With Gillette Stadium nearly half-empty after fans assumed that the New England Patriots had thrown away their last chance to win the game, Tom Brady delivered a drive to savor on Sunday.
Taking over at his 30-yard line with 73 seconds remaining, no timeouts left and the Patriots trailing the previously unbeaten New Orleans Saints 27-23, a vintage Brady rallied his team to a 30-27 win.
Brady’s 17-yard touchdown pass to Kenbrell Thompkins with just 5 seconds left capped the 70-yard drive in which the Patriots marched downfield.
The Saints (5-1) had taken a 24-23 lead with 3 minutes, 29 seconds remaining on Drew Brees’ 34-yard touchdown pass to Kenny Stills, but could not put away New England.
The Patriots (5-1) survived an interception by New Orleans’ Keenan Lewis on their first snap after Garrett Hartley’s 39-yard field goal made it 27-23.
In Arlington, Texas, Dwayne Harris returned a punt 86 yards for a touchdown and set up another score with a 90-yard kickoff return, as the Dallas Cowboys handed Robert Griffin III his first loss in his home state with a 31-16 victory over the Washington Redskins.
Dallas’ Tony Romo had just 170 yards passing a week after getting 506 in a wild 51-48 loss to Denver.
In Baltimore, Maryland, Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers threw a 64-yard touchdown pass to Jordy Nelson and Mason Crosby kicked four field goals as the Packers held on to beat the Ravens 19-17.
Eddie Lacy rushed for 120 yards to fuel the Packers’ first road win of the season.
Green Bay (3-2) took a 16-3 lead into the fourth quarter and were up 19-10 with 4 minutes left, but the Ravens (3-3) kept coming back.
In Denver, Colorado, Peyton Manning threw for two scores and Knowshon Moreno ran for three to lead the Broncos to a tougher-than-expected 35-19 home victory over the winless Jacksonville Jaguars.
Manning finished 28 for 42 for 295 yards, but lost two fumbles and threw a pick-6 — a 59-yard interception return by Paul Posluszny that pulled the Jaguars (0-6) within 14-12 at halftime.
Jamaal Charles ran for two touchdowns and the Kansas City defense harassed Oakland quarterback Terrelle Pryor into throwing three second-half interceptions as the Chiefs remained unbeaten with a 24-7 win over the Raiders in the Missouri state capital.
Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger threw a 55-yard touchdown pass to Emmanuel Sanders and Shaun Suisham kicked four field goals, as the Steelers downed the Jets 19-6, while Cam Newton threw three touchdown passes and ran for another score in the Florida Panthers’ 35-10 win over the Minnesota Vikings.
In other games, the San Francisco 49ers beat the Arizona Cardinals 32-20, the St Louis Rams downed the Houston Texans 38-13, the Seattle Seahawks defeated the Tennessee Titans 20-13, the Cincinnati Bengals edged the Buffalo Bills 27-24 in overtime, the Detroit Lions were 31-17 winners over the Cleveland Browns and the Philadelphia Eagles overcame the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-20.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but