when a wide-open Mike Evans dropped what would have been a 64-yard touchdown on the third play of the game.

Brady hasn’t had a losing record this far into a season since the 2002 New England Patriots dropped four straight games to reach 3-4.

Tom Brady and the Bucs fall to 3-4.

The last time Brady fell below .500 this far into the season was in 2002.

(h/t @AlbertBreer) pic.twitter.com/3xhvInYFDH

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 23, 2022

P.J. Walker threw for 177 yards and two touchdowns for Carolina (2-5) in place of injured Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold. The Panthers won for the first time under interim coach Steve Wilks, who replaced Matt Rhule when he was fired Oct. 10.

Tampa Bay’s defense allowed the Panthers to rush for 173 yards. D’Onta Foreman ran for 118 yards, adn Chuba Hubbard added 63 yards and a touchdown.

Brady also got no help from his skilled people today pic.twitter.com/W9TGbOALdV

— Bob Pompeani (@KDPomp) October 23, 2022

Carolina came in as a 13 1/2-point underdog and having lost 12 of 13 games. It’s now one game behind the Bucs and Atlanta Falcons for first place in the NFC South.

Commanders 23, Packers 21

LANDOVER, Md. — Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay offense sputtered and Washington handed the Packers their third straight loss.

Nursing a sore thumb and out of sync with receivers, Rodgers was 23 of 35 for 194 yards and the Packers went 0 of 6 on third down. Green Bay (3-4) had just 232 total yards of offense to Washington’s 364 and lost Allen Lazard to a shoulder injury, making him the team’s third wide receiver to go down during the first losing streak under coach Matt LaFleur.

Rodgers finished the game face down on the turf after a failed final play that ended with him throwing a lateral out of bounds.

Washington’s front four also played a role in frazzling Rodgers and making him look more like a rookie than a 38-year-old four-time MVP. Only a series of penalties on the Commanders (3-4) made the game close in the final minutes.

Taylor Heinicke, making his first start of the season in place of injured Carson Wentz, threw for two touchdowns — including a perfect 37-yard pass to Terry McLaurin — and was 20 of 33 for 200 yards.

Heinicke got off to a rough start, going 1 for 7 — including an interception that De’Vondre Campbell returned 63 yards for a touchdown.

Giants 23, Jaguars 17

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Two New York defenders tackled Christian Kirk inside the 1-yard line as time expired to preserve the win over Jacksonville.

The Giants matched their best start since 2008. Quarterback Daniel Jones ran for a career-high 107 yards and a touchdown, turning to his legs to carry the Giants (6-1) down the stretch. He ran for 35 yards on a go-ahead drive and capped it with a 1-yard plunge after consecutive penalties by Jacksonville moved the ball inches from the goal line.

Jacksonville had a final shot and reached the New York 1-yard on Trevor Lawrence’s pass to Kirk. But Julian Love and Xavier McKinney stopped Kirk short of the goal line, even as Jaguars players tried pushing the pile into the end zone.

Lawrence finished 22 of 43 for 310 yards for reeling Jacksonville (2-5), which lost its fourth straight.

Saquon Barkley finished with 107 yards on 24 carries, and Graham Gano kicked three field goals for New York. Gano’s last one gave the Giants some breathing room.

Cowboys 24, Lions 6

ARLINGTON, Texas — Ezekiel Elliott ran for two 1-yard touchdowns and Dak Prescott threw for a score in his return from injury while Dallas leaned on its defense to beat Detroit.

The Cowboys (5-2) recovered Jamaal Williams’ fumble inside their 1 with a four-point lead early in the fourth quarter. Jared Goff was responsible for four other Detroit turnovers — he threw two interceptions and lost two fumbles.

Prescott was predictably ragged after missing five games with a fractured right thumb. He was 19 of 25 for 207 yards, while Goff was 21 of 26 for 228 yards. Goff’s first three turnovers led to the three Dallas touchdowns.

The Lions (1-5) got a solid showing for three quarters from the NFL’s worst defense, but coach Dan Campbell fell to 0-11-1 on the road with the Lions.

Elliott had 57 yards on 15 carries, and Tony Pollard rushed 12 times for 83 yards.

Titans 19, Colts 10

NASHVILLE — Andrew Adams returned an interception 76 yards for the first pick-6 of his career, and Tennessee never trailed while completing its second straight sweep of AFC South rival Indianapolis.

The reigning two-time division champion Titans (4-2) won their fourth straight overall, and they’ve now beaten the Colts five straight times.

Randy Bullock matched his career high with four field goals, the last two providing Tennessee’s first points this season in the fourth quarter. Bullock’s 48-yarder provided the final margin with 4:47 remaining.

The Titans forced three turnovers, the last on Michael Pittman Jr.’s fumble with 3:22 left. Jeffery Simmons also had one of three sacks for Tennessee.

Derrick Henry helped seal the win with his third straight 100-yard rushing game, finishing with a season-high 128 yards on 30 carries.

Matt Ryan went 33 of 44 for 243 yards and a touchdown but was intercepted twice. The Colts (3-3-1) saw their two-game win streak end.

Jets 16, Broncos 9

DENVER — Rookie Breece Hall ran for a 62-yard touchdown before leaving with a knee injury and the surprising New York Jets won their fourth straight by beating backup quarterback Brett Rypien and the punchless Denver Broncos 16-9 on Sunday.

Rookie cornerback Sauce Gardner broke up Rypien’s fourth-down pass into the end zone to Courtland Sutton with just under 2 minutes remaining. Rypien’s final heave in the closing moments fell woefully short of KJ Hamler’s grasp at the goal line.

The Jets (5-2) are off to their best start since 2010, have their first four-game winning streak since 2015 and already surpassed their win total from last year when they went 4-13. New York also improved to 4-0 on the road.

Denver starting quarterback Russell Wilson was ruled out 24 hours before kickoff with a pulled hamstring, missing a game for just the fourth time in his 11-year career. But the Broncos, who are last in the league in scoring, fared no better under Rypien, who was making his second career start.

The Broncos (2-5) lost their fourth straight despite another outstanding defensive performance.

Zach Wilson was held without a touchdown for the second straight week, but he did enough to lead the Jets to the win despite his pedestrian stats: 16 for 26 for 121 yards.

Rypien’s only other start was also against the Jets, a 37-28 win at MetLife Stadium in 2020, but he went 24 for 46 for 225 yards and no touchdowns and threw a crucial second-half interception in this one.

The Jets lost Hall to a left knee injury in the second quarter when he was tackled by Patrick Surtain II and Jonas Griffith after a short run. He was helped off the field and carted to the locker room.

Coach Robert Saleh said after the game the initial diagnosis for Hall is an ACL injury.

Hall finished with 72 yards on four carries, including the 62-yard touchdown run in which he hit a top speed of 21.87 mph according to NextGen Stats, the fastest by a ballcarrier this season.

Chiefs 44, 49ers 23

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Patrick Mahomes threw for 423 yards and three touchdowns as Kansas City rallied from a double-digit deficit to beat San Francisco.

Mahomes got off to a rough start in this Super Bowl rematch with his early interception putting Kansas City (5-2) in a 10-0 hole. But he led the Chiefs to touchdowns on six of the next seven drives.

Mecole Hardman scored on two TD runs and an 8-yard catch, Justin Watson caught a 4-yard TD, and JuJu Smith-Schuster finished it off with a 45 yard catch-and-run. Clyde Edwards-Helaire also scored on a 16-yard run.

Kansas City improved to 13-9 with Mahomes when falling behind by at least 10 points, including the Super Bowl win over the 49ers (3-4) following the 2019 season.

The Niners (3-4) dropped back-to-back games despite getting a boost from the addition this week of running back Christian McCaffrey, who had 62 yards on 10 scrimmage touches in his San Francisco debut.

But San Francisco settled for three field goals and came up empty on another chance when Jimmy Garoppolo threw an interception at the goal line before Kansas City ran away with it in the second half.

Cowboys 24, Lions 6

ARLINGTON, Texas — Ezekiel Elliott ran for two 1-yard touchdowns and Dak Prescott threw for a score in his return from injury while Dallas leaned on its defense to beat Detroit.

The Cowboys (5-2) recovered Jamaal Williams’ fumble inside their 1 with a four-point lead early in the fourth quarter. Jared Goff was responsible for four other Detroit turnovers — he threw two interceptions and lost two fumbles.

Prescott was predictably ragged after missing five games with a fractured right thumb. He was 19 of 25 for 207 yards, while Goff was 21 of 26 for 228 yards. Goff’s first three turnovers led to the three Dallas touchdowns.

The Lions (1-5) got a solid showing for three quarters from the NFL’s worst defense, but coach Dan Campbell fell to 0-11-1 on the road with the Lions.

Elliott had 57 yards on 15 carries, and Tony Pollard rushed 12 times for 83 yards.

Seahawks 37, Chargers 23

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Rookie Kenneth Walker III rushed for 168 yards and two touchdowns, Marquise Goodwin caught a pair of scores, and Seattle jumped out to a 17-point first-quarter lead and beat Los Angeles.

Geno Smith completed 20 of 27 passes for 210 yards and two touchdowns, his fifth multi-TD game of the season. Jason Myers added three field goals for the Seahawks (4-3), who have won three of four and took a half-game lead in the NFC West.

Seattle led 17-0 late in the first quarter, its largest lead after 15 minutes since a win over New Orleans in Week 13 of 2013. It was the Seahawks’ largest road lead at the end of the first since 2000.

It was the third straight week the Chargers (4-3) fell behind by double digits in the first quarter. They rallied against Cleveland and Denver, but were unable to pull it off this time and had a three-game winning streak snapped. LA now trails Kansas City by one game in the AFC West.

Justin Herbert was 33 of 51 for 293 yards with two touchdowns and an interception, marking the second time in his career he has thrown at least 50 passes in consecutive games. Austin Ekeler had 127 scrimmage yards (96 receiving, 31 rushing) and a pair of touchdowns, giving him eight over the last three games.

Raiders 38, Texans 20

LAS VEGAS — Josh Jacobs rushed for 143 yards and three second-half touchdowns as Las Vegas ran away from Houston.

In a battle of one-win teams coming off byes, the Raiders (2-4) dominated the Texans (1-4-1) after halftime, outscoring them 28-10 behind 227 yards of offense, including 98 from Jacobs on the ground.

Las Vegas, which erased a three-point, fourth-quarter deficit, scored on four straight possessions before safety Duron Harmon sealed the win by intercepting Davis Mills and returning it 73 yards for a touchdown.

Jacobs has rushed for 441 yards in his last three games. He became the first Raider to rush for more than 100 yards in three straight games since Napoleon Kaufman in 1997. It was his second career game with three rushing TDs.

Derek Carr completed 21 of 27 passes for 241 yards and a touchdown. Davante Adams had eight receptions for 95 yards.

Mills completed 28 of 40 attempts for 302 yards and two touchdowns, along with his pick-6 to Harmon. Dameon Pierce led the Texans’ rushing attack with 92 yards on 20 carries.

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