After an entertaining opening round of NFL action, this week’s action didn’t disappoint either. Here is TIBS News’ review of it all.
Thursday Night Football
In a showdown between two of the best and most exciting football teams, the Kansas City Chiefs rallied to beat the Los Angeles Chargers 27-24.
It was the Chiefs defence that won this game, highlighted by Jaylen Watson’s 99-yard go-ahead pick six. Two series after Watson’s touchdown, things got even worse for the Chargers when quarterback Justin Herbert was drilled by defensive end Mike Danna while delivering a throw.
He left the field clutching his side, returned one play later and then threw an incompletion that forced the Chargers to punt while trailing 24-17. The Chiefs controlled it from there.
Sunday Slate
The New England Patriots avoided going 0-2 for the first time in 20 years by beating the Pittsburgh Steelers 17-14.
Steelers QB Mitch Trubisky struggled throughout the game, throwing for just 168 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Meanwhile the Patriots did just enough to win the game, highlighted by Nelson Agholor’s 110 yards receiving, which included a 44-yard leaping grab.
Brian Daboll has brought winning football back to the New York Giants as they claimed a 19-16 victory over the Carolina Panthers.
New York were booed at half-time after a lacklustre 6-6 first half, but Saquon Barkley had an impressive drive after the break which led to a Graham Gano field goal and the Giants never looked back – shutting down the Panthers next drive and clinching the game.
Joe Flacco brought back shades of his former self as the New York Jets caused a massive upset against the Cleveland Browns, winning 31-30.
Flacco fired a 15-yard touchdown pass to rookie Garrett Wilson with 22 seconds left after recovering an onside kick, stunning the Cleveland fan base, as the Browns blew a two-touchdown lead inside the final two minutes.
Trevor Lawrence threw two touchdowns, both to new signing Christian Kirk as the Jacksonville Jaguars shut out the Indianapolis Colts, 24-0.
The Jaguars defence harassed Colts QB Matt Ryan early and often, looking like the ‘Sacksonville’ defence that made the AFC championship not too long ago. They sacked Ryan five times, intercepted three of his passes and held last year’s top rusher Jonathan Taylor to just 54 yards.
Tua Tagovailoa threw six touchdowns as the Miami Dolphins rallied from 21 points down to beat the Baltimore Ravens 42-38.
Tua’s seven-yard TD pass to Jaylen Waddle with just 14 seconds to go ended a 94-yard drive to complete an incredible comeback that saw Miami down 35-14 with just 13 minutes to go. The speed of Waddle and Tyreek Hill was too much for the Ravens secondary in the second half as Miami just kept going to the deep ball.
Tempers were ignited as an all-out brawl took place in Tampa Bay’s 20-10 win over the New Orleans Saints.
Tom Brady threw a deep ball to Mike Evans that was covered excellently by Saints DB Marshon Lattimore and went incomplete. A war of words between Brady and Lattimore took place, Bucs RB Leonard Fournette came in and shoved Lattimore, inciting a push back from the Saints DB, which was when Evans came in and flattened Lattimore. It was extremely similar to Evans and Lattimore’s fight in 2017. Evans has been suspended for a game.
The Detroit Lions continued to impress as they beat the Washington Commanders 36-27.
Lions QB Jared Goff threw for 256 yards and four touchdowns, two to Amon-Ra St Brown as the Lions controlled the game. Washington did come out of the half-time break firing, but a classic Carson Wentz interception, picked off by Will Harris, ended all hopes for the Commanders.
Super-sub Jimmy Garoppolo came off the bench to the lead the San Francisco 49ers to a dominant 27-7 victory over the Seattle Seahawks.
49ers starting QB Trey Lance suffered a season-ending injury on the second drive of the game, breaking his ankle on a designated QB run. Garoppolo immediately made an impact, throwing a touchdown pass and completing his first five passes. While Seahawks QB Geno Smith couldn’t replicate the magic of last week, throwing zero touchdowns and one interception.
The LA Rams held off a late comeback from the Atlanta Falcons to pick up their first win of the season, 31-27.
An incredible story was unfolding in the second half as the Falcons rallied from 28-3 down to bring it within a one-score game, but all-pro corner Jalen Ramsey picked off an errant Marcus Mariota throw, ending the game.
Byron Murphy Jr scooped up a fumble and took it home as the Arizona Cardinals came from 20-0 down to beat the Las Vegas 29-23 in overtime.
It came down to the final second for Arizona, as QB Kyler Murray scrambled in for a touchdown at the end of the game and then completed the two-point conversion, finding AJ Green, to tie the game and send it to overtime. The Cardinals got the ball first in overtime but couldn’t do anything with it. The Raiders got the ball where QB Derek Carr found reliable target Hunter Renfrow, who then coughed up the ball as he was going down, allowing Murphy to scoop it up and end the game.
The Denver Broncos continued to look sloppy but managed to be victorious in 16-9 win over the Houston Texans.
Russell Wilson overcame an extremely slow start and a chorus of boos from the crowds to lead the Broncos to a Courtland Sutton touchdown to start the fourth quarter. Wilson started the game completing only six of his first 20 throws but managed to finish the game 14 for 31 for 219 yards, one TD and one interception.
Cooper Rush is now 2-0 filling in for Dak Prescott as the Dallas Cowboys beat the struggling Cincinnati Bengals 20-17.
Rush led the Cowboys down the field and set up Brett Maher to nail a 50-yard field goal as time expired, holding off the Cincy comeback. The Bengals erased the same 17-3 deficit they had in week one, but like then, they couldn’t complete the comeback, becoming the first AFC champions since 1999 to go 0-2 to start the next season.
The Green Bay Packers quickly quieted critics as they hammered the Chicago Bears 27-10.
Aaron Rodgers may still own the Bears but this game was about Aaron Jones. The Packers RB rushed for 132 yards and a touchdown with a receiving touchdown on top of that. Averaging 8.8 yards a rush, Jones led a Packers 203-yard ground attack.
Monday Night Football
This week there was two simultaneous Monday night football games and the NFL branches out to more TV times.
The Buffalo Bills dominated the Tennessee Titans as Stefon Diggs scores three TD’s, winning 41-7.
The Bills defence contained Derrick Henry and forced four turnovers, including Matt Milano returning the second of QBs Ryan Tannehill’s interceptions for a touchdown while Bills QB Josh Allen lit up the Titans defence for 317 yards and four touchdowns.
In the other game, the Philadelphia Eagles beat a lifeless Minnesota Vikings team, 24-7.
Eagles QB Jalen Hurts threw for 333 yards with one touchdown and one interception, meanwhile on the other side, Kirk Cousins threw for 221 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. The Eagles defence held Justin Jefferson to just 48 receiving yards while the Eagles had four receivers over 60 yards.
By Charlie Parker
