NEW ORLEANS — Michael Thomas caught a late 72-yard touchdown reception, then celebrated with a cellphone in a throwback to another famous New Orleans play, and the streaking Saints handed the Los Angeles Rams their first loss of the season with a 45-35 victory Sunday.
Drew Brees passed for 346 yards and four touchdowns in New Orleans’ seventh straight win, and Thomas finished with a club-record 211 yards receiving. But what happened after their last connection of the day stole the show in a wild shootout between two of the NFL’s best offenses.
Thomas’ long TD came on a pivotal third-down play with about four minutes to go, when the Rams seemed to expect the Saints to run a play closer to the first-down marker. Thomas ran free behind Marcus Peters, caught Brees’ long throw virtually in stride and ran straight to the goal post, where he got out an old-school flip phone – reminiscent of Joe Horn’s Sunday night TD celebration in 2003.
Like Horn, Thomas was penalized, but the Rams never threatened after that.
VIKINGS 24, LIONS 9: Danielle Hunter had 31/2 of a franchise-record 10 sacks for Minnesota (5-3-1) and a fourth-quarter fumble return for a touchdown, making for a miserable afternoon for Matthew Stafford and Detroit (3-5) at Minneapolis.
Hunter, the fourth-year defensive end, also was credited with nine tackles and four quarterback hits as the Vikings limited the Lions to 214 yards.
DOLPHINS 13, JETS 6: Rookie linebacker Jerome Baker intercepted Sam Darnold and scored the only touchdown on a 25-yard return with 11 minutes left, and a resilient defense helped Miami (5-4) beat New York (3-6) at Miami Gardens, Florida.
Darnold threw four interceptions and took four sacks, and the Jets went 2 of 13 on third down.
CHIEFS 37, BROWNS 21: Patrick Mahomes passed for 375 yards, threw three touchdown passes – two to Travis Kelce – and continued the best start by an NFL quarterback in 68 years as visiting Kansas City (8-1) kept rolling with a win over Cleveland (2-6-1), which played its first game since Coach Hue Jackson’s firing.
Kareem Hunt had two scoring runs and one receiving for the Chiefs, who came in averaging 36.3 points per game with an offense overloaded with weapons for Mahomes.
STEELERS 23, RAVENS 16: Ben Roethlisberger threw two touchdown passes and ran for a score to help visiting Pittsburgh (5-2-1) beat Baltimore (4-5).
James Conner rushed for 107 yards and caught a TD pass for the Steelers, who have won four straight since falling to the Ravens at home on Sept. 30.
BEARS 41, BILLS 9: Jordan Howard scored two touchdowns and the defense had two others for Chicago (5-3) against Buffalo (2-7) at Orchard Park, New York, in what proved to be another comedy of errors for the Bills and their anemic offense.
Eddie Jackson scored on a 65-yard fumble return and Leonard Floyd returned a tipped pass 19 yards for another score some 31/2 minutes apart in the second quarter. Howard, set up by Tarik Cohen’s 38-yard punt return, then scored on an 18-yard scamper to cap a run in which the Bears scored four touchdowns over a span of 12 minutes, 20 seconds in the second quarter.
FALCONS 38, WASHINGTON 14: Julio Jones ended his 12-game touchdown drought, Matt Ryan threw for 350 yards and four scores, and Atlanta (4-4) ran its winning streak to three games by beating Washington (5-3) at Landover, Maryland.
Jones caught seven passes for 121 yards with the biggest coming on a 35-yard screen pass with just under four minutes left that sealed it. After Jones twisted away from Washington defender Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and into the end zone, a swarm of teammates rushed over from the sideline to celebrate Jones’ first touchdown catch since Nov. 26, 2017.
PANTHERS 42, BUCCANEERS 28: Cam Newton completed 19 of 25 passes for 247 yards and two touchdowns, Christian McCaffrey racked up 157 yards from scrimmage and scored twice, and Carolina (6-2) built an early lead and held off Tampa Bay (3-5) at Charlotte, North Carolina, for its 10th straight home win.
Newton threw TD passes of 19 yards to Curtis Samuel and 17 yards to Greg Olsen, the seventh straight game he has thrown for at least two touchdowns. McCaffrey had 17 carries for 79 yards and five catches for 78 yards, and turned in the play of the game when he leaped over a defender after a reception in the flat and kept going, turning it into a 32-yard gain.
TEXANS 19, BRONCOS 17: Brandon McManus missed a 51-yard field goal as time expired as visiting Houston (6-3) escaped with a victory over Denver (3-6).
The Texans won their sixth straight game.
CHARGERS 25, SEAHAWKS 17: Philip Rivers, making his 200th consecutive start, threw for 228 yards and two touchdowns, Melvin Gordon added 113 yards rushing and visiting Los Angeles (6-2) won its fifth straight, defeating Seattle (4-4).
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