Drew Brees led the New Orleans Saints to a dramatic overtime win against the Atlanta Falcons in Week Three of the NFL, while the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins moved to 3-0 and the Minnesota Vikings were embarrassed by the Buffalo Bills.
Brees and Falcons counterpart Matt Ryan put in a quarterback clinic as they combined for 770 yards passing and eight touchdowns with no interceptions in a wild 43-37 overtime shootout.
Falcons rookie receiver Calvin Ridley had an amazing game with 146 receiving yards and three touchdown catches, but in the end it was not enough as Brees showed his value down the stretch.
He firstly bounced off a couple of tacklers to run in the game-tying touchdown himself to force overtime, before repeating the dose by diving over the pile from a yard out to clinch the win.
39-year-old Brees grabbed some NFL history during the game as he passed Brett Favre’s record for career completed passes.
Mahomes makes history as Chiefs win again
Patrick Mahomes made his own slice of history on his belated home debut for the Kansas City Chiefs as he threw three TDs to make it 13 for the season - which is the most ever in the first three games of the season.
The Chiefs moved to 3-0 with a 38-27 victory over the San Francisco 49ers – who may have lost their own star QB Jimmy Garoppolo for some time after he limped out with a knee injury.
The Miami Dolphins are also a surprising 3-0 team after coming from ten points down to beat the Oakland Raiders, with receiver Albert Wilson the star when scoring and throwing long touchdowns as the team dialled up a trick play.
The Green Bay Packers now have a level record of 1-1-1 as they lost 31-17 at the Washington Redskins – with veteran running back Adrian Peterson doing the damage with 120 yards rushing and two scores.
Rookie Allen shines as Vikings stunned by Bills
Rookie QB Josh Allen had a remarkable game in a remarkable win for the Buffalo Bills – who completely dominated the well-fancied Minnesota Vikings 27-8 in Minneapolis.
Allen threw for a touchdown and a modest 196 yards, but crucially rushed for two more while the Bills defence shut down and almost shut out Kirk Cousins and the Vikings offence.
The previously winless Bills pulled off the shock result on the back of four sacks of Cousins as the Vikings only managed to score some points in the final quarter.
The Jacksonville Jaguars suffered a big reality check a week after beating the Patriots as they were beaten 9-6 in a defensive arm wrestle against the Tennessee Titans.
Last year’s league MVP Carson Wentz returned to action for Super Bowl winners Philadelphia and helped the Eagles to a tough 20-16 win over the Indianapolis Colts.
Week Three results
- 18:00 Tennessee Titans 9-6 Jacksonville Jaguars
- 18:00 San Francisco 49ers 27-38 Kansas City Chiefs
- 18:00 NY Giants 27-22 Houston Texans
- 18:00 Denver Broncos 14-27 Baltimore Ravens
- 18:00 Oakland Raiders 20-28 Miami Dolphins
- 18:00 Buffalo Bills 27-6 Minnesota Vikings
- 18:00 Indianapolis Colts 16-20 Philadelphia Eagles
- 18:00 Green Bay Packers 17-31 Washington Redskins
- 18:00 New Orleans Saints 43-37 Atlanta Falcons
- 18:00 Cincinnati Bengals 21-31 Carolina Panthers
- 21:05 Los Angeles Chargers 23-35 Los Angeles Rams
- 21:25 Chicago Bears 16-14 Arizona Cardinals
- 21:25 Dallas Cowboys 13-24 Seattle Seahawks
- 01:20 New England Patriots 10-26 Detroit Lions