(AFP)
The Minnesota Viking’s Kirk Cousins threw for 265 yards and two touchdowns in a triumphant NFL return to Washington on Sunday while the Buffalo Bills were upset by the New York Jets.
Cousins, who spent six largely frustrating NFL seasons with Washington before joining the Vikings in 2018, sparked Minnesota over the Commanders 20-17.
“I knew I was going to be emotional pulling in, seeing the player parking lot where we used to hang out. I about shed a tear,” Cousins said.
“But we had a job to do, and we got the job done.”
The Vikings on the rise
The Vikings, who trailed 17-7 in the fourth quarter, improved to 7-1 overall — their best start since 2009 — and stretched their win streak to six games, each victory coming by eight points or less.
“We feel like we’re using too many of our lives right now. We need to win a little more convincingly,” Cousins said. “We’ve got to find ways to win a little better. We’ve got to play a little better.
“But I’d much rather have these conversations in the meeting room tomorrow after a win.”
Cousins completed 22 of 40 passes, including touchdown tosses of nine yards to Justin Jefferson and 12 yards to Dalvin Cook, and guided a six-minute drive to set up Greg Joseph’s winning field goal with 12 seconds remaining.
“We’re finding ways to win,” Cousins said. “We’re finding the inches. We grind on them and keep trying to pull them out at the end.”
At New York, the Jets drove 86 yards to set up Greg Zuerlein’s 28-yard game-winning field goal with 1:43 remaining to beat Buffalo 20-17 for their best start in 12 years.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen ran for two touchdowns but Jets defenders stifled the NFL’s top offensive unit as Buffalo fell to 6-2, still ahead of the Jets (6-3) atop the AFC East division.
Miami improved to 6-3 in the AFC East as Tua Tagovailoa threw for 302 yards and three touchdowns in the Dolphins’ 35-32 victory at Chicago.
Chicago’s Justin Fields, who had three touchdown passes and a touchdown run in a losing cause, ran for 178 yards to set an NFL one-game regular-season record for quarterbacks, five more than Michael Vick’s old mark from 2002.
AFC East rival New England improved to 5-4 with a 26-3 home rout of Indianapolis as Mac Jones threw for a touchdown and Jonathan Jones returned an interception 17 yards for a touchdown.
Brady heroics bring win
Tom Brady flipped a 1-yard touchdown pass to Cade Otton with nine seconds remaining to give Tampa Bay a 16-13 victory over the reigning Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams.
The 45-year-old quarterback, winner of a record seven Super Bowl crowns, became the first player with 100,000 career p
assing yards, completing 36-of-58 throws for 280 yards.
Brady also delivered his NFL record 69th career game-winning drive in the last two minutes or overtime.
The Buccaneers improved to 4-5 while the Rams fell to 3-5 in the first meeting of the two prior NFL champions in which both had losing records.
The Green Bay Packers (3-6) suffered their fifth consecutive loss, falling 15-9 at Detroit as Aaron Rodgers threw three interceptions while Jared Goff threw two touchdown passes for the Lions.
Cincinnati’s Joe Mixon scored a team-record five touchdowns, running 22 times for 153 yards and four touchdowns with four receptions for 58 yards and another score, to power the Bengals over visiting Carolina 42-21.
Travis Etienne ran for 109 yards and two touchdowns and Trevor Lawrence threw for another score as host Jacksonville rallied from a 17-0 deficit to defeat Las Vegas 27-20.
Cameron Dicker’s 37-yard field goal on the final play gave the Los Angeles Chargers a 20-17 triumph at Atlanta. Austin Ekeler ran for one touchdown and caught a touchdown pass for the Chargers.
Geno Smith threw for 275 yards and two touchdowns and Kenneth Walker ran 26 times for 109 yards and two touchdowns to spark Seattle over host Arizona 31-21.
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