Deshaun Watson has long admired Tom Brady for his talent and resilience.
He beat him on Sunday by not only throwing touchdown passes, but by catching one, too.
“I told them I’m an athlete ... the more you can do, the longer you play in this league,” Watson said. “So I can do it all.”
Photo: AP
Watson threw three touchdown passes and had the first touchdown reception of his career as the Houston Texans frustrated Brady in a 28-22 victory over the New England Patriots.
Texans coach and former Patriots assistant Bill O’Brien got his first win in six tries against New England coach Bill Belichick. It was Houston’s second win over the Patriots and their first since Jan. 3, 2010.
Watson had 234 yards passing and threw touchdown passes of 14, 13 and 35 yards as Houston (8-4) built a 21-3 lead against New England’s vaunted defense.
“This is pretty big just because it’s Brady,” Watson said. “I was 0-2 against him and who knows when he’s going to hang it up. That’s my role model, a guy that’s been doing it forever, over 20 years ... so it’s pretty awesome to finally get one.”
Brady completed two of his three touchdown passes in the final four minutes to pull within six points. A Patriots (10-2) player got a hand on Jake Bailey’s onside kick attempt with 50 seconds remaining, but the ball bounced out of bounds.
“There’s really not a whole lot to say here,” Belichick said. “The Texans did a good job tonight, across the board, in every area. They were just better than we were.”
The Patriots entered the game needing a win to be the first American Football Conference team to clinch a playoff spot after the Oakland Raiders lost 40-9 to the Kansas City Chiefs earlier in the day. Instead, they struggled to sustain drives and Brady often looked upset on a night he was 24 of 47.
He threw an interception and was sacked three times, hit on 12 other occasions and was seen yelling at his receivers on the sideline after a drive with several incompletions in the first half.
He finished with 326 yards.
“Execution,” Brady said. “Just got to do a better job, and it’s tough to get behind and come back. Just put ourselves in a pretty deep hole and you can’t do that on the road.”
Elsewhere, the Ravens edged the 49ers 20-17, the Packers pummeled the Giants 31-13, the Bengals downed the Jets 22-6, the Dolphins sank the Eagles 37-31 and the Steelers beat the Browns 20-13.
The Titans crushed the Colts 31-17, the Rams routed the Cardinals 34-7, the Broncos tripped up the Chargers 23-20, the Buccaneers battered the Jaguars 28-11 and the Redskins ran out 29-21 winners over the Panthers.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB