The Buffalo Bills and the Detroit Lions both staged thrilling comebacks to extend their winning starts to the NFL season on Sunday, while the Green Bay Packers overcame rivals Chicago 27-17 to maintain their perfect record.
The Bills came back from 21 points down to upset Tom Brady and the New England Patriots 34-31, while the Lions overturned a 20 point deficit in their 26-23 overtime win against the Minnesota Vikings.
There were also wins for the New York Giants over the Philadelphia Eagles, the New Orleans Saints over Houston and Tampa Bay over Atlanta.
Photo: Reuters
Buffalo have been the surprise team of the season so far and moved to 3-0 and the top of the AFC East after ending divisional rivals the Patriots’ winning start to the campaign.
Rian Lindell kicked a 28-yard field goal in the final second as the Bills ended a 15-game losing streak against New England dating back more than eight seasons.
The Patriots looked in control of the game with a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter, but quarterback Brady, who had been outstanding in the opening two wins, threw four interceptions which resulted in 24 points as the Bills roared back.
Detroit (3-0) have the best start to a season since 1980 after Matthew Stafford threw two touchdowns to Calvin Johnson as the Lions roared back against the Vikings.
Jason Hanson kicked a 32-yard field goal 1 minute, 53 seconds into overtime as the Lions ended their 13-game losing streak on the road in Minnesota.
Aaron Rodgers threw for 297 yards and three touchdowns as Super Bowl champions Green Bay defeated old rivals Chicago with tight-end Jermichael Finley, who missed out last year through injury, collecting on all three touchdowns.
The Texans also went into week three with a 100 percent record and they almost produced a surprise of their own as they pushed the Saints all the way before succumbing 40-33 to New Orleans’ offense.
Houston quarterback Matt Schaub threw three touchdown passes as he led the Texans to a 26-17 lead early in the fourth quarter, before Drew Brees got a grip on the game.
Schaub’s only interception of the day led to Brees’ second touchdown pass of the fourth quarter, a 16 yard pass to Lance Moore.
The Saints scored 23 points in the final period with Mark Ingram charging in to give New Orleans the lead with a 13-yard touchdown run, before the Saints stopped Houston on fourth-and-21 to make sure of the win.
There were plenty of expectations around Atlanta this year, but the Falcons suffered a second defeat when they fell 16-13 to Tampa.
Buccaneers quarterback Josh Freeman scored a rushing touchdown in the second quarter and although Tony Gonzalez collected on a 10 yard touchdown pass from Matt Ryan in the fourth, Atlanta paid the price for three turnovers.
Rookie quarterback Cam Newton had thrown for more than 400 yards in both the Carolina Panthers’ defeats in the opening two games of the season, but the No. 1 overall draft pick will be glad that despite more modest yardage (158) that he has got his first victory in the pro game.
Torrential rain in Charlotte made passing tricky for Newton and Jacksonville’s rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert, but the Panthers quarterback executed on the key play — with a 16 yard pass to Greg Olsen in the fourth giving head coach Ron Rivera his first win since taking over Carolina.
Philadelphia quarterback Michael Vick fractured his right hand in the Eagles’ 29-16 loss to the New York Giants, just a week after he was concussed in his team’s defeat to the Atlanta Falcons.
The New York Jets suffered their first loss of the season when they went down 34-24 away to the Oakland Raiders.
Miami head coach Tony Sparano is under intense pressure after the Dolphins fell to a third straight loss, 17-16 to Cleveland. Browns quarterback Colt McCoy threw a 14 yard touchdown pass to Mohamed Massaquoi with just 43 seconds left and Miami’s attempted response fell when Chad Henne threw an interception with 13 seconds on the clock.
In other games, it was:
‧ Tennessee 17, Denver 14
‧ San Francisco 13, Cincinnati 8
‧ Cleveland 17, Miami 16
‧ Carolina 16, Jacksonville 10
‧ San Diego 20, Kansas City 17
‧ Baltimore 37, St Louis 7
‧ Seattle 13, Arizona 10
‧ Pittsburgh 23, Indianapolis 20
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their