Tom Brady bounced back with his first victory
with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday as Patrick Mahomes led the Kansas City
Chiefs to a thrilling overtime victory against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Brady – who suffered a mauling in a debut loss
to the New Orleans Saints last week – showed flashes of his old self in a 31-17
victory over the Carolina Panthers at the Raymond James Stadium.
The six-time Super Bowl champion, who joined
Tampa Bay in March after ending a 20-year career with the New England Patriots,
threw for 217 yards with one touchdown from 23 completions.
“It feels good to win,” Brady said afterwards.
“It’s going to feel good to watch the film and learn.
“There was a lot of good things and definitely
things we can be better at. So it was fun to win and we’ve worked hard at
winning. We’re going to take it and we’re going to try to be better next week.”
The Buccaneers had taken control of the contest
in the first half, racing into a 14-0 first-quarter lead with a close-range
rushing touchdown from Ronald Jones before Brady connected with Mike Evans from
23 yards for a second score.
Newly signed running back Leonard Fournette
then barreled over from one yard out to make it 21-0 at halftime.
Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey
grabbed two touchdowns to close the gap to 21-14 but a late Fournette
touchdown, rushing 46 yards to score, made the game safe for Tampa Bay.
Elsewhere on Sunday, the Super Bowl champion
Kansas City Chiefs were pushed all the way before snatching a 23-20 overtime
victory against the Chargers at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
The Chargers were forced into a late change at
quarterback when rookie Justin Herbert was named to start in place of the
injured Tyrod Taylor.
The 22-year-old dazzled on his debut, scoring a
touchdown from four yards out after leading a 79-yard opening drive, and
finishing with 311 passing yards.
Herbert’s heroics were not enough to hold off
the Chiefs however, who eventually sealed victory in overtime with Harrison
Butker’s 58-yard field goal.
Mahomes was the saviour for the Chiefs,
engineering the team into field-goal position at the end of regulation, allowing
Butker to tie the game at 20-20, before setting up the win in overtime.
‘Legatron’ saves Dallas
Elsewhere on Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys
produced a thrilling fourth-quarter fightback before kicker Greg Zuerlein
nailed a 46-yard field goal with only four seconds remaining to secure a 40-39
victory over the Atlanta Falcons.
Dallas coach Mike McCarthy, who had been in the
firing line after the Cowboys’ opening-week loss to the Los Angeles Rams,
looked to be in for more hard questions as the Falcons opened up a 39-24 lead
in the fourth quarter.
Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan had been in
blistering form, tossing four touchdowns and no interceptions for 273 yards.
But Dallas, who also trailed 20-0 in the first
quarter, saved their best for last, with a jaw-dropping one-handed catch by
Amari Cooper from quarterback Dak Prescott’s pass sparking the fightback that
ended with the game winner from Zuerlein, the reliable kicker nicknamed
“Legatron.”
Elsewhere the Seattle Seahawks thwarted the New
England Patriots’ comeback bid, stopping Pats quarterback Cam Newton on the
goal line as time ran out for a 35-30 victory.
Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, stung by
an interception run back for a touchdown on the first drive of the game, was
virtually flawless from then on.
Wilson completed 12 straight passes in one span
as he connected on 21 of 27 attempts for 288 yards with five touchdowns.
Newton finished 30 for 44, for 397 yards, one
touchdown and one interception with a pair of rushing touchdowns before he was
stymied at the last.
There was controversy in the New York Jets’
31-13 home defeat to the San Francisco 49ers at MetLife Stadium in East
Rutherford in New Jersey.
Five 49ers players left the game with injuries,
including defensive star Nick Bosa, with what was feared to be a season-ending
knee injury.
San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan later
revealed players had complained about the “sticky” playing surface at the
arena.
“That’s as many knee injuries and ankle stuff
and people getting caught on the turf as I’ve ever been a part of,” Shanahan
said. “It was something our players were concerned about right away.”